The Genesis Invitational
Course: The Riviera Country Club (7,384 yards, par 71)
Purse: $20,000,000
Winner: $4,000,000 and 700 FedExCup Points
Tournament Preview
The PGA Tour returns to Riviera Country Club after a one-year hiatus due to the Southern California wildfires. While last year's Genesis Invitational was a show at Torrey Pines won by Ludvig Aberg, everyone is pumped to get back to Riviera where this tournament belongs. If you ask PGA Tour players what their favorite course on the schedule is, a lot of them are going to tell you Riviera. It tests every club in your bag and is deserving of hosting this Signature Event.
We will also see a lot of Riviera in the coming years outside of The Genesis Invitational. It is slated to host the 2026 U.S. Women's Open, the 2028 Summer Olympics for both the men and women and the 2031 U.S. Open. Those events all fall during the summer months, so the expectation is that Riviera will continue hosting The Genesis Invitational in February in each of those years.
There will be 72 players in the field this week, slightly down from the 80 that teed it up at last week's Signature Event at Pebble Beach. The majority of the field is made up of the top 50 in the FedExCup Standings from the previous season, but there are also other avenues to entruy, such as ranking Nos. 51-60 in the FedExCup Fall, the Aon Swing 5 from the first four regular events of the season and sponsor's exemptions.
Collin Morikawa has all the momentum coming into the week after his outstanding final round at Pebble Beach, where he won for the first time on the PGA Tour since 2023. That was also his first win outside the fall since the 2021 Open Championship. Morikawa did not have a very inspiring finish to 2025 or start to 2026, but this win certainly has to get the confidence up and make him believe that he is one of the top players in the world again.
Scottie Scheffler continues to hold down the top spot in the OWGR by a substantial margin. For the second straight week he got off to a slow start, and for the second straight week he nearly came all the way back to win with a heroic final round. Scheffler's T4 at Pebble Beach increased his top-10 streak on the PGA Tour to 18. If he is able to play just a solid round on Thursday that could spell problems for the rest of this elite field.
Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood both picked up top-15 finishes at Pebble Beach in their PGA Tour season debuts. McIlroy shot a 64 on Sunday to surge into a share of 14th place, while Fleetwood nearly forced a playoff before sharing fourth place with Scheffler. Expect both players to be in the mix at Riviera and many times throughout the year.
This is an extremely deep field with just four players ranking outside the top 100 in the OWGR. As one of the three player hosted Signature Events -- along with the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament -- there will be a 36-hole cut at The Genesis Invitational. It creates urgency for these players right out of the gate and adds consequence to these Signature Events. Only the top 50 and ties will make it to the weekend, along with any player who is within 10 shots of the lead at the end of 36 holes.
Early-week showers will soften this golf course and create a new challenge for the players. Typically Riviera is pretty firm, but the greens should be more receptive to mid-to-long irons this week given the extra moisture. The hope is things will dry out by Sunday afternoon after a few dry days and in what will be the highest temperatures of the tournament, albeit in just the mid-to-upper 60s. All in all we should see pretty good scoring considering the lack of any substantial wind. The winning score at Riviera has been at least 17-under the last three tournaments here and I would bet it hits that mark again in 2026.
Recent Champions
2025 - Ludvig Aberg (-12) [Played at Torrey Pines]
2024 - Hideki Matsuyama (-17)
2023 - Jon Rahm (-17)
2022 - Joaquin Niemann (-19)
2021 - Max Homa (-12)
2020 - Adam Scott (-11)
2019 - J.B. Holmes (-14)
2018 - Bubba Watson (-12)
2017 - Dustin Johnson (-17)
2016 - Bubba Watson (-15)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/Proximity
- SG: Around-the-Green/Scrambling
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Total Driving
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
Champion's Profile
Riviera Country Club is as good of a complete test as we see on the PGA Tour. There really is no way to fake it around this golf course and shoot a good score. The course is pretty average in length, but it requires players to work the ball in multiple directions to be able to hold the fairways. The rough is not long, but Kikuyu is notorious for being sticky and making approach shots very tough to judge. Approach play is probably the most important key to success at this course, but it will be hard to execute on that unless you come out of the fairway.
Short game is always tested at the highest level around Riviera. While the greens are quite large, the field average for GIR percentage is certainly lower than usual here because of the difficulty on approach. That will create a lot of scrambling opportunities. As mentioned getting stuck in the Kikuyu rough around these greens is going to be extremely difficult. But even just on the fairway cut is no bargain going back up to an elevated green from sticky grass. These greens are also exceptionally well bunkered, many of which are quite deep as well. The putting surfaces will once again be poa annua, so chances are if you putted well at Torrey Pines and/or Pebble Beach you likely will be excited for this week.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($15,800)
Scheffler checks into the week with another massive price on his head. His 1st-T3-T4 start to the season has been pretty impressive, especially considering that he had to battle back after poor first rounds each of those last two events. Scheffler has a solid history at Riviera with finishes of T20-T7-T12-T10 over his last four starts. Nevertheless, by his standards a best finish of T7 isn't all that impressive. On paper, however, this is a place that Scheffler should thrive at given the importance of approach and short game.
Hideki Matsuyama ($11,600)
I was a little nervous last week that we'd get a hangover after Matsuyama failed to close out the WM Phoenix Open. That was not the case as Matsuyama scored a T8 finish at Pebble Beach behind another excellent putting week. He has now finished T13-T11-2nd-T8 to start the season and heads to a place he is the defending winner at. Matsuyama has five total finishes of T11 or better at Riviera. I still have some concerns about the driving, but he's extremely strong everywhere else right now.
Patrick Cantlay ($11,300)
Since missing the cut in his first two attempts at Riviera, Cantlay has finished T17 or better in six of seven appearances, with a trio of those being top-5s including each of the last two tournaments here. Cantlay's fabulous record here shouldn't surprise people given how consistent he has been all the way through the bag the large majority of his career. Cantlay notched his second top-15 finish of the season last week behind some strong iron play. He ranked 11th in SG: Approach and third in GIR's at Pebble Beach.
The Middle Tier
Viktor Hovland ($10,400)
Hovland was such a strong iron player last season and has carried it into this campaign. In 2025 he ranked second in SG: Approach, fifth in proximity 125-150 yards, first in proximity 150-175 yards and second in proximity 175-200 yards. Given the layout of Riviera, there will be a very high percentage of the approach shots that come from those ranges relative to the average PGA Tour course. Hovland has two top-15s already in 2026 and has gone T5-T4-T20-T19 in four career starts at Riviera.
Jake Knapp ($9,800)
This will be Knapp's first appearance at Riviera, but he is simply playing too well to shy away from at this price. Knapp ranks third in SG: Total and second in adjusted scoring average so far this season after starting the year going T11-T5-8th-T8. He is proving that he is the type of player that can get it done regardless of the type of golf course. The putting has been very impressive for Knapp thus far to go along with the distance.
Sepp Straka ($9,200)
Straka doesn't have the greatest history at Riviera outside of a T15 in 2022, but that will hopefully keep his ownership down. Straka is a very accurate driver and is one of the best iron players on Tour. Last season he ranked seventh in SG: Approach, 24th in GIR percentage and 26th in proximity. Straka has bounced back following a missed cut at The Amex with a T18 at TPC Scottsdale and a T2 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The short game has taken some solid strides forward in 2026.
The Long Shots
Pierceson Coody ($8,700)
Pebble Beach was his first off tournament off the season, but e still hit the ball very well. Prior to that Coody was top 20 in his first four starts of the season. Right now he ranks seventh in SG: Off-the-Tee and 16th in SG: Tee-to-Green. Coody has also made more birdies (108) than any other player in 2026. This guy has no fear and will have no issues getting after it in his first time at Riviera.
Ryo Hisatsune ($7,700)
Hisatsune continues to play some great golf, notching a third straight top-10 finish at Pebble Beach. He is driving the ball in the fairway, hitting a lot of greens, maintaining a steady short game and found a real groove with the putter. This will be his first start at Riviera, but considering how well he is playing I'm not sure the course really matters. There's too much value to pass up under $8K.
Tom Hoge ($6,800)
Hoge I think has the best upside in the $6K range this week because he has historically been a great iron player. He has made the cut in four of his five starts this season with two top-15 finishes, including last week at Pebble Beach where he ranked eighth in SG: Approach. Hoge has finished T14 and eighth in his last two appearances at Riviera. In 2024 he led the field in SG: Approach and was T5 in GIR's.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
We have a $6K range for the second straight week on FanDuel with Scheffler sitting at nearly $16K. Whether this is going to be an every week occurrence remains to be seen, but it does give us options on how we want to attack from a lineup construction standpoint. The cut does add some additional stress. Given that not many players will fail to make the weekend, it is going to be pretty tough to cash if even one of your players does not make the cut. I think it forces us to rely on players who are hot and have already racked up a few strong finishes in 2026.
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