Genesis Invitational: Tiger Woods will try to keep up with No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and others

LOS ANGELES — It’s time for the final event on the PGA Tour’s “West Coast Swing.”

With Tiger Woods competing again for the first time in seven months in an absolutely loaded field once again in Southern California, there’s plenty to look out for this week in Southern California.

Here’s everything you need to know for the 2023 Genesis Invitational.

Tournament Basics

Genesis Invitational

February 16-19

Riviera Country Club | Los Angeles, California

Par 71 | 7,322 yards

Purse: $20 million/$3.6 million

FedExCup points for winner: 550

Betting favorites, via BetMGM: Jon Rahm (+750), Rory McIlroy (+900)

Last time out: Joaquin Niemann grabs wire-to-wire win

Joaquin Neimann rolled through Riviera Country Club last year with ease.

Niemann cruised to a wire-to-wire win at the 2022 Genesis Invitational in what was his second career win on Tour. He was the second-youngest winner in the event’s history, and the first to go wire-to-wire in more than 50 years.

After posting a pair of 63s to start the week, Niemann only went even par in the final round to close out the tournament.

“When I finished it was like, hell yeah. It took forever,” Niemann said. “We’re finally done and I can have a smile on my face and just think about it like it was a fun day.”

Niemann is not in the field to defend his title this week, as he left the Tour for LIV Golf.

Tiger is back, and he’s ‘playing to win’

For the first time in seven months, Tiger Woods is back on tour.

Though he’s admitted that he’s rusty and hasn’t walked 18 holes in four days all year, Woods has high expectations this week.

“I would not have put myself out here if I didn’t think I could beat these guys and win the event. That’s my mentality,” Woods said Tuesday. “If I wasn’t ready to win at this level — I am very rusty, but I’ve come off a rusty situation before and I’ve done well.”

Woods hasn’t played since the British Open in July, which marked just his third competitive round since his car crash in Southern California in 2021. He missed the cut at St. Andrews, and only made it through all four rounds at one of those three appearances.

If he were to win this week, it would mark the 83rd of his career — which would finally make Woods the winningest golfer in the sport’s history and break his tie with Sam Snead.

Woods will play with Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas in the first two rounds of the event, starting on Thursday just after 3 p.m. ET.

For more on Woods, click here.

World No. 1 up for grabs, again

Another week, another shot at a new No. 1.

Scottie Scheffler overtook Rory McIlroy last week at the WM Phoenix Open for the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings while picking up his fifth career win. His latest run atop the rankings, however, may be short-lived.

McIlroy could retake No. 1 with a solo third-place finish this week or better, depending on how Scheffler and Jon Rahm finish themselves. Rahm could take it again, too, with a win or a solo-second finish.

Those aren’t easy tasks, however, especially considering how deep the field is this week. Nine of the top 10 golfers in the OWGR are competing at Riviera.

“I don't see Scottie or Rahmbo going away, and I certainly don't plan to either,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Obviously you've got so many other guys in there that would have a chance to sort of be up around that conversation as well.

“I just think with the way the game is right now and sort of how we play, it's becoming harder and harder to separate yourself from the field. So it seems like it's been that way for the last — basically since Tiger was in his heyday that that No. 1 spot has sort of been passed around a bit between us all.”

If Woods were to win this week, he’d jump up from No. 1,294 to No. 55 in the OWGR.