The Genesis Invitational - Key Details About The Golf Tournament

The Genesis Invitational will start in Los Angeles a few days after the exciting edition of this year's Super Bowl at the SoFi Stadium. The Genesis Invitational will happen from the 17th to 20th February at the Riviera Country Club. The club is located only some minutes from the stadium and will host the most star-studded tournament in the city that week. The event became an invitational from an open tournament a few years ago when the golf legend Tiger Woods took over as the host of the event. The presence of such a big player and this distinction of the invitational event brings more prestige to the Genesis Invitational. The field for the tournament will be limited to about 120 golfers. There will be no qualification games on Monday. The winning prize will be at the top of any non-major tournament this year. The victor of the Genesis Invitational will get a PGA Tour status exemption for a year more than the default exemption of a couple of years. Many fans would like the tournament winner to get a new car from the sponsors too.

In either case, winning the entire tournament gives a lot of fame to the golfer. The WM Phoenix Open provided a lot of entertainment. This was because of a difficult golf course and a very robust field. In the Genesis Invitational, the tournament has taken it up a level. There is a better field, and the course has been made a little more difficult. The score over the entire duration of the tournament in the last four years has been around one-under-par. This means that birdies are not going to be attained so easily. Finishing with a par will be seen as a good outcome by most players. This kind of closely-fought tournament is favored by many old-school golf fans. Let us take an early sneak peek into the event. We will tell you what is required for the fans to know to enjoy the entire tournament to the fullest. Here are all the details regarding the Genesis Invitational.

The Genesis Invitational Will Take Place at The Riviera Country Club

The Riviera Country Club has a playing area of more than seven thousand yards. The club has hosted the Genesis Invitational for more than half a century. It has also been the venue for some major tournaments in the past. It will also host the US Women's Open Championship and the Olympic golf event some years later. The venue has consistently been ranked as one of the top golf venues on the entire planet. It has a compact design and expansive roughs. This makes it a tough challenge even for the top golfers on the planet who have all the skills to navigate the toughest terrains. The iconic venue has been one of the favorite courses of the fans as well for a long period. It is a marvel of architecture and a gorgeous oasis built into the cityscape of the expansive town of Los Angeles. It has a number of very memorable holes as well. On any calm day, the venue gives one of the hardest challenges that you can get across the sport of golf. This attracts the top golfers each year to compete in the Genesis Invitational.

The cut line has been over the par figure at the tournament for each year over the past nine years. The venue is made more challenging because of the narrow fairways. The tournament has been ranking at the bottom in the average driving accuracy for the past eight years. The missed-fairway percentage is also high and has correlated with one of the minimum Green In-Regulation percentages on the entire tour. If that was not complicated enough on its own, the fast and hard POA greens have given golfers nightmares over the years. The venue ranks among the top for missed putts outside and inside the fairways. The venue also has several elevation changes and has a lot of bunkers both around the green-side complexes and the fairways. Thus, the sand saves will be a vital statistic to keep track of in the tournament.

The Genesis Invitational Weather

The Genesis Invitational is going ahead on the assumption that the entire play will happen on calm days. But this is not what is certain to happen. In the previous year's tournament, the weather was predicted as moderate wind. But the play had to be halted when the final pairing had stepped on the tee box, ready to start. The golf balls were blowing across the greens. The hats were flying off the audience, and the golfers were hitting range balls that were coming back to them. These winds can increase the difficulty of play this year should they happen. It can be quite difficult to keep track of the wind levels across an entire day of play. But the venue is a great reminder that a golf course can be designed to be a challenge at just over seven thousand yards.

The tee boxes need not be pushed back to extreme lengths. The rough also does not need to be overgrown. This venue will reward the golfers who can position themselves correctly off the tee. They can function in both directions and scramble at a high percentage around the undulated and tricky greens.

The Genesis Invitational Schedule

The Genesis Invitational Field

Conclusion:

The Genesis Invitational has a jam-packed field. It is not easy to differentiate among the top players because many are in great form now. The odds on all the players are also pretty even at this point.

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