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A long list of golfing greats have triumphed at Riviera Country Club.

Hogan. Snead. Watson. Nelson. Mickelson. Couples. Faldo. Els. Scott. The list goes on.

The George C. Thomas design is one of golf’s great cathedrals. It has hosted U.S. Opens and PGA Championships. Since 1973, it has played host to the PGA Tour’s LA Open, now the Genesis Invitational. It is a place where great players win. It is a course where legends want to etch their name into history.

And it’s also a place where the best players of their generations — Jack, Tiger and Rory — have been unable to get it over the line. You can blame it on the bumpy Poa annua greens or some unexplained Riviera voodoo. But three golfing legends haven’t found ultimate success at a place that, in theory, should play to their strengths. The course has a well-documented correlation to Augusta National and asks players to control their spin and trajectory while attacking small, tricky greens.

“It makes absolutely no sense,” Max Homa said in 2023, about Woods being unable to win at Riviera. “It’s a second-shot golf course, and he’s the greatest iron player of all time. It truly makes no sense.”

“He’s a really great iron player and you have to be a good iron player to play well here,” Adam Scott said then of Woods. “That may just be an anomaly and the only one in his whole career maybe. It’s a little bit inexplicable.”

Woods has made 15 starts at Riviera, including his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992. He has made 10 cuts but just three top 10s, including a runner-up finish to Ernie Els in 1999. Woods has chalked it up to a matter of the stars not aligning and the unpredictability of Poa greens.

“It is frustrating in the sense that this is a golf course that has been to me been very comfortable visually,” Woods said in 2024. “As I said, it’s a fader’s delight from the tee shots and I have, as I said, been a pretty good iron player, but for some reason I just haven’t put it together at this event other than one time with a chance. For some reason it just hasn’t happened.”

Nicklaus had two runner-up finishes at Riviera but never won. McIlroy’s T2 Sunday was his best finish in Pacific Palisades.

While the sample size isn’t as large as the others just yet, the haunted greats of the Riviera club could add another member if things don’t change.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler arrived at Riviera with a checkered history of his own. He missed the match-play cut at the 2017 U.S. Amateur and missed the cut as an amateur at the Genesis Open in 2018. He entered the week with four top-20s as a pro at Riviera but had never finished within six shots of the lead. He arrived riding a streak of 18 consecutive top 10s (which is now over).

Even after slow starts at the WM Phoenix Open and Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Scheffler made a run at the trophy before coming up just short. That didn’t happen at Riv, where he opened with a three-over 74 and found himself walking the cutline.

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“I don’t know, this place and I have like a weird relationship,” Scheffler said after holing a par putt on 18 on Friday to make the cut. “I feel like I can play so well out here and I just haven’t yet.”

Scheffler made a valiant charge up the leaderboard on the weekend — he said he benefitted from early tee times and less chewed-up greens — but finished in a tie for 12th at a place that has confounded the game’s greats.

Like Woods and McIlroy, Scheffler had no explanation for why Riviera — a ball-striker’s course — hasn’t meshed with him. He faced difficult conditions on Thursday and got the benefit of earlier weekend tee times to rise up the leaderboard. In his career at Riviera, Scheffler has had good weeks off the tee and around the greens. His putting has been average, but he has only finished in the top 10 in approach once, which came in 2022 when he tied for 7th. This past week, he ranked 36th in Strokes Gained: Approach, losing 0.739 shots per round.

“When you look at this golf course and you look at it on paper, it seems kind of easy,” Scheffler said pre-tournament. “Then you start playing it, and you’re like, hit a ball in the rough on 2 and you’re like, Man this hole is kind of hard. Then you don’t hit the fairway on 3 and you’re like, Oh, shoot, I don’t know how I am going to hit the ball on the green here, and then the golf course just eats away at you over time.”

As Scheffler’s reign over professional golf has grown, he has continuously found his name in the same sentence as Woods. The story repeated itself at Riviera as Scheffler, like Woods, searched for ways to solve the famed Southern California track. Even on a day when he posted a low number, the answers alluded him.

“Maybe a little bit,” Scheffler said after his third-round 66 when asked if he felt better about the course. “But then at times it still felt weird.”

On Sunday night, Woods, the tournament host, greeted winner Jacob Bridgeman on the hill. The 15-time major winner joked that Bridgeman, who beat McIlroy by one, now had something Woods doesn’t.

The answer to a puzzle that Woods, McIlroy and now Scheffler are still trying to solve.

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The post Tiger Woods’ Masters week plans and potential prep (plus 4 other insights) appeared first on Golf.

The post Tiger Woods’ Masters week plans and potential prep (plus 4 other insights) appeared first on Golf.

Tiger Woods will be at Augusta National in seven weeks. That much we know.

The only question left is: Will the 15-time major champion be teeing it up at the Masters or merely watching as Rory McIlroy makes his title defense?

In his pre-tournament press conference as the host of the Genesis Invitational, Woods teased that the Masters was not off the table for him but would not elaborate further on what that meant or how he would structure his preparation should he feel his body and game are ready to return.

On Saturday, Woods joined the CBS broadcast booth during the third round and artfully sidestepped a question from Jim Nantz. As CBS rolled a promo for the Masters, Nantz mentioned McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler before asking Woods if he knew anyone else who would be playing at Augusta National in 50 days.

“I know I’ll be there,” Woods said. “We’re going to open up The Patch. [Trevor Immelman] and I are going to be part of a great dinner. I know a lot of people who are playing.”

But is it a real possibility that Woods will tee it up at this year’s Masters?

“There is,” Woods said with a smile.

What the pre-tournament preparation would look like is still up in the air, with Woods presenting a myriad of pre-Masters options, including his PGA Tour Champions debut.

“I don’t know,” Woods said when asked if he would play a tournament before the Masters if he decided to return. “Whether it’s regular [PGA] Tour, senior Tour or member-guest, I don’t know.”

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Woods, who has not played competitively since the 2024 Open Champions, is still rehabbing from the lumbar disc replacement surgery he had in October. He said he has progressed to hitting full shots but isn’t at the level where he can return to competitive play. That’s a work in progress.

“It’s just one of those things where each and every day, I keep trying, I keep progressing, I keep working on it, trying to get stronger, trying to get more endurance in this body and trying to get it at a level at which I can play at the highest level again,” Woods said during his pre-tournament press conference.

When leader Jacob Bridgeman hit a 7-wood to two feet for a tap-in eagle on Riviera’s par-5 11th, Woods joked that he isn’t “hitting it like that” yet.

“I wish I could be out this week playing with these guys. Watching these kids play this golf course is quite fun,” Woods said.

Here’s what else we learned from Woods’ time in the CBS booth.

1. Tiger’s motivation for leading FCC

New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has praised Woods for his willingness to serve as chair of the Future Competitions Committee to help shape the PGA Tour’s future.

The 15-time major champion and 82-time PGA Tour winner has a chance to write the final chapter of his enduring legacy by helping rewrite what the PGA Tour looks like. That has included, according to Woods, countless meetings and long nights of “free-flowing ideas” as he and the rest of the board try to map out the future.

For Woods, now 50, it was important that he, like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus before him, play a role in bettering the Tour that has given him so much and ensuring the next wave of stars has a Tour they can succeed on.

“Well, Jack and Arnold actually created the PGA Tour when we broke off,” Woods told Nantz when asked about why it was important to him to help reshape the Tour. “We were in a very difficult time when I came on the board and trying to reshape the Tour and get it to where our Tour had the best players in the world playing here. It was a difficult time. We have gotten over hump, we’ve got some momentum going and now we’ve got to keep that momentum going. I’m part of chairing the FCC and creating that momentum and taking it into the next generation, starting in 2027.”

Trevor Immelman asked Woods how he has gone from being focused on winning and setting records to now focusing on bettering the PGA Tour for the future. Woods thought back to his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old amateur at the LA Open, and noted it’s important to him that he leave the Tour better than he found it.

“I’m single-minded in a different way,” Woods said. “I’m single-minded for that little kid who teed off in 1992 in the LA Open. I’m single-minded for the opportunity for them to play the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour gave me an opportunity. I’m trying to give the next generation the same opportunity.

“We want to keep elevating our Tour so it can be even better than it is right now.”

Restructuring the PGA Tour schedule is a big part of the FCC’s mandate. Woods has said he has spoken with the CEOs and CFOs from each tournament sponsor, as well as the PGA Tour’s media partners, and all are willing to move things around as needed. The hope is that many of the changes will go into effect in 2027.

2. Tiger on Rory’s Grand Slam, chances to repeat at the Masters

Prior to McIlroy’s thrilling 2025 Masters win, Woods was the last man to complete the career Grand Slam. He completed the career Grand Slam at the age of 24, when he won the 2000 Open Championship at St. Andrews.

It took McIlroy much longer. The Northern Irishman watched the scars pile up as his decade-plus major drought went on, but Woods always felt he’d triumph at Augusta National.

“I got lucky. I was able to get mine out of the way when I was young,” Woods told Nantz and Immelman about watching McIlroy’s moment. “Rory’s situation was, he had so many different opportunities and we always thought, of all the places he was going to win it was going to be Augusta National. The last time he had an opportunity there it was a tough situation. He learned from it. We always thought he was going to get it done. But as years go by it gets harder and harder. But eventually he got it done. It was a big moment to watch him become a career Grand Slam champion.” 

McIlroy will return to Augusta as the defending champion, looking to join Woods, Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only players to successfully repeat at the Masters. Woods understands it’s a tall task, but he also knows that winning at Augusta gives you the confidence that you can do it again. McIlroy now has that.

“It’s not easy,” Woods said. “But once you’ve done it, you understand that you can win and you know what it takes to get it done.”

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3. Tiger’s ‘most nerve-wracking tee shot’

The Genesis Invitational, which Woods now hosts, holds a special place in the 15-time major winner’s heart. With Woods in the booth for almost an hour, CBS took the opportunity to play a clip from Woods’ debut at the 1992 LA Open, where a 16-year-old Woods teed off in front of Sam Snead.

“I was playing the pro-am there and that was one of the most nerve-wracking tee shots that I’ve ever hit,” Woods said. “To see the great Sam Snead right behind me, just staring right into me.” 

Woods would go on to tie Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour wins, adding to the importance the Southern California event holds for Woods.

“The synergy of this place and the things that have happened in my life, you couldn’t imagine,” Woods said.

4. Woods’ advice to tame Riviera’s greens

The greens at Riviera Country Club have given the game’s best fits this week. The Los Angeles area got a decent amount of rain early in the week, which has softened them up without them losing much speed.

Collin Morikawa said they were “hit and hope” greens after Thursday’s first round. On Saturday, Woods explained how the mixture of soft but fast Poa annua greens can play mind tricks.

“You get some interesting putts out here with how fast they are,” Woods said. “But you don’t equate soft greens to fast greens. So that mentality is, ‘Oh, my 5-wood is backing up on the green or my 4-iron is backing up,’ but to then have to drip a putt in is so difficult mentally.” 

To Woods, the key is to commit to your speed and eliminate the “pinko board” effect that can occur on bumpy Poa greens.

“The downhill putts, obviously, you’re going to be dripping. But if I’m putting uphill, I’m smoking it,” Woods said. “It’s committing to the fact that if you have an uphill putt or a flat putt, I don’t mind having two or three feet coming back. But I don’t want — the greens have that plinko effect and that can happen if you happen not to be committed to your speed, so anytime I have a chance to rip one into the back of the hole, I would.”

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No. 10 at Riviera has drawn its fair share of criticism (and praise) from golf’s best in recent years.

Rory McIlroy said the 315-yard par-4 “stinks.” Max Homa said it is “either the best hole in the world or the worst.” Jon Rahm said it could be his “favorite hole” on the course. Collin Morikawa called it the “hardest hole” on the famed property. Tony Finau went the other way, praising the “amazing” hole.

On Friday at the Genesis Invitational, another star added his name to one side of the debate over George C. Thomas’ famed short par-4.

After making an easy birdie at No. 10 during Thursday’s opening round, 2022 U.S. Open champion Matthew Fitzpatrick had a different experience on Friday.

The pin placement during the opening round was in the back right, which allowed Fitzpatrick to make a stress-free birdie. But on Friday, the in was in the middle and just three paces from the left edge. Fitzpatrick lost his tee shot out to the right, leaving him 47 yards to the pin. After surveying his options with his caddie, Fitzpatrick elected to play his second shot well left of the pin. The thinking was that Fitzpatrick would either give himself a long birdie putt or the ball would roll down into the collection area and he’d have a chance to get up-and-down for par. But he missed his spot and ended up dumping his second into the greenside bunker. His third shot was no easier than his second. He blasted out over the green and into the collection area. He pitched up and eventually tapped in for bogey, which was one of only two bogeys he made while firing a five-under 66.

“It was a great round. Felt like I played really solid. Just bogey on 10, the world’s most impossible golf hole. I’ll leave it there,” Fitzpatrick said after his round.

“I don’t really want to talk about it too much, I’ll just get wound up. But it’s hit and hope, let’s leave it at that.”

Fitzpatrick wasn’t the only one in his threesome to get bitten by Riviera’s short par-4. Both Aaron Rai and Garrick Higgo also made bogey.

“We all made bogey. I said, ‘great bogeys, guys,'” Fitzpatrick said. “I got a laugh out of everyone, which was good.”

In 2023, McIlroy said that he believes the kikuyu grass that runs up to and around the green is the issue. He suggested either re-grassing that area so the ball can run up or making the green a bit softer. As it stands right now, in McIlroy’s view, there is no skill involved in the hole.

In Fitzpatrick’s mind, No. 10 at Riviera breaks one of the most important rules for a hole.

“I just don’t think it’s a fair golf hole, so I’ll just leave it at that,” Fitzpatrick said.

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At the most recent edition of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, in 2024, the brutish par-3 4th hole made the players squirm. For the week, the 230ish-yard hole played to a meaty stroke average of 3.204, making it the third hardest hole on the course. In the fourth round just 6 of 51 players hit the green in regulation, with many tee shots getting held up in the sticky kikuya grass fronting the green.

“Terrible” is how veteran pro Adam Schenk, after missing the cut by four, described the hole in a tweet in which he tagged tournament host Tiger Woods. “Tell them to grow poana [sic] short of 4 for the left 2/3 of green rewarding good shots & keep current grass short on right 1/3 of green.”

Two years later, the world’s best players are back at Riv (in 2025, the L.A. wildfires forced the tournament to relocate to Torrey Pines), and Schenk, who is not in the field this week, got half his wish. Changes have been made to the 4th hole — just not the kind of changes he’d lobbied for.

Instead of shortening or swapping out the grass to make the Redan-style green more accessible, the club has lengthened the hole by about 40 yards, meaning it can now play up to 270 yards, and repositioned the tee box well to the right of its original site. Riv said it made the changes to better align the hole with designer George Thomas’s original vision but the beefing up of an already stout test has raised the eyebrows of at least a few players, including world No. 2 Rory McIlroy, who characterized the new-look 4th as a “horrible change.”

Asked to expound, McIlroy said, “Like 15 percent of the field hit the green last time when it was played at its original yardage at 230. If you want it to be a 275-yard par-3, you have to change the apron leading up onto the green. It can’t be kikuyu, it has to be another type of grass that can help you run it onto the green because, again, in the right conditions, you try to fly that ball on the green with a 3-iron, it’s going to land — it’s going to finish up on the 5th tee box.”

The hole doesn’t have to play all stretched out, of course, and likely won’t on cool, damp days or when the wind is blowing in hard toward the players. As PGA Tour rules official Steve Rintoul told my colleague Jack Hirsh in 2024, “I suspect the players in the Genesis will see a bit of everything over the four days. However, the summertime events coming up at Riviera (Women’s U.S. Open, Olympics and the U.S. Open) will allow for firmer and warmer conditions where the ball played along the ground, chasing onto the green, will be more effective.”

Rintoul added, “As always we will evaluate the playability of the hole and gather player input on the design, but our usual strategy is to tip-toe into using major changes.”

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So far that input hasn’t been especially positive. Collin Morikawa, who won at Pebble Beach last week, said Wednesday was his first day playing the retooled 4th and even from pushed-up tees he still needed to hit a 3-wood. “Hit and hope, I guess,” he said. “It’s too soft, unfortunately, to have a lot of control to say, man, I’m going to play a tight 5-iron and run it up. I think a lot of us play it left to chip uphill, but with a 3-wood in hand, that cart path on the left honestly comes into play. … I think it’s just a very long par-3. There’s not a lot of thought to it other than just kind of hitting the green and moving on, unfortunately.”

Jordan Spieth also offered a less-than-ringing endorsement of the hole, telling Golf Channel’s Brentley Romaine, “It’s the only weak spot on the course.” Other players weighed in from afar. Graeme McDowell, who won a U.S. Open up the coast at Pebble Beach, isn’t in the field but filed this observation on X: “Few holes that you would like to lengthen on this great course, but this wouldn’t be my first choice. Obsession with total yardage can destroy individual great holes.”

Riv’s 4th is now the longest par-3 on Tour, edging out the 265-yard 11th at Puntacana Resort. Still, both of those holes are relative mites compared to the par-3 8th at Oakmont, which played 289 yards at the U.S. Open last summer and drew this dig from Viktor Hovland: “I just think all the best par-3s are under 200 [yards]. You can maybe have it just over 200, but as soon as you start to take head covers off on par-3s, I just think it gets a little silly.”

Head covers will most assuredly be coming off at Riv’s 4th this week. Defending U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun played the hole Wednesday with a 3-wood, feeding his shot in from the front right of the green. His ball released to about six feet from the hole from where he missed his birdie try but made a stress-free par.

Easy . . . right?

“It’s Wednesday,” Spaun said after his round. “It didn’t matter really today.”

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At last year’s Genesis Invitational, it wasn’t just hard to find the green at Rivieria’s par-3 4th in regulation, it was darn near impossible for even some of the best players in the world.

On the hole which measured 236 yards on the scorecard, just 37 of 241 tee shots — 15.35 percent — for the week found the putting surface.

And it may only get harder next year.

Revealed in a tweet by golf podcaster and writer Andy Lack and later confirmed to GOLF by the PGA Tour, Riviera has built a brand back tee to par-3. The new scorecard yardage? A beefy 265 yards.

According to Genesis Invitational Chief Referee Steve Rintoul, the new tee at No. 4 “has been talked about for many years.” In addition to adding about 30 yards to the scorecard yardage, the tee has also been moved to the right, into the hillside at the edge of the property. Rintoul also added that the PGA Tour’s design team, agronomy staff and rules staff have been in “lock step” with the club as they have altered the course.

“Its location up into the hillside, and strong right to left movement of the area short of the green allows the hole to be played more like a ‘redan,'” Rintoul said over email to GOLF. “It offers a variety of tee yardages to set the hole up ranging from 210 to 265.”

Rintoul continued, affirming that weather ultimately determines course setup, especially considering the traditional spot on the calendar for the Genesis in February, which is usually the wettest and coldest month in Los Angeles.

This past February, No. 4 played around the scorecard yardage for the entire week, anywhere between 230 and 245 yards.

“I suspect the players in The Genesis Invitational Signature Event will see a bit of everything over the 4 days,” Rintoul said. “However, the summertime events coming up at Riviera (Women’s US Open, Olympics and the US Open) will allow for firmer and warmer conditions where the ball played along the ground, chasing onto the green, will be more effective.

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“As always we will evaluate the playability of the hole and gather player input on the design, but our usual strategy is to tip-toe into using major changes. The 265-yard tee is unlikely to be used all 4 days. We will shake up the set-up length, based on the weather as required.”

Part of the difficulty in finding the green at No. 4 owes to its “Redan” template design. The design calls for either a right-to-left shaped shot to land short right of the green and take the severe right-to-left slope of the green complex to roll onto the putting surface or a high left-to-right shape that tries to use the slope to stop the ball. But the issue with the first option is that the grass around the green is sticky Kikuyu grass, which means shots hit high, short and right don’t always release. But shots that landed on the green still rolled over.

Given the dismal green in regulation numbers this past February— just six players found the green during the final round — the hole was panned by PGA Tour pro Adam Schenk, calling it “terrible.”

“Who says you have to use the same FW grass around all the greens?” Schenk tweeted after missing the cut. “Normally, I would say could be to [sic] hard for maintenance & cost too much…but it’s Riv that that excuse is out.”

The hole played as the third hardest hole for the week at .204 shots over par, but that isn’t among the top 10 hardest par-3s on the PGA Tour this season. It ranks as the 18th hardest par-3 on Tour, the same position it held in 2023. There were no double bogeys or worse in 2024 and 32 of the 45 players who missed the green Sunday got up and down.

On the flip side, the hole produced just 11 birdies in 2024, the second-fewest on the PGA Tour among courses that hosted four rounds of an event.

In his email to GOLF, Rintoul did not mention any changes to the grasses around the green, but we’ll have to wait and see next February at the 2025 Genesis for PGA Tour pros’ reaction to the new tee.

Viktor Hovland’s 15th tee shortcut cut off

Rintoul also confirmed two other changes the club made during what he called a “renovation.”

The 18th tee was moved back about 15 yards and to the left, basically on top of where the old 4th tee was. This has extended the scorecard yardage from 476 yards to 490 and will also make the tee shot straighter into the left-to-right sloping fairway.

But more intriguing was a change made around the 15th tee.

“The ‘gap’ to play down hole 17 during the play of 15 has been filled with three mature sycamore trees,” Rintoul said.

That gap was used by a few players at the 2022 Genesis to take an alternative route to the 15th green by playing down the 17th fairway, most notably Viktor Hovland.

In 2023, short of making the 17th fairway internal out-of-bounds, as was done during this season’s Tour Championship on East Lake’s 18th hole, the PGA Tour placed a large scoreboard to the right of the 15th tee to deter players from taking the route. Hovland (and two other players) didn’t care and images of Hovland aiming directly over the scoreboard went viral. In total, players only played into the fairway four times that year.

This past season, however, no player hit a ball into 17 fairway and none will for the foreseeable future with the new trees seemingly blocking any chance.

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Riviera’s par-3 4th hole gave players fits at the Genesis Invitational last week.

Over four rounds, the field cumulatively struck 241 tee shots there. Just 37 of those balls, or 15.35 percent, found the green.

The hole played tough in every round but was most taxing on Sunday when only six of 51 players, or less than 12 percent, hit the green.

That’s an insanely low green-in-regulation rate on the PGA Tour — where the average GIR percentage this year is 69.67% — and the tough-to-hit target resulted in a fourth-round scoring average of 3.225, making the 4th the hardest hole of the day, tying with the par-4 12th.

What gives?

Well, for starters, the hole is long. At the Genesis, it played anywhere from 230 yards to 245 yards into a prevailing breeze. That’s meaty, though not that meaty for the best players in the world. On Tour this season, the GIR rate from 200-plus yards (including shots from the rough and less-than-ideal fairway lies) is 47.76%, meaning length clearly isn’t the 4th hole’s only defense.

Fronting the green is a sprawling bunker that measures 60 feet from back to front, while the green itself pitches from front-right to back-left in the model of a Redan design; given the slope and tournament-week green speeds only the back-left portion of the green can support pin positions. For a right-handed player, there are two primary ways to play the 4th: (1) Hit a draw with a low-ish trajectory just short of the green’s opening and hope that your ball bounces onto the putting surface and funnels down to the hole, or (2) fly your ball, ideally with a fade, to the back-left of the green and hope that the slope helps hold your shot.

The first option is more of a linksy shot that requires some degree of feel and imagination along with firm enough turf to allow the ball to release. This is where the players encountered some difficulty last week. Because the grass around the 4th green is, in fact, a sticky Kikuyu, high-trajectory iron shots that landed short tended to stay there. Meanwhile, players who tried to fly their tee shots onto the green often saw their balls roll into the rough behind the green.

On Sunday, the challenge of the hole led CBS Golf reporter Smylie Kaufman to tweet: “I grit my teeth every time the 4th hole at Riviera CC comes on. @ColtKnost mentioned yesterday 16% of players found the green in regulation last year (I believe was the stat). I’m all for challenging the players but the hole doesn’t reward great shots. It rewards a lucky bounce.”

To which Knost replied: “I think it was meant to be played with a different fairway grass where it would actually bounce up. I’m guessing designed to land it several yards short and right and use the slope. Now days it just hits and stops.”

A player in the field also weighed in: Adam Schenk, who missed the cut on Friday after rounds of 74-73. Schenk called the hole “terrible” and implored tournament host Tiger Woods to ask event organizers to “grow poana [grass] short of 4 for the left 2/3 of green and rewarding good shots & keep current grass short on right 1/3 of green.”

Schenk added: “Who says you have to use the same FW grass around all the greens? Normally, I would say could be to [sic] hard for maintenance & cost too much…but it’s Riv that that excuse is out.”

According to the PGA Tour’s ShotLink tracking system, in the fourth round, 14 of the field’s 51 tee shots at the 4th landed short of the green and stayed there, while 13 more hit the green and ran off of it.

Tour pros are, of course, notorious for grousing about difficult holes, even one, in the case of Riv’s 4th, that Ben Hogan called “the greatest par 3 hole in America.” But given only a half-dozen players hit the green in regulation Sunday, it seems fair to ask: Was the hole fair?

For insight and opinions on the matter, we consulted some Riviera experts.

“Agree with the criticism,” one club insider who plays the course regularly told GOLF.com by email. “It’s been a favorite recurring complaint from the peanut gallery. Damp winter here makes the kikuyu worse. Riv manages kikuyu better than any other course I’ve seen by a significant margin, and their grounds crew has improved a lot on that issue over the past 10 years.”

One member said that the run-on area in the front-right of the green might be a touch “flatter” than the club would like as a result of mower usage, which occasionally prevents balls from releasing. But he stressed that the depression was by no means a chronic problem. “Maybe it doesn’t chase exactly right,” he said of lower, running tee balls, “but it chases mostly right, because I do it all the time, especially if it’s firm.”

That same member added that Redan greens aren’t supposed to be easy to hit but also that “their surrounds are strategically shaped to be able to get it up and down without too much trouble.” The stats at the 4th last week bear that out. While the hole gave up fewer birdies (11) over four rounds than any other hole, it also didn’t yield a single double bogey or worse and produced a tournament-best nine chip-ins. Of the 45 players who missed the green on Sunday, 32 got up and down.

Another member who said he plays the course “a few times a year at different times of the year,” said that he has “never noticed the turf being ‘grabby’ at the front of the green on the right. I try to aim at the right side of the green, and in my experience they usually put the pin in the middle of the green or on the left of it, which allows the ball to funnel down from right to left. If I hit it near where I’m aiming (by no means a certainty!), it usually does that and if it hits a little short usually pops forward onto the green.

“I will say that if only six of them hit the green in regulation on Sunday something is weird — it’s a big green and not a daunting distance for those guys.”

Might that persuade the club to make some minor edits to the 4th hole before next year’s Genesis? It’s possible. But major changes? Don’t bank on it.

Said a GOLF course rater who isn’t a member but knows Riv well, “All members I’ve talked to say leave it alone.”

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The post Why Tiger Woods hasn’t won at Riviera — in his own words appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Tiger Woods hasn’t won at Riviera — in his own words appeared first on Golf.

A lot has changed about Tiger Woods as he makes his latest return at the 2024 Genesis Invitational, but one thing hasn’t, and likely never will: his singular focus on winning.

Despite his age, and the pileup of injuries over the years, Woods still thinks he can win. Even this week. At a course where he has never won. In fact, it’s that detail — that he has never won a tournament at Riviera Country Club, where he made his Tour debut — which seems to be providing extra motivation for the 15-time major champion, who is otherwise just grateful to be competing on Tour again.

And that was on full display during his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday, where his winless record at Riviera was on his mind early and often.

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Take his response to the moderator’s innocent question about Tiger’s goal for the week, just moments after the session began.

“A nice W would be nice, right? I haven’t ever won this event,” Woods responded. “I played in this event since ’92 and the years I’ve played I still have never won this event. Hopefully I can figure something out and get myself in there in contention and maybe get a W at the end of the week.”

Including his debut as a 16-year-old at what was then called the Nissan Open, Woods, who grew up in the L.A. area, has made 14 Tours starts at Riviera. He’s missed the cut three times, though two of those were when he was still a teenager. He’s recorded 8 top-25 finishes, among them three top 10s.

But why hasn’t Tiger, winner of 82 PGA Tour events, ever lifted a trophy at historic Riviera, where he now hosts the tournament that benefits his TGR Foundation?

He provided some detailed insight into that question on Wednesday, placing the blame primarily on his putting performances.

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“I have traditionally not putted well here,” Woods said. “This is a fader’s delight, most of the holes are, for a righty, run left to right. I’ve driven it well here. There are small greens and traditionally throughout my entire career my iron game has been pretty good, but I have never really gotten hot with the putter at this course. Generally they’re bumpy poa, so it’s been a little bit tricky.”

Woods is famous for a near-immaculate memory of every tournament he’s played, and every shot he’s hit in every tournament. He flashed that sterling knack for recall, too, remembering the closest he came to winning at Riviera, at the 1999 Nissan Open, when he finished runner-up to Ernie Els.

“For some reason it just has never compiled to a hot week. I had one where I had a chance, I guess Ernie [Els], and hit a foul ball on the last hole,” Woods recalled. “Other than that, I really haven’t had that many opportunities for some reason.”

Later in the press conference, Tiger spoke on the subject for a final time, when asked if his record at Riviera had caused any frustration.

“It is frustrating in the sense that this is a golf course that has been to me been very comfortable visually,” Woods replied. “As I said, it’s a fader’s delight from the tee shots and I have, as I said, been a pretty good iron player, but for some reason I just haven’t put it together at this event other than one time with a chance. For some reason it just hasn’t happened.”

But he finished on an optimistic, familiar note.

“Hopefully, it will be this week.”

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The post WATCH: Pro hits no-look chip with 1 arm, makes insane up-and-down appeared first on Golf.

The post WATCH: Pro hits no-look chip with 1 arm, makes insane up-and-down appeared first on Golf.

Historically speaking, the weekend before Presidents Day is a fertile time for phrases like “one-handed,” “behind-the-back” and “no-look.” But historically speaking, those words are rarely used in conjunction with the Genesis Invitational, but rather for NBA All-Star weekend.

All-Star weekend is a magical time for NBA fans, filled with trade rumors, star-studded exhibitions, and perhaps most prominently, the NBA Slam Dunk Contest. The Slam Dunk Contest rates every year as one of the most-watched basketball telecasts of the year, with viewers flocking in from around the world to watch basketball’s finest performance art.

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Apparently, among the viewers of this year’s NBA Slam Dunk Contest was Patton Kizzire, the 35-year-old PGA Tour pro from Montgomery, Ala. We assume this because on Sunday at Riviera, Kizzire made an up-and-down so insane, he had to have drawn at least some inspiration from Obi Toppin’s Dunk Contest-winning effort on Saturday night.

The moment came on the par-3 14th. With Kizzire battling his way toward a top-25 finish, the former Tour winner found himself in an unenviable position: with his tee shot resting comfortably against the lip of the greenside bunker. Given the depth of the sand and the angle at the green, Kizzire appeared to have 2 options: take an unplayable, or attempt a baseball bat-type swing at a wedge in the hope of squibbing the ball out toward the putting surface.

But then, as Kizzire studied his chip, a lightbulb flipped on. He didn’t have to take either shot, he reasoned, so long as he’d be willing to try something even crazier: a behind-the-back, no-look wedge shot … one-handed.

A few seconds later, Kizzire lined up his shot, took one final look at the green behind him, and plunged his wedge into the turf. To his great surprise, the ball trickled down the mouth of the green and onto the putting surface, rolling to a final stop some 44 feet from the flagstick.

Now came the easy part: a 40-footer for par with serious leaderboard placement up for grabs. Now afforded such luxuries as the ability to grip his club with two hands and see his intended destination, Kizzire was locked-in, rolling the putt all the way up the ridge and into the cup.

As he made his way to the hole, Kizzire caught an ESPN+ camera crew out of the side of his eye.

In one smooth motion, he looked straight into the lens, flashed a knowing smile and tipped his cap, presumably both to golf fans AND Slam Dunk Contest viewers everywhere.

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The post 2022 Genesis Invitational purse: Payout info, winner’s share at Riviera appeared first on Golf.

The post 2022 Genesis Invitational purse: Payout info, winner’s share at Riviera appeared first on Golf.

After three days of action from Riviera Country Club, we’ve reached the final round of play at the 2022 Genesis Invitational. Below, find everything you need to know about tournament money, including payout information, winner’s share and more.

Genesis Invitational final round preview

Joaquin Niemann is on a record-setting pace through three days of play at the Genesis Invitational. At 19 under, the 23-year-old currently holds the lowest 54-hole score ever at Riviera, an event dating back to the mid-20th century. Niemann enters Sunday’s final round holding a three-stroke lead over the remainder of the field. A win on Sunday would be the second PGA Tour victory for the Chilean-born pro, who has also added two playoff losses. The good news for Niemann? He has only one player (Cameron Young) within six strokes of his mark heading into the final round.

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Further back, Viktor Hovland (-13), Justin Thomas (-12), Collin Morikawa (-11) and last week’s winner, Scottie Scheffler (-10) all enter Sunday in need of brilliant final rounds AND some help in order to launch themselves back into contention.

Below, find everything you need to know about payout information, including winner’s share, for the Genesis Invitational’s $12 million purse; you can catch the action beginning at 3 p.m. ET on CBS.

Genesis Invitational payout information; winner’s share

1st: $2,160,000

2nd: $1,308,000

3rd: $828,000

4th: $588,000

5th: $492,000

6th: $435,000

7th: $405,000

8th: $375,000

9th: $351,000

10th: $327,000

11th: $303,000

12th: $279,000

13th: $255,000

14th: $231,000

15th: $219,000

16th: $207,000

17th: $195,000

18th: $183,000

19th: $171,000

20th: $159,000

21st: $147,000

22nd: $135,000

23rd: $125,400

24th: $115,800

25th: $106,200

26th: $96,600

27th: $93,000

28th: $89,400

29th: $85,800

30th: $82,200

31st: $78,600

32rd: $75,000

33rd: $71,400

34th: $68,400

35th: $65,400

36th: $62,400

37th: $59,400

38th: $57,000

39th: $54,600

40th: $52,200

41st: $49,800

42nd: $47,400

43rd: $45,000

44th: $42,600

45th: $40,200

46th: $37,800

47th: $35,400

48th: $33,480

49th: $31,800

50th: $30,840

51st: $30,120

52nd: $29,400

53rd: $28,920

54th: $28,440

55th: $28,200

56th: $27,960

57th: $27,720

58th: $27,480

59th: $27,240

60th: $27,000

61st: $26,760

62nd: $26,520

63rd: $26,280

64th: $26,040

65th: $25,800

The post 2022 Genesis Invitational purse: Payout info, winner’s share at Riviera appeared first on Golf.

The post Monday Finish Minute: Phoenix Open Takeaways and Genesis Lookahead appeared first on Golf.

The post Monday Finish Minute: Phoenix Open Takeaways and Genesis Lookahead appeared first on Golf.

As the PGA Tour moves from Phoenix to Riviera, Dylan Dethier breaks down all that’s happened and all that we have to look forward to. From 16th hole celebrations to Tiger Woods sightings, February is delivering big moments for golf fans.

The post Monday Finish Minute: Phoenix Open Takeaways and Genesis Lookahead appeared first on Golf.