Tiger Woods is back at this week's Genesis Invitational. The Genesis is the seventh event of the 2024 PGA TOUR season and third Signature Event. It will be held at Riviera Copuntry Club – a Par 71, 6700m+ layout. The purse is $20 million with $4 million to the winner.
Tournament host and 82-time PGA TOUR winner Tiger Woods is making his 374th start on the PGA TOUR and is competing on a sponsor exemption. Woods is making his first start in an official event on TOUR since withdrawing from the 2023 Masters Tournament before completing the third round (finished 18th as tournament host at the Hero World Challenge in December).
With a victory, Woods would break a tie with Sam Snead for most wins in PGA TOUR history. Woods has not finished in the top 10 on TOUR since the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open (T9) and his most recent victory, his 82nd, came at the 2019 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. Woods has made 15 starts at The Genesis Invitational, the most of any tournament in his career without a victory. He made his PGA TOUR debut at the event in 1992 as a 16-year-old amateur (MC) and most recently competed in 2023 (T45).
Tiger Woods most starts by PGA TOUR event without a victory;
- 15 - The Genesis Invitational
- 11 - FedEx St. Jude Championship (formerly The Barclays)
- 5 - Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches
World No. 1 and reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler finished T3 at last week's WM Phoenix Open in his bid to become the first player to win the same PGA TOUR event three years in a row since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (2009-11).
Since the start of the 2021-22 season, Scheffler has 19 top-three finishes on TOUR, the most of any player in that span (second: 11/Rory McIlroy). He is making his sixth start at the event (best result: T7/2022) and competed as an amateur in 2018 after winning the Collegiate Showcase (MC). This year, Boise State’s Cole Rueck won the Collegiate Showcase to earn a spot in the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open.
Nick Taylor won last week's WM Phoenix Open in a playoff over Charley Hoffman, earning his fourth PGA TOUR title. With the win, Taylor moved to No. 6 in the FedExCup standings and No. 28 in the Official World Golf Ranking, the highest OWGR position of his career.
Nine players in the field finished in the top 10 at last week’s WM Phoenix Open:
Nick Taylor (Won), Scottie Scheffler (T3), Kurt Kitayama (T8), Charley Hoffman, (P2) Sahith Theegala (5th), Adam Scott (T8), Sam Burns (T3), Jordan Spieth (T6) and Cameron Young (T8).
Four-time PGA TOUR winner Charley Hoffman finished runner-up for the 10th time in his 495th PGA TOUR start at last week's WM Phoenix Open. The last to player to lose in a playoff one week and win the following week was Patrick Cantlay (P2/2022 RBC Heritage, won/2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans). Hoffman has made 16 starts at The Genesis Invitational, the second most tournament starts in the field (most: 17/Matt Kuchar). He has one top-10 at the event (T4/2017) and finished 71st in his most recent tournament start in 2022.
2021 Genesis Invitational winner Max Homa is making his eighth start in the event and has four consecutive top-10s (T5/2020, won/2021, T10/2022, 2nd/2023). Homa has four wins in California in the last five seasons, the most of any player in that span.
Rory McIlroy will make his second TOUR start of the season after opening with a T66 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. McIlroy will make his eighth start at the event with his best result coming in 2019 (4th). McIlroy’s T66 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am snapped a streak of 10 consecutive top-10s on TOUR, which is the longest streak of his TOUR career.
15-time PGA TOUR winner and World No. 21 Justin Thomas, who qualified this week via the Aon Swing 5, has finished T12 or better in each of his first three starts of the season (T3/The American Express, T6/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, T12/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am). Thomas has three top-10s in nine starts at the event, highlighted by a runner-up in 2019.
Two players in the field have competed in all six TOUR events so far this season: 2023 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Eric Cole and Tom Hoge. Cole is making his tournament debut after not getting into the field during his rookie year (lost in a playoff at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches in his next start after not qualifying for The Genesis Invitational), while Hoge is making his seventh appearance in the event (best result: T14/2023).
The Genesis Invitational has presented the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption since 2009, providing an opportunity to a golfer of a minority background to compete in the tournament. Named in honor of Charlie Sifford, the first Black player to compete on the modern-day PGA TOUR, the 2024 exemption was awarded to Chase Johnson, who will make his tournament debut. Johnson, a three-time winner on the APGA Tour, won the 2023 JOHN SHIPPEN National Golf Invitational and will make his fifth career PGA TOUR start (T64/2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic). Other former Charlie Sifford Exemption recipient in the field: J.J. Spaun (2016). The three player-hosted invitationals will each have one tournament host exemption, which is not restricted to PGA TOUR members. The Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard will grant an exemption to a player from the Arnold Palmer Cup, while the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday will continue to give an exemption to the Jack Nicklaus Award winner (NCAA Division I men’s golf Player of the Year).