The PGA TOUR’s West Coast swing makes its final stop to play a second consecutive elevated event at historic Riviera Country Club. The 2023 Genesis Invitational is one of the best tournaments of the year at one of the most iconic golf courses in the world.
Riviera Country Club is a par 71 that measures 7,322 yards. The fairways and rough consist of Kikuyu grass, and the greens are Poa annua.
The Genesis Invitational field will consist of 134 players and is absolutely stacked at the top and very deep. Twenty-three of the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Rankings are teeing it up at Riviera this week, and it’s likely to be the strongest field in the history of the event with a whopping prize pool of $20 million up for grabs.
Tiger Woods will also make his 2023 debut at Riviera this week. The 15-time major champion hasn’t played in a professional tournament since the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he missed the cut.
For GPP contests on DraftKings, I will be breaking down the key stats (past 24 rounds) and selecting golfers from different price tiers to provide flexibility for a DFS lineup.
For large-field tournaments, you can utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.
Don’t forget about the other tools that FantasyLabs has to offer, such as the Trends tool and PGA Correlation Dashboard.
This analysis may reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots on average it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation. Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.
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Strokes Gained: Ball-Striking
This week, I find ball-striking to be especially important. Riviera requires golfers to play well in all facets of their game.
Ball-striking includes both off the tee and approach, as one or the other will not be enough this week. Golfers will need to excel with both the driver and irons this week if they want to contend.
- High-end target: Rory McIlroy – $10,500(2nd SG:BS)
- Mid-range target: Collin Morikawa – $9.300 (3rd SG: BS)
- Value target: Brendan Steele – $7,100 (10th SG: BS)
Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee
Riviera is not an overly long golf course. Distance off the tee is not absolutely essential, but it is a definite asset. A good combination of distance and accuracy should be the recipe this week, with distance still being a bit more important.
- High-end target: Jon Rahm – $11,100 (2nd SG: OTT)
- Mid-range target: Patrick Cantlay – $9,000 (15th SG: OTT)
- Value target: Keith Mitchell – $7,500 (1st SG: OTT)
Strokes Gained: Putting (Poa and Fast)
Riviera’s fast and firm greens are notoriously difficult. Putts from 8 feet and in are far from a guarantee, and this is an area we will see many golfers struggle this week.
- High-end target: Jordan Spieth – $8,600 (9th Strokes Gained: Putting Poa and Fast)
- Mid-range target: Adam Scott – $8,000 (4th Strokes Gained: Putting Poa and Fast)
- Value target: Wyndham Clark – $7,800 (15th Strokes Gained: Putting Poa and Fast)
3-Putt Avoidance
Poa can get really bumpy late in the day, making tough par saves late in the tournament even more difficult. Average 3-putts per round are much higher at Riviera than TOUR average.
- High-end target: Scottie Scheffler– $10,700 (19th 3-Putt Avoidance)
- Mid-range target: Keegan Bradley – $7,700 (4th 3-Putt Avoidance)
- Value target: Sam Ryder – $6,700 (3rd 3-Putt Avoidance)
Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green
This event will be far from a birdie fest. As previously mentioned, Riviera is a true all-around test. With fairways relatively difficult to hit, playing out of the rough will create a lot of missed greens. Golfers will need to make some tricky up and downs to get away with par at Riviera.
- High-end target: Justin Thomas – $10,100 (1st SG: ARG)
- Mid-range target: Hideki Matsuyama – $8,200 (6th SG:ARG)
- Value target: Wyndham Clark – $7,800 (3rd SG: ARG)
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