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PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA | Nothing against stadium-framed par-3 holes fueled by tequila and buddy-buddy pro-am pairings, but the Genesis Invitational last week at timeless Riviera Country Club was good for the soul.
Against the backdrop of an argument-inducing distance report and cryptic hints about a new money-printing professional golf league, the best players in the world – literally almost every one of them – played the most meaningful tournament in this still-young year.
It wasn’t a major championship and it didn’t have the designation of a World Golf Championship event but what is now Tiger Woods’ tournament looked and felt different because it was.
The equation is simple: Attract the best players, put them on a course that asks the right questions and let it happen.
It helped that Southern California lived up to its sunshiny reputation last week, providing a weather week so delightful that it could almost make sitting in the perpetual Los Angeles gridlock pleasant.
With Woods doing double duty as tournament host and a 44-year-old frustrated by the state of his game that left him in last place among those who made the cut, the Genesis Invitational had sparkle power in abundance in a neighborhood that’s home to stars and star makers.
There have been years when Riviera was a damp, sloppy mess but not this year. The combination of Mother Nature’s benevolence, firm, fast greens and a course that’s as enduringly popular as Tom Hanks produced the best week of the fledgling year before the PGA Tour began its annual migration toward the East Coast, the Players Championship and the Masters.
Adam Scott winning didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings either because there is no one more stylish or graceful than the 39-year-old Australian. His manner is even better than his golf swing.
It’s not often that nine of the top 10 players in the world tee it up together but it happened at Riviera, a testament to the place and its position on the tour schedule. At Riviera, length and power matter as they should but, more than most weeks, strategy, patience and shotmaking were more valuable than TrackMan data.
At Riviera, golf is still about art as much or more than it is about math or science.
“I absolutely love the course,” Matt Kuchar said. “It has truly withstood the test of time.”
His voice was just one in a chorus singing the same song.
It’s noteworthy that four of the top 10 players in the world are taking a pass on this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship, where more money and points are on the line than at Riviera. Some of it is because the tour is heading to Florida, where so many players live, and they can stack their schedules while playing relatively close to home.
Some of it was because they like Riviera better.
“It will be a regular stop on my schedule because I love the course,” said Rory McIlroy, who also has Mexico City on his itinerary.
The field this week should be a cautionary tale to the group pushing the creation of the Premier Golf League, which supposedly wants the top 48 players to commit to playing an 18-event schedule around the world. If nearly half of the top 10 is willing to skip the first World Golf Championship of the year, getting the full buy-in for a globetrotting season seems like wishful thinking.
Ironically, Scott told the Australian Associated Press last week that he believes the new Premier Golf League concept is “very, very good” and he senses the PGA Tour may feel “slightly threatened” by the idea. At the same time, Fred Couples dismissed the new idea by summarizing PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s recent words to tour players: “You want to win one of these things or you want to win the L.A. Open?”
While that proposal bubbles somewhere below the surface, the Genesis Invitational began with the focus on Woods, who eagled his first hole (coincidentally from 24 feet, 8 inches, Kobe Bryant’s uniform numbers) then gradually shifted away when he fell out of contention on Friday afternoon. There are understandable questions about why he is skipping an expected start in Mexico City this week but the new reality of his playing schedule is it will be a week-to-week process.
Still, Sunday arrived with McIlroy, Kuchar, Scott, Harold Varner III and others stacked near the top of a leaderboard that churned throughout the final round because pars mattered. Watching players shoot 25-under par can be fun but watching them wrestle with Riviera is more revealing.
McIlroy can talk about routinely flying his 3-wood 285 yards (it went 40 yards shorter in the morning chill last week), but he was done in by a choppy triple bogey early in the final round and he couldn’t birdie his way back to the top.
Varner, who played this event on a Charlie Sifford exemption a few years ago, had a storybook week spoiled by the dastardly driveable par-4 10th where he topped his tee shot and made a double bogey that cost him a share of the lead and sent him spiraling out of the top 10, another layer of scar tissue added as he chases his first win.
Kuchar lurked but stalled. Dustin Johnson tried to force the issue but could not. Joel Dahmen and Max Homa looked like last-minute surprises but the plot didn’t twist that dramatically.
Scott hadn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2016 and his Masters victory is approaching seven years old now. As he does most years, Scott recently took an extended break from tournament golf to relax and reignite his competitive fires. Watching the Farmers Insurance Open on television last month, Scott felt the tug to play again.
He has made no secret of his love for Riviera, and he fits the place. Scott knows the stories of Humphrey Bogart watching from under a tree near the 12th green decades ago and all the stars – from the big screen and tournament leaderboards – who have fallen for Riviera.
Scott’s 36-hole, rain-shortened victory 15 years ago at Riviera doesn’t count as an official win and he contended but left disappointed twice in the past four years.
On Tuesday, Scott was practicing pitch shots by himself, his new year just beginning. He paused for a moment and chatted about his break and coming back to Los Angeles.
He’d played another famous course in the neighborhood a day earlier and when asked what he thought, Scott paused as he often does when asked a question.
“It was nice,” he said, “but it’s no Riviera.”
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