The annual stop at Riviera may be the best on the PGA Tour. Sure, there are more lucrative tournaments, better slots on the schedule, and events with higher stakes. But Riv, which now hosts the re-branded Genesis Open, delivers year after year. The course is arguably the best among the set of those in the regular rota, a nice departure from so many monotonous TPC venues that dot the schedule. It’s a classic layout in an incredible Los Angeles setting with a loaded field. Pebble gets all the beauty shots and the celebrity nonsense, but for our money, Riviera is the best stop on the West Coast swing and the best pre-Masters event on the schedule.
Genesis Open at Riviera 2017: Tee times, pairings for Thursday’s round
Tiger is absent but the stop at Riviera is still a must-watch and loaded with big names.
This year’s event was set up to be even bigger with the blessing and patronage of Tiger Woods, the greatest draw in the history of the game. When Hyundai’s Genesis took over, they chose the Tiger Woods Foundation as the beneficiary of the event. So Tiger’s organization would help run it and he’d serve as a sort of unofficial host, as he does already at a couple other stops on Tour. While it’s his hometown course, Tiger has never played Riviera particularly well, and took it off his schedule a decade ago.
So this was going to be a grand and triumphant return for the SoCal native. That didn’t last long — not only is Tiger now unable to play thanks to what we’re still being told is a back spasm matter, he’s not even going to be around the event. Woods has stopped “all activities” per doctors’ orders, and is laid up in his LA hotel staying “horizontal,” as his agent Mark Steinberg put it. So no press conference, no visit to the TV tower, nothing. It’s a huge letdown that we don’t get to see him on such a classic track, but the field is still pretty loaded.
Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Hideki Matsuyama, Bubba Watson ... the list goes on and on and on. Almost every top name in the game is here, and that’s with previously committed Tiger and Rory McIlroy having to back out due to injury. What could have been! Still, this tee sheet is stacked at an event that doesn’t even need a superstar lineup to sell it. The course is enough.
Here’s the full tee sheet for the opening round at Riviera (all times ET):
Off No. 1 tee:
- 9:40 a.m.: Patton Kizzire, Cameron Smith, Ollie Schniederjans
- 9:50 a.m.: Brian Harman, Shawn Stefani, Luke List
- 10:01 a.m.: Camilo Villegas, Scott Brown, Marc Leishman
- 10:11 a.m.: Si Woo Kim, Padraig Harrington, Stewart Cink
- 10:22 a.m.: James Hahn, J.B. Holmes, Matt Kuchar
- 10:32 a.m.: Greg Chalmers, Steven Bowditch, Webb Simpson
- 10:43 a.m.: Brendan Steele, Ryan Moore, Nick Taylor
- 10:53 a.m.: Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Luke Donald
- 11:04 a.m.: Hudson Swafford, Patrick Reed, J.J. Henry
- 11:14 a.m.: Charlie Beljan, Ricky Barnes, Jon Curran
- 11:25 a.m.: Kevin Streelman, Jamie Lovemark, Adam Hadwin
- 11:35 a.m.: J.T. Poston, Kevin Hall, Kevin Dougherty
Afternoon Wave
- 2:20 p.m.: Kyle Reifers, Zac Blair, Harold Varner III
- 2:30 p.m.: Harris English, Martin Laird, Brett Stegmaier
- 2:41 p.m.: John Senden, Francesco Molinari, Cameron Percy
- 2:51 p.m.: Troy Merritt, Ben Martin, Keegan Bradley
- 3:02 p.m.: Shane Lowry, Nick Watney, K.J. Choi
- 3:12 p.m.: Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Bill Haas
- 3:23 p.m.: Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, Jason Day
- 3:33 p.m.: Cody Gribble, Billy Horschel, Ryan Palmer
- 3:44 p.m.: Geoff Ogilvy, Bud Cauley, Tyrone Van Aswegen
- 3:54 p.m.: Derek Fathauer, Blayne Barber, Andrew Loupe
- 4:05 p.m.: John Huh, Chez Reavie, Jason Kokrak
- 4:15 p.m.: Kevin Tway, Grayson Murray, Michael Block
Off No. 10 tee:
- 9:40 a.m.: Carl Pettersson, Chad Campbell, Anirban Lahiri
- 9:50 a.m.: Johnson Wagner, Mark Hubbard, Thomas Pieters
- 10:01 a.m.: Kyle Stanley, Graham DeLaet, Patrick Rodgers
- 10:11 a.m.: Billy Hurley III, Robert Streb, Vijay Singh
- 10:22 a.m.: Sergio Garcia, Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson
- 10:32 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Justin Rose
- 10:43 a.m.: Pat Perez, Jimmy Walker, Paul Casey
- 10:53 a.m.: Branden Grace, Brandt Snedeker, Charles Howell III
- 11:04 a.m.: Aaron Baddeley, Ernie Els, Kevin Na
- 11:14 a.m.: Seung-Yul Noh, Cameron Tringale, Michael Kim
- 11:25 a.m.: Spencer Levin, David Hearn, Sung Kang
- 11:35 a.m.: Sam Saunders, Rob Oppenheim, Jonathan Garrick
Afternoon Wave
- 2:20 p.m.: Daniel Summerhays, Ryo Ishikawa, Byeong Hun An
- 2:30 p.m.: John Merrick, Soren Kjeldsen, Ryan Blaum
- 2:41 p.m.: Bob Estes, Morgan Hoffmann, Whee Kim
- 2:51 p.m.: Tony Finau, Graeme McDowell, Matt Every
- 3:02 p.m.: Charl Schwartzel, Vaughn Taylor, Alex Cejka
- 3:12 p.m.: Scott Piercy, Danny Lee, Hunter Mahan
- 3:23 p.m.: Jim Herman, Fabian Gomez, Brooks Koepka
- 3:33 p.m.: Mackenzie Hughes, Jhonattan Vegas, Brian Stuard
- 3:44 p.m.: Ken Duke, Kevin Chappell, Steve Marino
- 3:54 p.m.: Ben Crane, Bryce Molder, Chad Collins
- 4:05 p.m.: Kelly Kraft, Wesley Bryan, Sahith Theegala
- 4:15 p.m.: Bryson DeChambeau, Jinho Choi, Rich Berberian Jr.
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