What a weekend, what an absolute motherfuckin weekend. Every day we waited, every day wondering, when will we finally see it it again and after months and months, it happened. Tiger Woods announced he’s returning to the PGA Tour. That’s right folks, it was a long road and he kind of cucked the Waste Management but my god am I excited. I am not going to guarantee a win here like I will in a couple months in Augusta but it does bring a little extra excitement to our second straight elevated event. Before we dive balls deep into Genesis, let’s recap last weekend and how I once again managed to keep my throne at the People’s Major.
Each and every one of you sat and read last week how I jumpstarted Scottie’s career just over a year ago and how I was close to giving up on him on Scottie Sprinkles. I called him out, saying maybe we should introduce a new segment without him and he clearly got the message. I reignited Scottie’s engine and he came out on absolute fire this weekend. To be honest, once it got to the back nine of Saturday, the tournament was basically over since Rahm and Spieth fell off. It was a relatively uneventful Sunday in my opinion, especially when we compare it to last year but it was cool to see Scottie get back on top. This also secured Scottie regaining number one in the world as Rory finally takes a step back after a few months on top. In case any of you missed it, here are some highlights of the weekend to remember why this will always be one of the most fun tournaments of the year:
LIVin For the Drama
It was a relatively quiet week over at LIV as some of the guys played on the Asian Tour to pick up some world ranking points. I guess the biggest thing to mention is that DJ fell out of the top 50 and Bryson fell out of the top 100 in world rankings. Luckily for them, we have been maintaining true and accurate world ranking standings so see below who the real top 10 is:
2022 Genesis Invitational
If I’m being honest, last year this tourney kind of sucked balls. This time last year was actually my most viewed blog ever and about an hour before tee time, that cuck Matt Fitz withdrew because he had a bellyache. Then Niemann went on to just bend the entire field over and the tournament was over before it even started. Joaco went wire to wire and it never truly felt like he was in danger of losing.
The Course
Riviera Country Club is easily one of the best and most well known courses on tour. It’s hosted some major championships in the past and has a lot of fun holes that make it a memorable yet challenging place. The top holes are definitely the par three sixth hole which has a bunker in the green always causing mayhem and the short par four tenth hole which is one of the biggest tests of risk-reward on Tour.
The field is consistently stacked here because of the course and the energy the tournament brings and this week will be no different. Outside of The Cat, we will also have 9 out of the top 10 OWGR players (8 out of 10 TPB World ranked players) and all of the top 30 in the FexEx cup. Oh and the purse is worth 20 mil again so someone’s gonna make way too much money as is the norm these days.
Odds for the Weekend
Things I’m Looking at:
- Course history plays a major role in the field here as consistency at Riviera is key
- The fairways are thin and the greens are small here so we are looking for someone who can hit it far and give themselves a shorter shot at the green.
- Distance ranks 10th most important and Around the greens ranks 9th across all Tour events
- Despite getting the win last week and now being #1 in the world, Scottie is only third favorite here at +1000.
- Worth a sprinkle…
- Hovland is someone to strongly consider here as he has the length and the experience at Riv
- Finished 5th in 2021 and 4th last year yet still comes in at +2600
- Fitz sticks out to me at 3700 considering how well he finished Sunday. He had a long weekend but posted six under on Sunday to close the tournament
- Fitz also finished 5th here back in 2021 and was my pick last year before his WD
- Finau will be a very popular pick here this week at 1600, considering his distance and history here
- Two second place finishes, including when he shit himself in the playoffs against Homa in 2021
- Tiger Woods is +12000 and if you don’t take it then you’ll never forget reading this if he wins
THE PICKS
Winner – Viktor Hovland +2600
Over the last year some have considered me a hater of Hovland which is fair but I have always been expected him to finally win a real tournament. Riviera is the perfect place for that and it is time for him to step up. Hovland’s game doesn’t exactly fit every part of this course but he is also elite at some of the most important traits needed to succeed here. For example, we expect players to miss a lot of greens and Hovland ranks number one on Tour in scrambling from the fringe as well as within 10 yards; he is also coming in with a streak of 26 straight GIR’s which is nice to have. We know that distance is a must have at this course and is top 15 in SG: Off the Tee. That being said, I am taking a gamble on his putting here because I think that this last stat can give you some confidence. We know that bogeys will be found all around this course for everyone but Hovland has the longest streak of par or better on Tour with 27 straight rounds. Viktor is going to limit his mistakes to an absolute minimum and find himself in contention on Sunday with a chance to win the tournament for us and win our second straight tournament and elevated event.
Longshot – Tiger Woods +12000
I said it in the first paragraph of this blog and I will say it again, do I think that Tiger is an absolute lock to win this tournament? No. That being said, Riviera’s greens can only be correlated to one course here and that’s Augusta which makes me think he’s planning on putting the lights out. Tiger is here on a business trip and already said in his press conference, he wouldn’t go against this field unless he came here to win. If you want to pass on winning the easiest $1k+ on Tiger, be my guest, but I know I’ll be taking the bait here.
Scottie Sprinkles – Scottie Scheffler to Win +1000
I called him out and he stepped up. Scottie is back on top in every aspect of golf and it’s time to get ourselves a winning streak. Last year, I decided to ignite his career and let him do the running without me but this year we are staying by his side. Scottie had some chances to take this tournament back in 2022 and I think there’s a little fire in him to get another one after the long wait since Augusta.
Prop – Collin Morikawa Top 20 -105
I can’t lie, I am fucking furious at Collin after last week. I put my own name on the line and a lot of my money just for him to take a fat shit right on my chest. For fucks sake Collin, you couldn’t even cash a couple make the cut parlays for me? This one is a bit out of spite because I know this is exactly where he bounces back but he also has plenty of the necessary to traits to win this tournament. He definitely hit some bad shots last week but I think he got out of Phoenix early and hopefully took the time to remember why he’s the best ball striker in the world. The only other route outside of distance here is accuracy and if Collin isn’t missing greens like he often doesn’t then he will definitely be up there this weekend.
MORTAL LOCK – Matt Fitzpatrick Top 20 +165
I was extremely close to locking in Fitz as my winner but I just couldn’t do it after the betrayal from last year. I have a lot of confidence in Fitzy coming into this weekend between his history at Riv, his insane finish at Waste Management and his consistency in conditions similar to this course. The course is representative of a US Open course when it comes to the fairways and rough and I don’t think anyone needs to be reminded of what happened at the last US Open. Watch out for Fitz to make a run at this thing and fight Hovland for that winning spot.
Three Putt Bogeys 