The 100th playing of the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club comes on the heels of a dramatic playoff at the WM Phoenix Open and a windy finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
And that’s not to discount the drama of returning to Pacific Palisades, a year removed from the Southern California wildfires that created an estimated $250 billion of damage to the region.
What does Sunday have in store for the golf world this week? Before we get too far ahead, though, let’s look at who oddsmakers have as the favorites for this elite 72-player signature event hosted by Tiger Woods.
Genesis Invitational odds (as of Wednesday morning, courtesy of DraftKings):
- Scottie Scheffler (+305)
- Rory McIlroy (+1275)
- Xander Schauffele (+1950)
- Tommy Fleetwood (+2150)
- Hideki Matsuyama (+2150)
- Patrick Cantlay (+2600)
- Chris Gotterup (+2900)
- Collin Morikawa (+3000)
- Cameron Young (+3000)
- Russell Henley (+3000)
- Si Woo Kim (+3200)
- Sam Burns (+3500)
- Matthew Fitzpatrick (+3500)
Genesis Invitational winner prediction
The top three names remain the same as they did last week entering Pebble Beach. The difference? Scottie Scheffler is too good (especially on Sundays!) to go three tournaments without a win. Therefore, it’s a +305 recommendation here despite a half-dozen options with much better numbers. We’ll get to that list of players in a second, but let’s stick to Scheffler for a second.
If Thursdays weren’t a day of the week, he would have won at both TPC Scottsdale and Pebble Beach by wide margins. Seriously, who wants to get in front of this guy with 18 holes left in a tournament? At this point, no deficit seems too large to overcome for the world’s top-ranked player.
Best longshot to win at Riviera
Gotterup, who has won two of four events he’s played in this year, was the cutoff point on the above list earlier in the week but has elevated to having the seventh lowest odds in the field at +2900. Below him are six players all listed between +3000 and +3500: Collin Morikawa (fresh off his win at Pebble), Russell Henley, Cameron Young, Si Woo Kim, Sam Burns and Matt Fitzpatrick
Ludvig Åberg, who won at Torrey Pines South Course a year ago and is therefore the tournament’s defending champion, has fallen from that list over the last 24 hours and now sits at +4100. He rallied after shooting a 3-over 75 in Round 1 at Pebble to finish inside the top 40 which is admirable. However, the 24-yead-old Swede has been in poor shape all season and seems unlikely to test the likes of favorites Scheffler and McIlroy. Or, for that matter, Fleetwood, Matsuyama and Gotterup, who are in much better form entering the second signature event.
So, who’s in line to take home the biggest piece of the $20M purse if not Scheffler? We’re going with his Dallas playing partner, Si Woo Kim.
The 30-year-old South Korea native opened 2026 with a T-11 at Waialae and a T-6 in the Coachella Valley. Those were promptly followed by a T-2 at Torrey Pines and a T-3 in the desert. His finish outside the top 40 at Pebble will leave people feeling a bit cold, but the truth is that there is not a player more dominant on Sundays other than Scheffler, at present.
Kim, who was the fourth name on the favorites list last week, has been dropped 10 spots in the oddsmakers eyes even though he shot 7-under 65 in the final round and appears to be in the best form of his career.
Genesis Invitational first-round leader
Last time at Riviera, Patrick Cantlay finished T-4 despite a bit of a meltdown over the weekend (he was even par across 36 holes, to be fair). He started hot with a 7-under 64, good enough to capture a solo first-round lead. We’re expecting history to repeat itself for the Long Beach, California, native this week where’s listed at +3100. That number is right in line with the aforementioned Åberg, who has been awfully slow to start tournaments. Something is mispriced here.
Best bet for Riviera
It’s Presidents’ Day week so we’ll give out a pair top-20 props here in the spirit of Washington and Lincoln. It’s hard not to like what Chris Gotterup has done in 2026, and it’s even harder not to rub your eyes in disbelief that his number is +-110 (see: a shade under even money) to finish T-20 in Pacific Palisades. He finished inside the top 40 at his first professional trip to Pebble Beach which means the spotlight might be turned down slightly. A good spot, and an even better number for the seventh-ranked player in the world.
The other T-20 play for Riviera is Rickie Fowler who has been an absolute machine in this market in 2026, and is sitting at +112. Fowler was looking pretty through 36 holes last week but three bogeys and a double on Saturday did him in. Nonetheless, he finished T-19 — one spot worse than his T-18 finishes at the WM Phoenix Open and American Express, respectively.