The PGA Tour stays in California this week for the Genesis Open. A field of 144 players will tackle Riviera Country Club, which just last year hosted the U.S. Amateur.
Be sure to join the all-new Golf Channel Fantasy Challenge - including a new One & Done game offering - to compete for prizes and form your own leagues, and log on to www.playfantasygolf.com to submit your picks for this week’s event.
Dustin Johnson won this event last year by five shots over Scott Brown and Thomas Pieters. Here are 10 names to watch in Pacific Palisades:
1. Dustin Johnson: The world No. 1 is a clear No. 1 in the power rankings this week. DJ has finished fourth or better six times in his last eight trips to Riviera, including four in a row. He won last year in a rout and is coming off a T-2 finish at Pebble Beach that somehow still feels like a disappointment.
2. Jordan Spieth: With Spieth, it’s simply a matter of when he turns a corner with the putter. And that may have occurred during the final round at Pebble Beach, where he needed only 25 putts to salvage a top-20 finish. It may not seem like much, but he’s opened prior floodgates with less. T-4 here in 2015.
3. Paul Casey: The Englishman quietly notched another top-10 finish at Pebble Beach, and he has now gone more than a year since his last missed cut with only two worldwide finishes outside the top 30 since this event last year. His consistency is underrated, but he may shine this week on a course where he lost in a playoff in 2015.
4. Justin Thomas: Thomas is making his fourth straight trip to Riviera as a pro, having finished no better than last year’s T-39. Thomas played good enough to win two weeks ago in Phoenix but suffered through some unusually rough stretches. Still, a T-17 finish was a solid achievement given his colorful scorecards and served as his third top-25 in as many starts this year.
5. Rory McIlroy: McIlroy had a hiccup last week in his U.S. debut while teamed with his dad, but there’s reason to think he’ll write the ship at Riviera where he finished T-20 in his tournament debut two years ago. McIlroy was 40 under over his first eight competitive rounds before a frustrating backslide on the fickle greens of the Monterey Peninsula. Granted, the greens this week won’t be much less fickle.
6. Tommy Fleetwood: The reigning Race to Dubai champ is making his tournament debut, as well as his first start in the U.S. since the PGA Championship. But he’s picked up right where he left off last year, with three straight top-6 finishes to open 2018 including a victory against a stacked field in Abu Dhabi.
7. Matt Kuchar: Kuchar has been his usual reliable self in recent weeks, highlighted by a T-5 finish two weeks ago in Phoenix, and he has been a staple at Riviera for more than a decade. The veteran’s record here includes a T-8 finish two years ago, one of five top-25 finishes he has compiled in L.A. since 2008.
8. Phil Mickelson: With the West Coast Swing on its final leg, there’s one last chance to back a suddenly-surging Mickelson. Fresh off back-to-back top-5 finishes for the first time since 2013, Mickelson returns to a course where he won in back-to-back years (2008-09) and also finished second in 2007 and 2012.
9. Marc Leishman: The Aussie is coming off a career year in 2017, and he already has a pair of top-10 finishes to his credit this year. Leishman is making his ninth straight start at Riviera, where he has missed the cut two of the last three years but also added a T-5 finish in 2016 among a trio of top-20 results.
10. Adam Scott: If there was ever a week where Scott might end his surprising downturn, this is it. A missed cut at Pebble Beach only highlighted his putting woes, but Riviera is a track that rewards elite ball-striking the likes of which the Aussie usually delivers. Look no further than his record here since 2012: T-17, T-10, T-2, T-11.