Tag: Riviera Country Club

The reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year is cashing in this year through a busy schedule

He has already amassed $1.37 million this season although he will finally enjoy a week off.

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Eric Cole was not happy with the way he hit the ball from tee to green during Friday’s second round of the Genesis Invitational, so he headed to the range following his 18 holes and got to work. It paid off on Saturday.

And then it paid off again after Sunday’s final round, when Cole earned nearly a half-million dollars.

Cole, the South Florida resident and the PGA Tour’s 2023 rookie of the year, not only fired a 6-under 65 during the second round, but he was first in the field in strokes gained: tee to green for the day when he finished his round.

“Got some things dialed in,” Cole said. “It was definitely better (Saturday). Made a couple of putts on top of that.”

Cole improved each of the first three days at Riviera Country Club with scores of 73, 69 and 65. His final-round 69 dropped him out of contention, but he still finished strong enough to place in a six-way tie with Tommy Fleetwood, Sam Burns, Scottie Scheffler, Adam Svensson and J.T. Poston for 10th place.

That proved enough to walk home with $455,000.

Hideki Matsuyama won the event after a bogey-free 9-under 62 on Sunday. For his efforts, Matsuyama took home the signature event’s top prize of $4 million, nearly double what he earned for his 2021 Masters victory.

Will Zalatoris (69) and Luke List (68), who finished T-2 at 14 under, each took home $1.8 million as a consolation prize.

More: 2024 Genesis Invitational prize money payouts for each PGA Tour player

But for Cole, his breakout year in 2023, the year in which he turned 35. He played 37 events with seven top 10s, including two seconds. One of those was the Honda Classic (now Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches) where he lost a playoff to Chris Kirk. Cole will return to play in this year’s Cognizant, which starts Feb. 29 at PGA National.

All of that resulted in Cole capturing the tour’s Rookie of the Year, 50 years after his mom, Laura Baugh, won the same award on the LPGA Tour. He is the second-oldest player to be named top rookie behind Todd Hamilton, who was 39 when he won in 2004. The Rookie of the Year Award was established in 1990.

Cole, who has risen to a career-high No. 37 in the world rankings (he was No. 328 one year ago) continues to seek his first PGA Tour win. Genesis marked his seventh straight start this season. He now has five top-25 finishes and has already amassed $1.37 million this season although he will finally enjoy a week off as the Tour travels to Mexico this week.

“I always have high expectations for myself,” he said. “Maybe it’s not as big of a shock to other people this year versus last year but golf is a tough sport and anytime you have a good day it’s a good thing. It’s always a good feeling when you have a good day.”

Tom D’Angelo is a sports columnist and reporter at The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com. Follow him on social media @tomdangelo44.

2024 Genesis Invitational prize money payouts for each PGA Tour player

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour.

It pays to play well on the PGA Tour. Just ask this week’s winner, Hideki Matsuyama.

The 31-year-old from Japan won the 2024 Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles after a bogey-free 9-under 62 on Sunday. For his efforts, Matsuyama will take home the signature event’s top prize of $4 million, nearly double what he earned for his 2021 Masters victory.

Will Zalatoris (69) and Luke List (68), who finished T-2 at 14 under, will each take home $1.8 million as a consolation prize.

With $20 million up for grabs, check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2024 Genesis Invitational.

Prize money payouts

Position Player Score Earnings
1 Hideki Matsuyama -17 $4,000,000
T2 Luke List -14 $1,800,000
T2 Will Zalatoris -14 $1,800,000
T4 Adam Hadwin -13 $866,667
T4 Xander Schauffele -13 $866,667
T4 Patrick Cantlay -13 $866,667
7 Harris English -12 $700,000
8 Tom Hoge -11 $646,000
9 Jason Day -9 $600,000
T10 Sam Burns -8 $455,000
T10 Tommy Fleetwood -8 $455,000
T10 Scottie Scheffler -8 $455,000
T10 Eric Cole -8 $455,000
T10 Adam Svensson -8 $455,000
T10 J.T. Poston -8 $455,000
T16 Byeong Hun An -7 $329,000
T16 Max Homa -7 $329,000
T16 Cameron Young -7 $329,000
T19 Collin Morikawa -6 $251,400
T19 Ludvig Aberg -6 $251,400
T19 Viktor Hovland -6 $251,400
T19 Adam Scott -6 $251,400
T19 Tony Finau -6 $251,400
T24 Lee Hodges -5 $164,857
T24 Tom Kim -5 $164,857
T24 Rory McIlroy -5 $164,857
T24 Russell Henley -5 $164,857
T24 Christiaan Bezuidenhout -5 $164,857
T24 Beau Hossler -5 $164,857
T24 Corey Conners -5 $164,857
T31 Taylor Moore -4 $123,000
T31 Seamus Power -4 $123,000
T31 Brendon Todd -4 $123,000
T31 Mackenzie Hughes -4 $123,000
T35 Rickie Fowler -3 $106,500
T35 Lucas Glover -3 $106,500
T37 Sahith Theegala -2 $96,500
T37 Ben Griffin -2 $96,500
T39 Nicolai Hojgaard -1 $82,000
T39 Gary Woodland -1 $82,000
T39 Denny McCarthy -1 $82,000
T39 Nick Taylor -1 $82,000
T39 Kurt Kitayama -1 $82,000
T44 Emiliano Grillo E $62,400
T44 Si Woo Kim E $62,400
T44 Andrew Putnam E $62,400
T44 Sungjae Im E $62,400
T44 Brian Harman E $62,400
49 Cam Davis 2 $54,000
50 Charley Hoffman 4 $52,000
51 Chase Johnson 5 $51,000

There were 51 golfers in the original 70-man field who made the cut. After Tiger Woods’ withdrawal and Jordan Spieth’s disqualification, there were 17 who missed the cut but the signature event still doled out money to them, starting with $50,000 to the No. 52 finisher on down to $32,000 at the bottom.

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Jordan Spieth congratulates Hideki Matsuyama on 2024 Genesis Invitational win with disqualification joke

“Great playing Hideki! Just make sure you double check that scorecard…”

Self-deprecating humor is often the best kind of humor.

Exhibit A: Jordan Spieth on Sunday.

The 13-time winner on the PGA Tour loves Riviera Country Club and the Genesis Invitational. It’s one of his favorite PGA Tour stops on the schedule. Spieth regrettably signed for an incorrect scorecard after the second round, which led to his disqualification from the event and cut his week short.

With some free time on his hands, Spieth was watching as Hideki Matsuyama shot a bogey-free 9-under 62 to win the Genesis at 17 under and had some helpful (and humorous) advice.

If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

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Sizzling 62 at Riviera: Hideki Matsuyama smiling again after winning 2024 Genesis Invitational

The win is the ninth of Matsuyama’s PGA Tour career and first since the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Hideki Matsuyama is his own toughest critic.

The 31-year-old past Masters champion has developed a reputation for reacting as if he hated his shot more than hot sauce on ice cream only for the shot in question to be a thing of beauty.

Wearing his Sunday yellow golf shirt, even Matsuyama couldn’t resist cracking a smile as he struck irons on back-to-back holes on the back nine to within a foot to set up kick-in birdies and win the Genesis Invitational.

“It was 184 into the wind and I executed perfectly,” Matsuyama said through his agent, Ken Harai, who served as his interpreter, of his 6-iron at 15. “Happy with how I struck it.”

The Japanese star broke out of a five-way tie for the lead with three birdies in his final four holes to shoot bogey-free 9-under 62 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California, the lowest final-round score in tournament history.

Matsuyama, who has battled a neck injury the last two years, won for the ninth time on the PGA Tour, breaking out of a tie with Korea’s K.J. Choi for the most wins by an Asian-born male golfer, signing for a 72-hole total of 17-under 267 to defeat Luke List and Will Zalatoris by three strokes.

“There were a lot of times where I felt, you know, I was never going to win again,” Matsuyama said.

He erased a six-shot overnight deficit by making three birdies to start both nines of his round. Matsuyama drained his longest putt of the tournament at the 12th hole, a 46-foot birdie, to reach 14 under and cut the deficit to one. Patrick Cantlay led after each of the first three days but faded on Sunday, shooting 72 and finished T-4. He played alongside Xander Schauffele (70), the best man at his wedding, whose birdie at the 10th hole was the first of the day for either of the competitors in the final group. Cantlay ended his string of nine straight pars at the 10th with a bogey to trail by two. He bounced back with a birdie at 11 but was upstaged by Schauffele, who holed a bunker shot for eagle. Both improved to 14 under and joined a five-way tie for the lead when List (68), who vaulted in front with six threes in his first seven holes, made bogey at 12. Zalatoris, who underwent a microdiscectomy on his back in April, reached 15 under with a birdie at 13 but it turned out to be his last of the day (69).

“I’ve got a lot of silver in my house so getting another second place doesn’t really sit that well, but obviously coming back from what I had to go through physically, you know, we’re in the right direction,” Zalatoris said. “Hats off to Hideki, that is just stellar playing.”

Matsuyama broke out of the pack with his third stretch of three birdies in a row. At 15, he flushed an iron from 189 yards to inside a foot for his seventh birdie of the day. At the par-3, 160-yard 16th hole, his tee shot looked like instant replay but it wasn’t – this time he stuffed his tee shot to 6 inches.

“I hit it maybe like five yards to the right of my target, but it became a good shot,” he explained. “All is good.”

Matsuyama, the critic, rated his ball striking for the rest of the round as more like he’d shot 75 than 62. He credited his putter and short game for his birdie barrage. Matsuyama chipped close at the par-5 17th for his final birdie of the day. His long-range birdie putt at the last to tie the course record burned the left edge of the cup.

Tiger Woods, who serves as tournament host at the Genesis Invitational, withdrew from the tournament after completing just six holes on Friday citing illness. He confirmed on Saturday via social media that he had the flu and missed the trophy presentation.

“A little disappointed that I wasn’t able to take a picture with Tiger today,” Matsuyama said.

He had been winless since the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii, last recorded a top-10 finish nearly a year ago at the Players Championship in March, and had dropped out of the top 50 in the world a month ago. (He entered the week at No. 55.) Matsuyama’s injury dates to the 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational and it caused him to withdraw most recently from the BMW Championship in August.

“Ever since that injury, I was worried every week that something bad might happen to my neck,” he said.

Matsuyama confirmed that his neck has been improving this year and he’s felt pain-free.

“I had this feeling of I can do something special maybe this year,” he said. “This week I played without any worries so that really helped too.”

 It helped him stand tallest on Sunday in the city of angels.

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Watch: Tom Kim rushes to make his tee time at Genesis Invitational

“Kim is hustling, I mean, high-tailing it to the first tee because his tee time is just moments away.”

Tom Kim nearly was late for his tee time Sunday at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.

Kim, 21, was scheduled to tee off in the eighth tee time of the day alongside Rickie Fowler at 8 a.m. local time.

But Kim was in danger of a two-stroke penalty for being late or potentially being disqualified if he arrived more than five minutes late. PGA Tour Live showed Kim rushing to the first tee ahead of his final-round tee time. “Kim is hustling, I mean, high-tailing it to the first tee because his tee time is just moments away,” an announcer said.

Kim made it in time but he may have been flustered as he made par for the first time at No. 1 all week after three straight birdies at the downhill, short par-5.

Emergency bathroom trip? Waiting on a breakfast sandwich to go that took too long? Read his tee time wrong like Lucas Glover did last week in Phoenix? We’ve all been there, done that, in one form or another. While we don’t know for sure what delayed Kim, we sure are happy he made it in time.

Riviera Country Club on tap to host three major events in next seven years. Which ones?

The classic course is a favorite among pretty much everyone on Tour.

Famed Riviera Country Club is the annual host for the Genesis Invitational on the PGA Tour. The classic course is a favorite among pretty much everyone on Tour.

The Riv ranks No. 4 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in each state, and it’s No. 18 among all classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S. The course is a par-71 layout measuring 7,322 yards.

Previous championships held there include the 1995 PGA Championship, the 1983 PGA Championship, the 1948 U.S. Open as well as the 2012 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship.

Here’s a closer look at three significant events coming to Riviera.

2024 Genesis Invitational Sunday tee times, how to watch PGA Tour at Riviera Country Club

Everything you need to know ahead of the final round at Riviera Country Club.

Patrick Cantlay’s five-stroke 36-hole lead at the Genesis Invitational shrunk by three on Saturday, as he leads Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris by two shots at 14 under.

Schauffele and Zalatoris both carded 6-under 65s.

Riviera Country Club ranks No. 4 in California on Golfweek’s Best list of private courses in each state, and it’s No. 18 among all classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S. The course is a par-71 layout measuring 7,322 yards.

The purse is $20 million with $4 million going to the winner Sunday. The winner will also receive 700 FedEx Cup points. The Genesis is one of three signature events with a $4 million first-place prize in 2024.

Genesis: Photos from Riviera

From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the final round of the 2024 Genesis Invitational. All times listed are ET.

Sunday tee times

1st tee

Tee time Players
9:55 a.m. Emiliano Grillo
10 a.m. Charley Hoffman, Chase Johnson
10:10 a.m. Andrew Putnam, Nicolai Hojgaard
10:20 a.m. Gary Woodland, Lee Hodges
10:30 a.m. Cam Davis, Si Woo Kim
10:40 a.m. Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala
10:50 a.m. Denny McCarthy, Sungjae Im
11 a.m. Rickie Fowler, Tom Kim
11:10 a.m. Ludvig Aberg, Brian Harman
11:20 a.m. Tommy Fleetwood, Taylor Moore
11:35 a.m. Viktor Hovland, Ben An
11:45 a.m. Rory McIlroy, Nick Taylor
11:55 a.m. Seamus Power, Sam Burns
12:05 p.m. Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler
12:15 p.m.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Brendon Todd
12:25 p.m. Russell Henley, Kurt Kitayama
12:35 p.m. Tony Finau, Lucas Glover
12:45 p.m. Adam Scott, Cameron Young
12:55 p.m. Eric Cole, Ben Griffin
1:05 p.m. Tom Hoge, Mackenzie Hughes
1:20 p.m. Adam Hadwin, Beau Hossler
1:31 p.m. Corey Conners, Adam Svensson
1:42 p.m. J.T. Poston, Hideki Matsuyama
1:53 p.m. Harris English, Jason Day
2:04 p.m. Will Zalatoris, Luke List
2:15 p.m. Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele

How to watch, listen

ESPN+ is the exclusive home of PGA Tour Live. You can also watch the Genesis Invitational on Golf Channel free on Fubo. All times ET.

Sunday, Feb. 18

Golf Channel/Peacock: 1-3 p.m.

CBS: 3-6:30 p.m.

Sirius XM: 1-6:30 p.m

ESPN+: 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m

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Patrick Cantlay’s lead shrinks, here comes Will Zalatoris and more from 2024 Genesis Invitational

Catch up on all of Saturday’s action here.

A Tiger Woods-less Genesis Invitational continued Saturday at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.

Woods withdrew Friday afternoon and revealed Saturday via his Twitter/X account that he came down with the flu.

As for the players still on property, Patrick Cantlay holds a two-shot 54-hole lead after a third-round 1-under 70. Three birdies and two bogeys were good enough to keep a charging group at an arm’s distance, a pack that includes his best buddy Xander Schauffele.

Schauffele, after a 6-under 65 on Day 3, is two shots back at 12 under and tied for second alongside Will Zalatoris (who we’ll get to in a bit).

If you missed Saturday’s action, here are five things to know from the third round of the Genesis Invitational.

Genesis Invitational: Photos | Fans react to Jordan Spieth DQ

Tiger Woods provides health update after WD from 2024 Genesis Invitational

“I am resting and feeling better.”

On Friday, Tiger Woods withdrew from the Genesis Invitational due to flu-like symptoms after playing six holes of his second round.

Social media began to think it was another injury before the PGA Tour provided an update stating the problem was illness.

Woods’ team told the media the 15-time major champion started to feel symptoms Thursday night, and they were only worse when he woke up in the morning.

On Saturday, Woods provided an update via his Twitter/X account: “I would like to confirm that I had to withdraw from (the Genesis Invitational) due to illness, which we now know is influenza. I am resting and feeling better.”

Genesis: Jordan Spieth DQ’d | 7 stars to miss cut

Right call or outdated rule? Social media reacts to Jordan Spieth’s DQ at 2024 Genesis Invitational

Does the rule need to be changed?

Friday was a wild day at the 2024 Genesis Invitational.

First, there was tournament host Tiger Woods withdrawing from the tournament at Riviera Country Club because of an illness, even a scare with an ambulance waiting to possibly take him away. Then after the round was completed, one of the stars of the PGA Tour was disqualified.

Jordan Spieth was DQ’d after signing an incorrect scorecard. Spieth signed for a 3 after making a 4 on the 245-yard, par-3 fourth hole. He hit his tee shot into the left rough, chipped to within four feet and then missed the par putt.

Spieth owned up to his mistake, posting on his social media accounts about the ordeal.

The announcement came late Friday night, with Spieth in the third-to-final group of the day, and it sent social media into a frenzy discussing the rule and how it happened in the first place.

However, that didn’t stop the shortage of people discussing whether the rule needed to be changed or if it was the right call. Here are some of the best reactions to Spieth’s DQ: