The Los Angeles Open. The Northern Trust. The Genesis. Call it what you want. Or perhaps call it the best set-up for a regular PGA Tour event we’ve had in quite some time.
Genesis Open 2018: Schedule, tee times, TV/live stream info for Feb. 15-18
Woods, McIlroy, Johnson, Spieth, Thomas, and more in LA. The Genesis Open is as good of a PGA Tour stop as we’ve had in years. Here’s what you need to know.
Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images
Tiger Woods tees it for the first time at famed Riviera Country Club since 2006 this week in only his third start since his return from back issues that largely kept him out of competitive golf since August 2015. With his homestanding exhibition Hero World Challenge and a solid top-25 finish at a “real” tour event at the Farmers Insurance Open under his belt, we’re set for what could be an opportunity to watch Woods make his first foray into contention since the 2015 Wyndham Championship.
But this won’t just be a cat-centric showcase in Pacific Palisades. Woods’ supporting cast will provide for as strong of an early-season field as one could recall in recent memory. He’ll play his opening two rounds alongside Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, while a host of other U.S. based stars (Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson) will round out the field with a glut of big-time European Tour regulars making an uncommon early trip across the pond (Tommy Fleetwood, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Haotong Li, Thomas Pieters). It’s a damn good field for February golf — and perhaps as strong of an event as we’ll get until the Masters with a number of players expected to skip the upcoming WGC-Mexico Championship.
Here’s what you’ll need to know for this week.
Why you should watch
- Duh, Woods. This one’s pretty simple. The sample size is small, but we haven’t seen Woods look this good and this promising since his player of the year season in 2013. We’ve got a hype train to keep rolling into Augusta, and a top-10 here at Riv should only throw more gas on the fire.
- Much ado about McIlroy. Golf Twitter, myself included, loves to endlessly hype that *THIS WILL BE THE YEAR* McIlroy returns to dominance. Then it doesn’t happen. Then we rinse, repeat. There’s no question he’s uber-talented, and one of the most fun players to watch in the game when he’s on. A strong start to the year with a second and third on the UAE swing for McIlroy went awry when he traveled the Atlantic to Pebble Beach last week. Here’s to hoping we get fireworks at Riv alongside Woods and Thomas.
- Pay attention to Haotong Li, dammit. There are plenty of other Woods-driven storylines with the supporting cast this week. We could get all sorts of permutations that could allow for classic Sunday afternoons: Woods-Mickelson, Thomas-Spieth, Johnson-McIlroy, whatever. But SB Nation is here to inform, so let’s go off the map a bit. Please learn the name Haotong Li if you haven’t, and bow to his greatness. The 22-year-old Chinese phenom wrecked McIlroy down the stretch in Dubai, finished third at last year’s Open, and the Genesis will be a rare opportunity to see the sensation at a U.S-based event. Catch him while you can, and don’t be shocked if he contends this week.
Here’s your full media schedule for the opening round at Riviera:
Thursday’s first-round coverage
All times ET
Television:
2 to 6 p.m. — Golf Channel
Online streams:
9:30 a.m. — PGA Tour Live starts with coverage from the range and opening holes
- 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. — Free PGA Tour live stream on Twitter
Featured Groups (PGA Tour Live subscription required)
- 10:22 a.m. — Tiger Woods / Rory McIlroy / Justin Thomas
- 10:32 a.m. — Phil Mickelson / Matt Kuchar / Tommy Fleetwood
3 to 6 p.m. — PGA Tour Live featured holes coverage (No subscription required)
2 to 6 p.m. — Golf Channel simulcast stream
Radio:
Noon to 6 p.m. — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 92/208 and streamed here)
Thursday Tee Times
Off No. 1:
9:40 a.m. — Charlie Beljan, John Huh, J.J. Spaun
9:50 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Tom Hoge, Andrew Landry
10:01 a.m. — Harris English, Parker McLachlin, Thomas Pieters
10:11 a.m. — Graeme McDowell, Smylie Kaufman, Luke Donald
10:22 a.m. — Chris Stroud, Aaron Baddeley, Jim Herman
10:32 a.m. — Jimmy Walker, Charley Hoffman, Shane Lowry
10:43 a.m. — Cody Gribble, Charl Schwartzel, Brian Gay
10:53 a.m. — Pat Perez, James Hahn, Padraig Harrington
11:04 a.m. — Austin Cook, Branden Grace, Paul Casey
11:14 a.m. — Kevin Streelman, Luke List, Aaron Wise
11:25 a.m. — Scott Stallings, Morgan Hoffmann, Michael Kim
11:35 a.m. — Sam Saunders, Rob Oppenheim, Scottie Scheffler
2:20 p.m. — Martin Laird, Jason Kokrak, Francesco Molinari
2:30 p.m. — Nick Taylor, Peter Uihlein, Brandon Harkins
2:41 p.m. — Retief Goosen, Ollie Schniederjans, Beau Hossler
2:51 p.m. — Ted Potter, Jr., Kyle Stanley, Jonas Blixt
3:02 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Kevin Chappell
3:12 p.m. — Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Bubba Watson
3:23 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Cameron Smith, Vijay Singh
3:33 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Wesley Bryan, Alex Noren
3:44 p.m. — Martin Flores, Kevin Tway, Hao Tong Li
3:54 p.m. — Camilo Villegas, Scott Brown, Kelly Kraft
4:05 p.m. — Brice Garnett, Adam Schnek, Cameron Champ
4:15 p.m. — Ben Silverman, Zecheng Dou, Seunghyuk Kim
Off No. 10:
9:40 a.m. — Matt Every, John Merrick, Andrew Loupe
9:50 a.m. — Geoff Ogilvy, Derek Fathauer, Harold Varner III
10:01 a.m. — David Lingmerth, Tyrone Van Aswegen, C.T. Pan
10:11 a.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Billy Hurley III, K.J. Choi
10:22 a.m. — Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods
10:32 a.m. — Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Tommy Fleetwood
10:43 a.m. — Brendan Steele, Greg Chalmers, Sangmoon Bae
10:53 a.m. — William McGirt, Brian Stuard, Charles Howell III
11:04 a.m. — Ryan Moore, Bill Haas, Chez Reavie
11:14 a.m. — Chad Campbell, Shawn Stefani, Dominic Bozzelli
11:25 a.m. — Kevin Na, Anirban Lahiri, Jon Curran
11:35 a.m. — Abraham Ancer, Xinjun Zhang, Richard H. Lee
2:20 p.m. — J.B. Holmes, Robert Streb, Sean O’Hair
2:30 p.m. — J.J. Henry, Lucas Glover, Ryan Blaum
2:41 p.m. — Cameron Tringale, Bud Cauley, Martin Piller
2:51 p.m. — Marc Leishman, Adam Hadwin, Peter Malnati
3:02 p.m. — Ryan Armour, Tony Finau, Ernie Els
3:12 p.m. — Jhonattan Vegas, Vaughn Taylor, Martin Kaymer
3:23 p.m. — D.A. Points, Jim Furyk, Rafa Cabrera Bello
3:33 p.m. — Daniel Berger, Si Woo Kim, Fabian Gomez
3:44 p.m. — Jamie Lovemark, Sung Kang, Patrick Rodgers
3:54 p.m. — Troy Merritt, Danny Lee, Whee Kim
4:05 p.m. — Nicholas Lindheim, Talor Gooch, Stephan Jaeger
4:15 p.m. — Jonathan Randolph, Tyler Duncan, Vinnie Poncino
Off No. 1:
9:40 a.m. — Charlie Beljan, John Huh, J.J. Spaun
9:50 a.m. — Keegan Bradley, Tom Hoge, Andrew Landry
10:01 a.m. — Harris English, Parker McLachlin, Thomas Pieters
10:11 a.m. — Graeme McDowell, Smylie Kaufman, Luke Donald
10:22 a.m. — Chris Stroud, Aaron Baddeley, Jim Herman
10:32 a.m. — Jimmy Walker, Charley Hoffman, Shane Lowry
10:43 a.m. — Cody Gribble, Charl Schwartzel, Brian Gay
10:53 a.m. — Pat Perez, James Hahn, Padraig Harrington
11:04 a.m. — Austin Cook, Branden Grace, Paul Casey
11:14 a.m. — Kevin Streelman, Luke List, Aaron Wise
11:25 a.m. — Scott Stallings, Morgan Hoffmann, Michael Kim
11:35 a.m. — Sam Saunders, Rob Oppenheim, Scottie Scheffler
2:20 p.m. — Martin Laird, Jason Kokrak, Francesco Molinari
2:30 p.m. — Nick Taylor, Peter Uihlein, Brandon Harkins
2:41 p.m. — Retief Goosen, Ollie Schniederjans, Beau Hossler
2:51 p.m. — Ted Potter, Jr., Kyle Stanley, Jonas Blixt
3:02 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Kevin Chappell
3:12 p.m. — Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Bubba Watson
3:23 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Cameron Smith, Vijay Singh
3:33 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Wesley Bryan, Alex Noren
3:44 p.m. — Martin Flores, Kevin Tway, Hao Tong Li
3:54 p.m. — Camilo Villegas, Scott Brown, Kelly Kraft
4:05 p.m. — Brice Garnett, Adam Schnek, Cameron Champ
4:15 p.m. — Ben Silverman, Zecheng Dou, Seunghyuk Kim
Off No. 10:
9:40 a.m. — Matt Every, John Merrick, Andrew Loupe
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