Tiger Woods shot a 2-under 69 on Thursday at the Genesis Invitational to begin his quest for a record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour title.
[jwplayer BdyyPCos-9JtFt04J]
The quest for record-breaking PGA Tour win No. 83 is on and Tiger Woods is in position.
Playing and hosting this week at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, Woods began the first round with an eagle, ultimately carding a 2-under 69 on Thursday afternoon. The 15-time major champion walked off the course T-16.
Woods began the round with an eagle on the par-5 opening hole and cruised to a 4-under 31 on the front nine thanks to birdies on Nos. 5 and 8. At the turn, Woods was just three shots off the lead after hitting six of seven fairways and six of eight greens in regulation.
On the par-4 10th, known for being one of the best driveable par 4s in golf, Woods went for the green and missed left behind a cluster of trees lining the rough. His pitch came up short of the green but Woods was able to scramble for a par and keep a bogey-free round alive.
Then came the 12th hole.
Woods hit the fairway but missed with his approach off the green and left. From the fringe he lagged a chip to six feet and just missed the edge with his par putt for a bogey. He continued to grind out pars for the rest of the round until an untimely bogey on the 18th, finishing the back nine at 2-over 38.
Woods, Justin Thomas and Steve Stricker tee off once again on Friday morning at 10:16 a.m. ET off the iconic 10th hole.
Here are the tee times, groupings and viewing information for the second round of the Genesis Invitational.
[jwplayer BdyyPCos-9JtFt04J]
The 2020 Genesis Invitational heads to the second round on Friday at Riviera Country Club.
Matt Kuchar shot a scorching 64 to open the week. Kuchar’s score bettered last year’s first round by four strokes, but that wasn’t the only way in which things improved for the nine-time PGA Tour winner.
Tiger Woods, meanwhile, opened with an eagle, posted a 31 at the turn but cooled off before posting a 69.
Woods, Thomas and Stricker are one of four featured groups on Thursday and Friday. The other featured groups for the first two rounds at Riviera include defending champion J.B. Holmes, Jon Rahm and Justin Rose; the group of Patrick Cantlay, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy, and Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson.
Kuchar is the early leader at Genesis, but stars such as Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka are lurking in the wings.
[jwplayer BdyyPCos-9JtFt04J]
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — L.A. is the perfect town for sports. It’s a place where every script gets rewritten, where a horror story can morph into a fairytale, where last year’s villain can be this week’s hero. And that’s the movie Matt Kuchar is hoping to see.
Kuchar shot a 7-under-par 64 in the opening round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club to take the lead over a chasing pack that included both leading men (Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods) and bit-part players (Russell Henley, Wyndham Clark). Kuchar’s score bettered last year’s first round by four strokes, but that wasn’t the only way in which things improved for the nine-time PGA Tour winner.
A year ago Kuchar arrived at Riviera at the center of the kind of public relations nightmare that would make hardened Hollywood spin doctors cringe. For more than a month, his once pristine ‘golly gee’ reputation had been spit-roasted on social media after it emerged he paid a temporary Mexican caddie a fraction of what his regular bagman would have earned for his victory at the Mayakoba Classic several months earlier.
Even casual sports fans who don’t understand golf do understand cheap, and Kuchar was loudly heckled at several tournaments, including the ’19 Genesis. “Go low, Kuch!,” one wag shouted at him during the first round. “Just not on the gratuity.” By day’s end, Kuchar apologized and said he’d pay the stiffed caddie an extra $50,000. He went on to finish T-28, earning $50,320, which barely covered gas money spent idling in L.A. traffic after the caddie fee was deducted.
But this is a town where stars are quickly forgiven for mistreating the help, and it was polite applause rather than heckles that greeted a more cheerful Kuchar this year. “It’s a place that I absolutely love coming every year,” he said afterward.
His pursuers include McIlroy, who was playing his first round as world No. 1 in almost five years. The Northern Irishman’s opening 68 included as many eagles as bogeys (a brace of each) and he predicted things will only get tougher as the week goes on. “The afternoon tomorrow is going to play a lot different than how it played this morning, it’s going to be dry again and the course is going to firm up,” he said. “It’s going to keep getting trickier and you’re going to have to really think your way around this place. I’m looking forward to that.”
McIlroy is facing challengers who could depose him from the top spot in the rankings with solid performances at Riviera. Brooks Koepka, the man McIlroy ousted on Monday, can return the favor. Koepka shot 69 to keep himself in the mix. Jon Rahm, the fiery Spaniard who can also become No. 1 this week was among the later starters and also playing well.
A victory for tournament host Tiger Woods would give him a record-breaking 83rd win on the PGA Tour, but it would be his first at the venue where he debuted as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992. There is no other event on Tour that Woods has played as often without a win. The Masters champion was among the later starters but announced himself early with an eagle at the opening hole. By the time Kuchar was slipping off his spikes in the locker room, a surging Woods was within three shots of his lead.
Golf is not an ensemble sport. There is room for just one principal player on Sunday night, no matter how many stars are jostling for the part. But for one day at least, last year’s villain could bask in being this week’s hero. “To shoot a number like this, you kind of do most things well,” Kuchar said earnestly. “I didn’t find myself in much trouble today.”
Follow Tiger Woods’ Thursday round at the Genesis Invitational with shot-by-shot updates.
[jwplayer BdyyPCos-9JtFt04J]
Tiger Woods is on the prowl once again this week, hunting down that record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour victory.
The 15-time major champion is back where it all started in 1992 when he made his Tour debut at Riviera Country Club at just 16 years old. Flash-forward to 2020 and the 44-year-old Woods is now hosting his own Tour event, the Genesis Invitational. Despite his success on the West coast, Woods has never won at Riviera.
Woods will tee off alongside Justin Thomas (for the third consecutive year at Riviera) and Steve Stricker at 2:41 p.m. ET. Follow along for shot-by-shot updates from his opening round.
The 2020 Genesis Invitational has a loaded field of 120 golfers, headlined by host Tiger Woods and World No. 1 Rory McIlroy.
[jwplayer BdyyPCos-9JtFt04J]
The 2020 Genesis Invitational has a loaded field of 120 golfers, headlined by host Tiger Woods and World No. 1 Rory McIlroy.
For Woods, it would seem oddly fitting if his record-breaking 83rd win were to come at Riviera Country Club, which has proven barren terrain for him since his debut as a 16-year-old in 1992.
For McIlroy, “What’s not to like?”, he asked at his news conference on Wednesday afternoon. He’ll tee it up on Thursday while sitting atop the OWGR for the first time in nearly five years.
McIlroy says his work has only started as he replaces Brooks Koepka as golf’s No. 1 player in the world.
[jwplayer BdyyPCos-9JtFt04J]
Nine of the top 10 players in the world are competing this week at Los Angeles’ Riviera Country Club at the Genesis Invitational.
“I mean, what’s not to like?” asked Rory McIlroy at his news conference on Wednesday afternoon before Thursday’s opening round.
What’s not to like, indeed.
Life has been going well for McIlroy as of late. The reigning FedEx Cup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year will tee it up as the world No. 1 for the first time since 2015 this week, a fact he can’t quite get away from.
“Yeah, everyone keeps saying congratulations,” McIlroy said of his regained status as golf’s best. “I said the work’s only started, staying there is the hard part.”
The 30-year-old was peppered with questions about his ranking, and in true Rory-fashion, he answered them all thoughtfully. One point was present in each answer, though. Consistency.
“The mathematics add up that I’m the top of the list right now and obviously I have a chance to stay there this week, but I’ve always said it’s a by product of doing the right things week in, week out, playing well, shooting good scores, trying to win tournaments,” said the 18-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Last season McIlroy led the Tour with 14 top-10 finishes in addition to his trio of victories at the Players Championship, RBC Canadian Open and the season-finale Tour Championship.
“You have to be an eternal optimist in this game. I’m very proud of my top-10 ratio,” explained McIlroy. “I think it just speaks to consistency and being up there week in, week out … I always feel in golf and winning there’s quite a randomness to it. Some weeks you get the right bounces, some weeks you don’t, but at the end of the year it all sort of evens out.”
Staying with consistency, McIlroy has been the poster child for the word this season. So far on his 2019-20 PGA Tour season, McIlroy hasn’t finished worse than third. In October he started with a T-3 at the inaugural Zozo Championship, won by Tiger Woods, then won the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions the following week. After finishing fourth in a European Tour event in Dubai, he tied for third again late last month at the Farmers Insurance Open.
“I rarely set myself goals of ‘I want to win this’ and ‘I want to win that’ because all of those goals are just a by‑product of doing the little things right and I’m a big believer in that,” said McIlroy. “If you get the little things right day after day after day and you practice good habits and those habits become completely ingrained in what you do, the rest will follow.”
In addition to questions about how he spend his free time – McIlroy loves Quentin Tarantino and especially liked the director’s most-recent film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – McIlroy addressed the Twitter-driven storyline of a potential rivalry, for lack of a better word, with former world No. 1 Brooks Koepka.
“It feels like it’s been a one way (rivalry),” said McIlroy, adding he didn’t take any satisfaction from overtaking Koepka as No. 1.
“I keep saying golf isn’t about the other people, golf is about yourself and golf’s about getting the best out of what you have,” said McIlroy. “If you keep doing that and you keep that mindset, everything else will fall into place.”
Phil Mickelson’s brother Tim won’t be on the bag this week for Lefty at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.
[jwplayer BdyyPCos-9JtFt04J]
Phil Mickelson will have a different caddie on the bag this week at Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational.
Lefty’s brother Tim, a former agent at Lagardère Sports and college golf coach at San Diego and Arizona State, took over the looping duties in 2017 when Phil’s longtime caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay joined NBC and the Golf Channel as an on-course commentator.
On Wednesday afternoon Tim took to Twitter to reveal he was dealing with “a couple lingering injuries” and needed to take the week off to recover. This week at the Genesis Invitational Phil will have Andrew Getson on the bag.
Due to a couple lingering injuries, with Phil’s blessing and encouragement I’m taking this week off from caddying to rest and recover. Andrew Getson will be on the bag this week for me. Gotta be healthy for the ‘majors’ stretch coming up soon.
Getson, a star junior golfer as a child and former professional on the Asian, Australian and then-Nationwide Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour) resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is a golf instructor.
Phil finished third while attempting to defend his AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title last week at Pebble Beach Golf Links and will compete in his fifth consecutive event this week. He previously missed the cut at both the American Express and Farmers Insurance Open before heading to the European Tour’s Saudi International, where he finished T-3 the first week of February.
In episode 33 of Forward Press, Golfweek’s David Dusek and Adam Schupak discuss the week ahead at Riviera and the Genesis Invitational.
In episode 33 of Forward Press, Golfweek’s David Dusek and Adam Schupak chat about Nick Taylor’s win at Pebble Beach, what’s ahead for Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods looking to win for the first time at Riviera and 83rd time overall.
Forward Press is a weekly Golfweek podcast. In each episode, you’ll get insight and commentary on all that is golf from David Dusek, Steve DiMeglio, Beth Ann Nichols, Eamon Lynch and Adam Schupak, as well as special guests throughout the industry.
At a place he’s never putted well, Woods opens up about his long ties to Riviera, the Premier Golf League and the USGA’s distance report.
[jwplayer BdyyPCos-9JtFt04J]
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — It takes effort to locate a venue on the PGA Tour where Tiger Woods has underperformed. Across 82 victories, he has established ownership at so many courses — Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Firestone, Augusta National — that it would seem oddly fitting if his record-breaking 83rd win were to come at Riviera Country Club, which has proven barren terrain for Woods since his debut as a 16-year-old in 1992.
The Woods of 28 years ago was all gawky teenage promise. The man playing host at this week’s Genesis Open, which benefits his eponymous foundation, is a poised legend and owner of 15 major championships. But not a single one of his many victories was authored at Riviera, where he has competed 12 times. There is no other event on the Tour schedule that he has played as often without at least one trophy hoist.
“I have historically never really putted well here,” Woods said Tuesday morning by way of explanation, before admitting that he’s been trash talked by another star who knows something about winning around Riviera. “Yesterday when I was out there with Bubba [Watson], he was giving me pretty good grief. He’s won here, what, three times, and I haven’t.”
A first win won’t get any easier either. With Woods as host, the Genesis Open now consistently draws the first strong field of the year. Nine of the world’s top 10 players are here. Tougher competition is a trade-off Woods welcomes in service of his bigger goal: raising money for his foundation.“Without the players’ support, the top players playing in the event, obviously we wouldn’t be able to fundraise, we wouldn’t be able to help as many kids as we are going forward,” he said. “To have those players come out and support this event is huge for us.”
Woods’ memories go back far beyond that teenage debut almost three decades ago to when he was a child spectator. “This was the second professional event I ever went to besides San Diego, coming up here and watching the guys play. It was the coolest thing,” he said. He told a story of once finding himself standing by Tom Watson’s errant ball as Watson’s legendary caddie, the late Bruce Edwards, arrived. “I’m basically one of the only ones over there and Bruce was on the bag and I’m standing looking at the golf ball. He comes over and says, ‘Move out of the way, kid,’ and pushes me out of the way,” Woods said with a laugh.
He says he told Edwards that story years later. “Well, you were in the way,” the bagman joked.
As a young spectator, Tiger Woods once followed Tom Watson during a round at Riviera Country Club. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Woods was asked about the two biggest stories in golf right now: a proposed splinter tour called Premier Golf League, and the fractious distance debate. He pointed out that early in his career he beat Davis Love III in a playoff in which Love was using a persimmon driver. “To see the technology advance as fast as it has, the average distance was, from when I first came out on here, if you carry it 270, it took a lot of trouble out of play. Now guys are hitting their hybrids and 5-woods 270 in the air,” he said. “So the game has evolved and it’s changed. We’re running out of property to try and design golf courses that are from the back 7,800 to 8,000 yards, it’s difficult.”
Pushed on whether there ought to be different rules governing equipment for pros and recreational golfers, Woods demurred. “Part of the discussion going forward is do we bifurcate or not. It’s going to be probably even well after my career and playing days that we will figure that out,” the 44-year-old said.
Woods did acknowledge that his management team has been approached about Premier Golf League, the backers of which planned to make their latest pitch to players and agents Tuesday evening near Riviera. “We’ve delved into the details of it and trying to figure it out like everyone else,” he said, while pointing out that the reasoning behind the League is valid.
“You’re trying to get the top players to play more collectively. It’s one of the reasons why we instituted the World Golf Championships, because we were only getting together five times a year, the four majors and the Players,” he added. “We wanted to showcase the top players on more than just those occasions. And so this is a natural evolution, whether or not things like this are going to happen, but ideas like this are going to happen going forward, whether it’s now or any other time in the future.”
Whatever Woods’ competitive future looks like — what equipment he is playing with, what Tour he is playing on — is of considerably less importance to him this week than ending a long drought at a course that has loomed large in his storied career. “I’ve played in a number of events over the years and for me not to win an event that has meant so much to me in my hometown,” he admitted. “I’ve done well in San Diego, I’ve done well at Sherwood, just haven’t done well here. So hopefully I can put together this week and we’ll have a great conversation on Sunday.”
