Genesis Invitational (2024) Round 1 Best Bet
The Genesis Invitational kicks off tomorrow at Riviera Country Club, although this field is full of the biggest a brightest talent in the PGA all the attention is going to be on Tiger Woods who will be playing his first event since the Hero World Challenge. Woods is going to be paired with Gary Woodland and Justin Thomas. I’ve already backed Justin Thomas to win this event and I think he has a phenomenal chance to win this group on day one, let’s get into it!
Round 1 Three Ball: Justin Thomas (-115) v. Tiger Woods v. Gary Woodland
The Genesis Invitational kicks off tomorrow at the beautiful Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. The Tiger Woods foundation is the group that organises this event annually, which means that we are going to see the legend back in action this weekend and I am probably going to be the only one on planet earth dumb enough to fade him on day one.
Now before we get too deep into this pick. I want to get the Tiger Woods part of the equation. Woods has not played an event since the Hero World Challenge in early December and has only played in five events since his withdrawal at the 2022 PGA Championship. In those five events Woods has shot 75,74,69,78 & 74 in the first round of those events. The 69 did come at this event last year but Thomas has shot a 68 and 67 in the first round of this event in the last two years.
I’m not ruling Woods out of this group, the guy is the best to ever do it. I just think that he is going to have a lot of rust he is going to need to knock off compared to Justin Thomas who is one of the hottest golfers on the PGA Tour right now.
Coming into this event, Thomas ranks 12th on the PGA in round one scoring average posting a 69,68,65 in the first round in his first three events this season. At this point in time, he is the most consistent ball striker among this group and that is what will separate players this weekend at Riviera CC.
As for Woodland, he has had the exact opposite start to the year as Thomas, Woodland ranks 184th in round one scoring average this season on TOUR and ranks 68th in SG: Ball Striking of 70 qualified players in the field who have played a round in the last 30 days.
It is a bit of a steep price to back Thomas here, but I think there is still some value given the quality of golf his two opponents have shown in their recent appearances on tour. I think Thomas is poised to have another big weekend and you can read more about that in my Genesis Invitational Best Bets newsletter which I sent out yesterday.
Tee Time: 9:25 Local Time (12:25 EST)