Over the last 11 years, Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm are the only favorites at odds shorter that to win the Genesis Invitational. Four of the last five. Dennis Esser is a contributor to The Athletic, covering golf through the lens of sports betting and fantasy sports. A resident of New Jersey. At the top end of the odds board as usual is Scheffler (+) and Rory McIlroy (), who has two top-5s here in genesis golf betting Viktor Hovland. Unsurprisingly, Woods and all other golfers are looking up on the oddsboard at outright betting favorite Scottie Scheffler once again this week.
Amateur a couple years ago. I did a lot of the things the same as yesterday. Yeah, it felt very similar to yesterday, just kind of Riviera doing what it does. It was similar to yesterday. Tough test. Some pins a little easier, but some pins much harder. I was proud of that. Really difficult this morning when we came back out, made two great putts to start, kind of settled my nerves and I just was trying to be as solid as I could.
You know, I stand on the tee very comfortable here, and shots into the green. Something about it reminds me a lot of some golf in Australia, too, in areas. I think I got up and down five times out of five, so probably that. So my chipping and my putting was very solid out there this morning. I seem to not struggle too much on the greens here and I guess at least by the stats everyone else does compared to normal.
Always thought that would have been a better chance for me; usually when the conditions are crappy I do better. You never know out here. This is a tough golf course and you throw that kind of wind in there. But yeah, at one point it looked like, Brandon looked at me and said, Do you think Justin is going to get to 20 under, and I was like, You mean this round. Genesis golf betting He was playing unbelievable there that third round.
On 13 or 14, the par 3, I hit a 5-iron and it stays pretty good. He hits a 5-iron really good and a gust of wind comes up and he comes up like 15 yards short, and I think he hit it better than I hit mine. It might not be a mistake by you, it might be the ball bounces the other way.
This golf course stood the test of time. They added a tee on No. It stood the test of time. Then the greens are the equalizer so it makes me look, I putt as good as the other guys. It can get away from you very quickly. You start working on a lot of different shots.
You have to make sure you hit it to the right side of the greens. Especially those, I think I saw a stat the other day, that there was more 3-footers missed here than there was anywhere else last year, I think by a long way actually. So there will be a lot of those holing-out-type distances for pars that will be important. The golf course is accepting shots.
But this golf course, the history of this golf course, this is one of those golf courses that we talk about a lot, because of the history. You lands it six inches short, it stays short. You land it just on the green it could bounce over. I think I started playing here nine, ten years ago.
And so you can spray it a little bit but still manage the golf course. But at the same time, you can hit fairways and manage the golf course. First Round Leader Analysis : First round leader s , their wave and winning score since Full First Round Leader stats are here. Open down the coast in La Jolla, San Diego. A high ball flight to hold fast greens, the ability to grind when scoring is tough, plus the ability to move the ball confidently both ways are also key attributes for me this week.
Some talents transcend previous trends and in where the likes of Chris Kirk, Grayson Murray, Nick Dunlap, Matthieu Pavon and now Nick Taylor have won at triple-digit prices, all reasonable historical logic seems to have departed — for now at least. In the brave new world of golf, sheer talent seems to rule. A fantastic mid-iron player, Riviera sees plenty of approaches from yards and beyond.
May also saw his latest strokeplay victory which came at the Charles Schwab Challenge, which they play at Colonial Country Club in Texas. Colonial again is medium in length, plays as a Par 70, and is very much an old-style, tree-lined, classical golf course. So when looking at this logically a track like Riviera should suit Sam Burns down to the ground.
Burns, who was still a non-winner at the time, was very much a factor that week, firing across Thursday and Friday to claim a 5-shot lead heading into the weekend. To his credit Sam still held a 2-shot lead going into Sunday where his final round 69 was just a single shot away from the play-off. Sahith Theegala 1. Sahith Theegala suits Riviera Country Club very nicely indeed.
The sort who can hold form across a number of weeks, the 26 year-old from California, who attended nearby Pepperdine University, to this point has played his best golf out West. So Theegala has become a danger of late, because his driving now gains strokes, which it has done pretty much since the Travelers Championship back in June.
From the fairway onwards his game has always been high quality with consistent approaches, a tricky chipping game and a flat stick which works very nicely on Poa Annua. If Sahith can start well on Thursday, for me he has to be a factor again this week at Riviera Country Club. Wyndham Clark 1. Wyndham Clark also makes tonnes of sense this week. Last time we were in Los Angeles, Wyndham won the U.
I always liked challenging golf courses. He is always going to be an adventure on the greens, but he should give himself enough chances this week to possibly better his third-place finish here from He was particularly bad off the tee at the WM Phoenix Open, losing over 2. There are too many good players priced lower than Homa this week for me to pay this price.
He proved he can contend here last year when he finished third, but he must overcome his recent struggles with his irons. He has lost strokes on approach in four straight tournaments. It feels like a trap, but I will gladly stick my foot in, hoping the week off after Pebble will give him enough time to figure out his issues. He has it all. I will use him as a pivot off of some of my favorite low 9K and high 8K players, so I get some exposure in case he contends.
He comes up as another great course fit because of his short game and his ability to work the ball both ways off the tee and from the fairway. He suffered from all the stops and starts last week and ran out of gas a bit as Nick Taylor was tremendous down the stretch. What does 3 balls mean in golf betting Theegala gained more than 8. He gained across the board for the week, and it resulted in a top finish.
He had a fourth-place finish here last year and looks very comfortable at Riviera. The price drop this week has me thinking about sprinkling him in a bit, but I will play Si Woo Kim much more than An this week. I would rather take the upside of Hoge or Bezuidenhout in the 6K range. Spreadsheet tracking who we have used can be found here. Dennis Esser: If you planned it out before the season, you would be looking at Max Homa here, but that is a tough pill to swallow with how he is currently performing.
Each of the three par-5s is very scoreable with a combined Birdie or Better rate of The most recent seven winners have totaled 59 shots under par on the Par 5s. Jon Rahm led the field last year as Joaquin Niemann did the year prior for Strokes Gained: Approach during their respective winning weeks at Riviera. The fairways at Riviera are some of the narrowest on tour and the driving accuracy rate is just Good Drives Gained measure drives where the player either hits the fairway off the tee OR the player misses the fairway but still hits the green or fringe in regulation.
The bunkers at Riviera are also a bit tougher than tour average. The par-5s are all scoreable and have been the key to victory for the last two champions at Riviera. Finally, we can examine the players who have been successful here at Riviera using Total Strokes Gained. Cantlay finished third here last year, leading the field for Strokes Gained: Tee-To-Green, and fourth in He finished a disappointing 11th at Pebble Beach but was second after the first round and was the overnight betting favorite.
Finau finished sixth at Torrey Pines recently and ranked second in the field for Strokes Gained: Approach. Theegala was one of our plays last week in Phoenix and settled for fifth after being the hole leader and hole co-leader. Keep in mind, Zalatoris was ranked No.
He looks like he is returning to that form after the back surgery that kept him out for close to nine months. My Account Log Out. Search here My Account. Log Out. The Genesis Invitational Nick Taylor continued the winning run of long shots opening price of or more on the PGA Tour season as the Canadian won the Waste Management Phoenix Open on the second playoff hole over fellow long shot Charley Hoffman, who was priced as high as