Below, we’ll look for the best value bets in the 2021 Genesis Invitational odds, with tournament matchups, placings and other PGA Tour prop bet predictions. Eight of the top-10 golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings front this week’s 120-man field. The 2020 Genesis Invitational feels like the true, pardon the pun, but the true genesis of this year’s PGA Tour season. We have had several tournaments with some big names including the Tournament of Champions from Maui as well as Torrey Pines just down the coast in San Diego but this week, we have a course that is on par with a major and the field doesn’t disappoint in the.
- Genesis Golf Tournament 2020 Odds Genesis Open
- Genesis Golf Tournament 2020 Odds Predictions
- Who Won Genesis Golf Tournament 2020
- Genesis Golf Tournament 2020 Odds Nfl
- Genesis Golf Tournament 2020 Odds
This article is part of our Betting on Golf series.
The last stop in the West Coast swing is the Genesis Invitational at notorious Riviera Country Club. Following an event in which not a single top-10 player in the Official World Golf Ranking took the course, this week's field is stacked, with eight of the top 10 set to tee it up. Last year, Adam Scott (33-1 odds) broke a nearly four-year PGA Tour winless drought and picked up his second career victory in this event, winning by two strokes over Scott Brown, Sung Kang and Matt Kuchar.
Riviera CC has two very intriguing holes to kick off both the front and back nines. An elevated tee shot on No. 1 makes the hole play more like a long par-4, and the drivable par-4 10th, which is surrounded by bunkers, produces a wide range of scores on that hole. False fronts and runoffs on the putting surfaces make hitting greens in regulation tougher than a typical venue, and that will put an increased importance on play around the green and make driving accuracy less of a factor. Overall, Riviera plays as one of the most difficult courses on Tour, with only one winner going lower than 15-under-par in the last 10 years.
Horses for the Course
These players have the lowest score to par at the Genesis Invitational since 2016:
- Dustin Johnson: -48
- Adam Scott: -40
- Matt Kuchar: -31
- Rory McIlroy: -28
- Bubba Watson: -28
DJ played Riviera better than anyone else over the last five years, finishing a remarkable 17 shots better than anyone other than Scott. He used a balanced attack when he won in 2017, ranking second in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and fourth in SG: Putting that week. In fact, he only lost strokes to the field in a single category here over the last four years. A well-rounded approach will certainly be needed this week.
In the Proper Form
The following players gained the most strokes from tee-to-green over their last five tournaments played:
- Dustin Johnson: 2.03
- Bubba Watson: 1.99
- Cameron Davis: 1.98
- Joaquin Niemann: 1.80
- Jon Rahm: 1.75
Davis is likely the biggest surprise on this list, and the young Australian is emerging as one of the top up-and-coming players in the game. He doesn't have any weaknesses in his game, and his all-around play should fit well here. He comes into this event in much better form than he was in in 2019, when he missed the cut in his only prior appearance. Along with Johnson, Watson also makes both lists as a player. When he missed the cut last year, Watson lost over four shots to the field on the greens.
Outright Picks
Justin Thomas (14-1)
It's easy to overlook Thomas considering he missed the cut here last year and isn't as fresh in people's minds, having made only two starts in 2021. However, he had a chance to win both the Sentry TOC and WMPO, and might have come through had off-the-course items not popped up between his third and final rounds. Thomas gained 1.25 shots on approach over his last 10 rounds at Riviera, and he recorded both a runner-up and a top-10 result in two of the past three years.
Hideki Matsuyama (45-1)
Matsuyama is approaching four years without a win on Tour, and he finds himself in roughly the same position Scott was in when he broke a similar drought last year. Matsuyama played the weekend nine-under-par last year – two shots better than anyone else in the field. You won't find many courses that fit his eye better than Riviera, as Matsuyama finished inside the top 10 in SG: Tee-to-Green four of the past five years here. The putter is always a question mark but at this price I'm willing to take my chances.
Talor Gooch (175-1)
This is obviously a long shot and you can adjust to top-5 or top-10 if you're more comfortable with those odds. However, I think Gooch is ready to pick up his first win this year. A bit of a late bloomer, he has already notched two top-5s this season, including at a stacked field in THE CJ CUP. Gooch finished 10th here last year, and his third-round 64 tied for the low round of the week. He fits the mold as a player that is above-average in every facet of the game.
Top-10 Picks
Cameron Smith (15-2)
Smith has had a quiet start to 2021, but he has had a couple of weeks off, and let's not forget he finished runner-up at the Masters not all that long ago. Smith is another guy that has a well-rounded game, and his inaccuracy off the tee shouldn't be as much of a factor this week. We've seen him go low at Riviera, shooting a 65 in 2018 en route to a share of sixth place.
Rickie Fowler (10-1)
I wouldn't have confidence betting Fowler to win right now, but he's due to get some momentum going. He's on a stretch of five straight weeks where he's lost strokes to the field with his putter, but he's been great with the flat stick throughout his career and is a guy to look out for when he gets things going with that club. This feels like too good of a price to pass up.
Mackenzie Hughes (16-1)
With short game having an increased importance this week, look no further than Hughes, who features one of the biggest disparities between driving and approach play compared to on and around the greens. Last season he gained 1.14 strokes per round in SG: Around-the-Green and putting combined. This is a generous price for someone who already has two top-10s this season and qualified for the TOUR Championship last September.
Head-to-Head Matchups
Brian Harman (-110) over Kevin Streelman
Similar to the James Hahn fade last week, this is the fifth consecutive start for Streelman, and both physical and mental fatigue could be an issue after he faltered on the back nine at Pebble Beach. Harman made 16 of his last 17 cuts and has made two straight at Riviera. I love that kind of consistency, although this is mainly a fade on Streelman.
Abraham Ancer (-110) over Russell Henley
With all the talent on Tour it's easy to forget about Ancer, but since the start of 2020 he has a pair of runners-up and seven others top-15s – including in his last PGA start at The American Express. I do like Henley's game, but this isn't a great course fit for him, and he's been inconsistent of late, missing the cut in two of his last four events. He hasn't recorded a top-10 result since The ZOZO Championship last fall.
Will Zalatoris (-110) over Kevin Na
It's usually best not to overthink these head-to-head matchups, and I'll take the better golfer in a pick'em matchup. After dominating the Korn Ferry Tour last season, Zalatoris has quickly picked up where he left off, with four top-10s and only one missed cut in nine events on the bigger stage. Although the sample size is small, he ranks sixth on Tour this season in SG: Tee-to-Green. Na has had some good results here, but he also finished over par in his last three rounds at Riviera.
After an entertaining, fun, and fairly laid back weekend at the Pebble Beach Pro/Am, the PGA Tour heads down highway 1 to Los Angeles at Riviera for the Genesis Invitational.
This week’s tourney will wrap up the West Coast Swing portion on the PGA Tour and ain’t no party like a SoCal party, apparently.
Among the entrants into this week’s tournament are world #1 Rory McIlroy, 2020’s top performer thus far Jon Rahm, JT, Tiger, DJ, Hideki, the X-Man Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott, and even Brooks Koepka. I guess you can say the boys are all here.
The season-season has started. The course here at Riviera is a classical dog-leg style with tight tree lines and uneven fairways. It is also a lengthy course that usually favors the heavy hitters.
This doesn’t mean the greens are going to be easy and with sunny dry weather, they may be a little quicker than usual.
With short roughs, driving accuracy shouldn’t be as much of a concern as long as players are able to give themselves a clear line on their second shot as the trees will be pesky.
That’s where course familiarity and history will come into play heavily.
Golfers like Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, and Tiger Woods are all on the watch list to win this thing.
There should be some betting value somewhere else on the board, though. Some of the world’s best are all the way at the bottom of the list with 3-digit odds.
BetOnline.AG has the goods for us this week. Let’s get to the betting odds and predictions for the Genesis Invitational.
Jon Rahm
Even money!
I like what I see already. If you’ve been keeping up with the early 2019-2020 PGA Tour season as well as some of the Euro events, you already know Jon Rahm is playing like a man possessed and has been for months now.
Since the Open de Espana in early October, the Spaniard has consecutive finishes of 1st, 1st, 2nd, 10th, 2nd, and 9th.
In just one appearance here at Riviera last year he managed a 9th place position by the end of the weekend.
For a course where presumably successful golfers need a high amount of familiarity, I would say Jon did pretty well his first go-round here.
Stylistically, his game aligns well with the course but fit hasn’t even been a concern for Rahm in 2020.
Genesis Golf Tournament 2020 Odds Genesis Open
He has played well everywhere on a variety of surfaces. I think he contends for the win but even money for a top ten seems reasonable.
We have to go back nearly 5 months to find the last time Rahm finished outside of the top ten.
Dustin Johnson
I’m going against my conservative golf betting ways here with an attempt to hit that top 5! He is (+125) for a top ten which carries excellent value but I really have a good feeling about DJ this weekend.
DJ hasn’t been a very busy man in the new decade but he has been fairly successful, nonetheless. Finishes of 7th at the Tournament of Champions and 2nd at the Saudi International hopefully have the competitor’s confidence at a high level.
DJ did have a rough go of it, especially in the fourth round this past Sunday at the Pebble Beach Pro/Am where he shot 6 over par for the final round.
I’m not counting that against him this week. In fact, I like the fact that he was checked out and his focus had shifted to Riviera, a course where he has had a tremendous amount of success.
Genesis Golf Tournament 2020 Odds Predictions
2, 2, 4, 1, 16, and 9! Those are DJ’s finishing positions at the Genesis Invitational over the past 6 years.
DJ can rip it as well as anyone. We already know that but when his putting game is on, watch out!
JB Holmes
It’s elementary, my dear. The man won this thing a year ago. No other golfer is swinging a hotter flat stick over the past two months. He has top twenty finishes in each of his previous three outings.
The Kentucky-native is set to take over Riviera in Los Angeles at least one more time. On top of last year’s victory, JB has five top 12 finishes in his previous 10 appearances.
Who Won Genesis Golf Tournament 2020
I think he rolls into LA with a fifth of Jim Beam and sticks to the non-alcoholic golf shots until Sunday when he celebrates with some beloved Bourbon.
In all seriousness, though, I love the value we are getting with JB here who has course fit, familiarity, success as well as current form.
In Conclusion
The 2020 Genesis Invitational feels like the true, pardon the pun, but the true genesis of this year’s PGA Tour season.
Genesis Golf Tournament 2020 Odds Nfl
We have had several tournaments with some big names including the Tournament of Champions from Maui as well as Torrey Pines just down the coast in San Diego but this week, we have a course that is on par with a major and the field doesn’t disappoint in the slightest either.
I tried to work my way down the betting board for some sleepers but when you have guys like Jon Rahm and DJ staring you in the face with valuable placing odds, you have to pick ‘em.
The Spaniard, Rahm, has been top ten for nearly half a year now so that seemed like a no-brainer.
Genesis Golf Tournament 2020 Odds
DJ has had his struggles but he always seems to bring his a-game to Riviera.
The Tiger Woods pick is sentimental, sure, I get it. I think Woods will do great. He is playing exceptionally well but these other guys just have better consistency and/or more valuable odds next to their names.
Enjoy the classical course and let’s hope our boys come through with their placings!