The PGA Tour heads to Los Angeles for the Genesis Invitational, which hosts the strongest field of the season thus far. Nine of the top 10 ranked players in the world rankings visit Riviera Country Club.
Rory McIlroy moved to No. 1 last week and is the tournament favorite at 15/2 at William Hill. McIlroy finished tied for fourth here last year. The previous No. 1, Brooks Koepka, probably is at his largest price in the last couple of years. He’s 20/1 at William Hill but can be had at as high as 28/1 in the market. This is Koepka’s first stateside appearance of the season. He played two events in the Middle East after returning from a knee injury.
Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, third and fourth in the world, respectively, are the co-second choices at 10/1. Rahm finished tied for ninth at Riviera in his debut last year, while Thomas led most of the final round but ended up second. Dustin Johnson (14/1), ranked fifth in the world rankings, is a former champion here (2017) and has six top-four finishes in the past 10 years at Riviera.
Then there’s Tiger Woods (16/1), tied with Sam Snead with 82 PGA Tour wins and chasing a record 83 while serving as the tournament’s host.
Here are some players with longer odds who could challenge for the championship:
The plays
Patrick Cantlay (18/1): Cantlay has finished 15th and fourth the past two times. He played his collegiate golf at nearby UCLA, so he is very experienced at Riviera.
Tony Finau (25/1): He’s had a week off after losing a two-shot lead with two holes to play at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and falling in the playoff to Webb Simpson. Finau was the runner-up in 2018 and is priced shorter than he was in a lesser field two weeks ago in Scottsdale, where he was 33/1. That could indicate a bit of a tell sign in the marketplace.
Marc Leishman (35/1): Leishman triumphed over arguably the best field of the season at Torrey Pines in San Diego three weeks ago, and due to the quality of this week’s field, his price is still very generous. He likes to hit fades and those are the ideal shots at Riviera. Leishman has two top fives here in his past four visits to the club.
Collin Morikawa (50/1): Morikawa is 20 events into his young PGA Tour career and still has yet to miss a cut. He currently sits No. 53 in the world rankings and must move up into the top 50 in order to play at next week’s WGC Mexico. He also has Riviera experience, having finished eighth in the stroke-play portion of the 2017 U.S. Amateur. Morikawa turned 23 last week and is already one of the better iron players on tour. A win in his native L.A. would be the perfect birthday present to himself.
Joaquin Niemann (80/1): Niemann tends to like more classical, tree-lined tracks and that’s what he will find this week. Niemann was sixth in the stroke-play portion of the 2017 U.S. Amateur at Riviera.
Cameron Champ (80/1): Even though you don’t have to be a bomber to win at Riviera, plenty have in recent years, including Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, J.B. Holmes and Phil Mickelson. Champ fits that profile.