The Genesis Invitational
Preview for The Genesis Invitational: It was a fantastic week of golf last week in Phoenix and we’re blessed with another star-studded field again this week with yet another $20M up for grabs and the winner takes home $3.6M. This event started as the Los Angeles Open in 1926, has been known as The Genesis Invitational since 2020, and has been played at this particular course since 1999. The record at this event has been maintained by Lanny Wadkins since 1985 when he shot a -20 to easily win by 7 strokes over Hal Sutton. Winners of The Genesis Invitational over the past five years include Joaquin Niemann in 2022, Max Homa in 2021, Adam Scott in 2020, J.B. Holmes in 2019, and Bubba Watson in 2018.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is again a ridiculous $20M, the winner collects a hearty $3.6M and also earns himself 550 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Riviera Country Club is a par 71, stretches out to 7,322 yards, and the large greens are poa annua. The winning score here over the past decade ranges from -6 to -19, so obviously, the weather and the course setup dictate what the scoring looks like on an annual basis. Some core key stats to factor in this week, in order, includes driving distance, strokes gained: around the green, strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: approach and strokes gained: putting.
The field: The field is set at 132 players again this week, and the top 65 players plus ties after round 2 on Friday will advance to play the weekend rounds. We get to see Tiger Woods this week, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, and Scottie Scheffler, along with the top 23 out of 25 players in the world, so enjoy! On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be an A.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of the data, predictions, and insights from this article to help with your fantasy golf picks for The Genesis Invitational. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to The Genesis Invitational this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Tony Finau, Rickie Fowler, Wyndham Clark, Xander Schauffele, Joel Dahmen, and Adam Hadwin.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Jon Rahm, Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Rickie Fowler, Sungjae Im, and Justin Thomas.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 8 rounds) at this event since 2018? Viktor Hovland, Max Homa, Adam Scott, Tony Finau, Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy, and Justin Thomas.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some tasty data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Jon Rahm (Salary: DraftKings – $11.1K) – He’s just so consistently strong and has been unbelievable on the PGA Tour since mid-August with eight top 8’s over his last nine starts – two of those were wins. He has done quite well at this event with two top 9’s in four starts and has finished no lower than T21. The aforementioned T21 came last year no thanks to losing 4.82 strokes with his short game, but it was his 9.39 ball striking that has my firm attention and his other three starts here he has gained anywhere from 0.99 to 6.24 strokes with his short game. He’s a mega threat this week! Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T21, 2021 – T5, 2020 – T17, and 2019 – T9.
Scottie Scheffler (Salary: DraftKings – $10.7K) – Scheffler was outstanding last week winning the Phoenix Open thanks to a whopping 12.22 strokes gained ball striking and another 5.68 with his short game. He has five top 3’s over his last nine starts and another three more top 11’s during that stretch, plus he had a T7 here last year. Every year’s results keep improving at this venue for Scottie, so if that trend continues he should be right in the hunt to win for the second time in two weeks. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T7, 2021 – T20, 2020 – T30, and 2018 – Cut.
Rory McIlroy (Salary: DraftKings – $10.5K) – I was big on Rory last week but his putter let him down losing 3.29 strokes and steering him to a T32 finish. Over his last thirteen starts he has three wins, one 2nd, a 3rd, two 5ths and a T8. He has three top 10’s here since 2019 and his stats looked quite solid outside of his missed cut here in 2021. He burnt me a bit last week, but I’m more than willing to give him a second chance this week for numerous obvious reasons. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T10, 2021 – Cut, 2020 – T5, 2019 – T4, and 2018 – T20.
Tony Finau (Salary: DraftKings – $9.5K) – Much the same as McIlroy above, Finau had a cold putter last week but thanks to every other part of his game being in strong form, he had a T14. He has three wins since last July, several other top 10’s, and he’s so solid throughout his bag. He has been right in the mix to win here twice over the last five years, and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he’s all over the leaderboard this week, as well. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T33, 2021 – 2nd, 2020 – T51, 2019 – T15, and 2018 – T2.
Jason Day (Salary: DraftKings – $8.4K) – I hate his weak track record here as he has done no better than T62 in five starts, but I just can’t ignore his results since last October with seven top 21’s in his last eight starts and his best came just last week in Arizona finishing 5th thanks to gaining strokes across the board. If he finds a soft touch around the greens this week then he’s a threat to finish top 10 since the rest of his game is quite solid. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2020 – Cut.
Adam Scott (Salary: DraftKings – $8.0K) – Scott won here three years ago and has done quite well here on regular basis including three top 7’s since 2019 and six top 11’s since 2013. He’s been quite good since last season’s playoffs with two T5’s in the first two legs, and he has five straight top 29’s. His stats aren’t very impressive by any means, but I really like his history here, he has a decent salary number, and he should be ready and raring to go this week since he hasn’t played for a month. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T4, 2021 – T38, 2020 – Won, 2019 – T7, and 2018 – T53.
Nick Taylor (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – Things were all square between Scheffler and Taylor last week after 10 holes in round 4 and he finished runner-up ahead of Rahm and all others, and the Canuck now has three top 20’s in his last four starts including a T7 at the Sony Open. He hasn’t been a star at this tournament but is 5/6 here since 2016 and his best finish was last year – finishing T20. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2021 – T20, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – T33, and 2018 – T41.
Wyndham Clark (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – Don’t look now but Clark has two T10’s in his last four starts, four top 16’s in his last seven starts, and this event has a lot of appeal to him given his length and admirable short game. It’s also a positive that Wyndham has finished inside the top 17 here twice since 2020 including his T8 two years ago, so he has a few things working to his advantage this week. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – WD, 2021 – T8, and 2020 – T17.
Taylor Moore (Salary: DraftKings – $7.2K) – With more than 12 strokes gained ball striking over his last three events and finishing T11 to T14 in those starts, Moore looks like a legit option this week for your hybrid and stars and scrubs lineups. Additionally, Taylor finished just outside of the top 20 here in 2022 – his first look at Riviera. He looks pretty decent to have a top 25 this week, and that will more than pay off his low $7K salary number. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T21.
Adrian Meronk (Salary: DraftKings – 6.9K) – He hasn’t played in many events on the PGA Tour just yet, but did have a T42 at the Open Championship last year. What I’m most interested in though is his great play in Europe with four top 10’s in his last five starts including two wins if you count the group play Hero Cup event. He’s risky but should be low-owned and could pull down a top 30 this week. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: None.
Sam Ryder (Salary: DraftKings – $6.7K) – Ryder is another interesting play in the $6K range since he had a T4 at the Farmers Insurance Open two starts ago, came in T20 last week, and had a T8 six starts ago in Mexico. Another plus is he finished T26 at this venue last year – if he does that again this week then that’s strong value for a player of his salary. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T26, 2020 – Cut, and 2019 – T56.
Justin Thomas (Salary: DraftKings – $10.1K) – JT really started to pour it on down the stretch in round 4 last week to finish 4th on the back of strong ball striking and around the green play. He has been sort of hit or miss at this event with a 2nd, a 6th, and a T9 since 2018, but he also has two missed cuts mixed in there. I expect to see a solid week out of Thomas this week – carrying his momentum from Phoenix to LA. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T6, 2021 – Cut, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – 2nd, and 2018 – T9.
Max Homa (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – The Cali talent tends to play quite well in his home state and that’s no exception here with a win in 2021 and three consecutive top 10’s while gaining strokes across the board for the last three years – wow! Homa won two starts ago at the Farmers Insurance Open, has two top 3’s over his last three starts, and he also won last September at the Fortinet Championship. He’s pricey this week given the strength of the field, but the investment in him I believe is justified given all of the factors at play. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T10, 2021 – Won, 2020 – T5, and 2019 – T37.
Patrick Rodgers (Salary: DraftKings – $7.0K) – Coming off a T14 last week in Arizona, Rodgers also has four other top 16’s over his last seven starts excluding the Phoenix Open. His track record here is nothing to sneeze at with five top 30’s here since 2017 and two of those were top 15’s. He projects to be a good value play this week – throw him into some of your stars and scrubs lineups. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Cut, 2021 – T12, 2020 – T30, 2019 – T15, and 2018 – T26.
Viktor Hovland (Salary: DraftKings – $8.9K) – Last but not least is Hovland who has two top 5’s here in as many starts and how’s this for strokes gained ball striking – 7.78 last year and 7.96 in 2021. He has also gained 6.15 strokes with the putter here over the last two years combined, so Viktor could be a sneaky play this week plus his salary number intrigues me. He won just four starts ago and will almost certainly rebound after his T42 last week – losing 4.34 strokes with his short game to blame. Genesis Invitational finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T4 and 2021 – T5.
