Genesis Invitational: Tiger Woods will try to keep up with No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and others

LOS ANGELES — It’s time for the final event of the West Coast Swing PGA Tour.

As Tiger Woods competes again on a fully loaded Southern California field for the first time in seven months, there’s a lot to look forward to in Southern California this week.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Genesis Invitational 2023.

Tournament Basics

Genesis Invitation

February 16-19

Country Club Riviera | Los Angeles, California

71 | 7322 yards

Wallet: $20 million / $3.6 million

FedExCup points for the winner: 550

BetMGM Favorites: John Ram (+750), Rory McIlroy (+900)

Last time out: Joaquin Niemann wins live

Joaquin Neumann swept through the Riviera Country Club with ease last year.

Niemann took the undisputed victory at the 2022 Genesis Invitational, his second Tour win of his career. He was the second youngest winner in the history of the tournament and the first in over 50 years.

Posting a pair of 63s earlier in the week, Niemann only equaled in the final round to close out the tournament.

“When I finished it was like hell yes. It took forever,” Niemann said. “Finally we’re done and I can smile and just think about it like it was a fun day.”

Niemann will not be defending his title this week as he left the Tour for the LIV Golf.

The tiger is back and he’s ‘playing to win’

For the first time in seven months, Tiger Woods is back on tour.

Although he admitted he’s rusty and hasn’t completed 18 holes in four days all year, Woods has high hopes this week.

“I wouldn’t have put myself up here if I didn’t think I could beat these guys and win the tournament. That’s my mentality,” Woods said on Tuesday. “If I wasn’t ready to win at this level, I would be very rusty, but I used to get out of a rusty situation and everything worked out for me.”

Woods has not played since the UK Open in July, which marked only his third competitive round since the 2021 Southern California car crash. three performances.

Had he won this week, it would have been the 83rd of his career, which would finally make Woods the most winning golfer in the history of the sport and break his tie with Sam Snead.

Woods will play Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas in the first two rounds of the tournament, which kick off on Thursday just after 3:00 pm ET.

To learn more about Woods, click here.

The first racket of the world is back in the draw

Another week, another shot at the new #1.

Last week, Scotty Sheffler passed Rory McIlroy at the WM Phoenix Open to take first place in the Official World Golf Rankings with his fifth career win. However, his latest ranking win may not be long-lived.

McIlroy could take first place again with a single-handed third this week or better, depending on how Scheffler and John Rahm finish. Ram can do the same with a win or a runner-up.

However, these are not easy tasks, especially considering how deep the field is this week. Nine of the top 10 OWGR golfers compete on the Riviera.

“I don’t think Scotty or Rambo will leave, and I certainly don’t plan to,” McIlroy said on Wednesday. “Obviously you have so many other guys who have a chance to be part of this conversation too.

“I just think with the way the game is going right now and the way we play, it’s getting harder and harder to separate yourself from the field. So it seems like it was the last time – basically, since Tiger was in his prime, this #1 seat has kind of been passed down between all of us.”

If Woods had won this week, he would have moved up from 1294th. up to #55 in OWGR.