What to expect from Tiger Woods’ return to Riviera

There’s so much to love about the PGA Tour’s annual stop at Riviera. But this Genesis Open is even more hyped than usual, with the return of Tiger Woods, who has skipped the L.A. event since 2006. The field boasts an embarrassment of riches. The course is maybe the best of the entire year. And the show is perfectly suited or the Los Angeles setting. It’s a must-watch and here are some predictions and themes to follow this week at the Riv.

Kyle: Would it be fair to feel safe about a top-25 finish at Riv for Cat? I think so. But I’m gonna hedge a bit anyway.

I’ve got two hesitations this week. One, which we’re sure to be beaten with to the point of exhaustion within the coverage windows, is that Tiger’s never played particularly well here. It’s probably not something to read too much into considering (a) this is a track he hasn’t teed it up at in 12 years and (b) he’s on record as really liking how Riv sets up for him this week. Still, it’s not, you know, nothing.

Second? We’re kinda overdue for a disappointment on the comeback path here. Golf is exceptionally hard, and players at the top of the sport that aren’t coming off multi-year layoffs miss cuts every week. Considering the relative successes of the Hero and Torrey, feels like we might be due for a small stumble. Won’t be anything to sweat though, either way.

Brendan: Riviera, according to the data, does not punish missed fairways as much as other courses on Tour. You can hit it long and off line here and still do quite well. We’ve seen it happen with Bubba multiple times. You just need to get it out there, and it’s easier, relatively speaking, to still play from rough that’s not particularly deep or thick. The different strain of grass can be stickier and require an adjustment, but it’s not penal.

That should help Tiger in his quest to make another cut and maybe make an appearance on the first page of the leaderboard. We all saw how wild he was with the driver at Torrey Pines. It’s hard to be that bad again, but I imagine it’s still a weak point of his game this week. I don’t really know what to make of Tiger’s track record here, or anywhere at this point in his career. It’s kind of a new cat and I think we need to start dropping the weight we assign to past success, like at Torrey, and failures, like Riv, when assessing his chances. I’m not too concerned about his poor record here or the fact he hasn’t played here in a dozen years.

That said, I think we’re living and dying with every shot again on Friday afternoon as Tiger fights to make the cut. I’m a little concerned with Tiger trying to keep up with his playing partners, Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy. I know that sounds crazy when you’re talking about Tiger, but this is not 2005 and those other two guys are the absolute best the game has to offer. It seems precarious to immediately be thrown back into that, but man it will be incredible to watch the three together.

I think this is a similar week to Torrey, with Tiger making the cut on the number or by a shot but never really getting into contention on the weekend. That’s fine, too.

Brendan: Yes, on paper. Now we need it to materialize over the first 36 holes and not fizzle. It’s incredible. When I saw the announcement on my phone, I yelped out loud on the course and contorted in laughter. There have been a few stout pairings during recent FedExCup events, which typically group according to the standings. But none of those had Tiger. This is the kind of power trio you get when you have such an outrageous field strength. It’s as hyped a tee time as I can remember.

Kyle: Cool, cool, I get to be the bad guy. The Tiger-JT-Rory pairing is fine. It’s fine. It’s a good pairing. Save Dustin Johnson, there’s no three players in the sport more fun to just watch hit golf balls. For an early season event, you can’t do much better. This will be full-on protraj porn.

BUT!

Great groupings need an edge to them for real fireworks, and all these dudes are pals. Golf needs fire. It needs PASSION and HATE and THAT KINDA STUFF. As great as this weekday triumvirate will be at Riv, it will not be, say, the 2003 Battle at the Bridges.

Bring back Sergio vs. Tiger in Monday Night Golf, and bring it to me now.

Brendan: There’s so much to choose from here. It would be too easy to say Rory again. I’m fascinated watching Jordan Spieth trying to overcome some very clear putting troubles right now. The artist Bryson DeChambeau is always a curiosity and personal favorite. I could lean with some more hipster options, too, but I am going mainstream and cliche and saying Phil Mickelson. Here we are some 25 years into both careers and I’m most excited to watch Phil and Tiger.

The last two starts for Phil, both top fives, have exhibited some of the classic Mickelson shot making that has made him so popular. It’s the first time he’s gone back to back with top fives on the Tour since 2013. That’s not inconsequential and I’m ready for more this week. A month ago, I had Phil fatigue at the Palm Springs event and it was only his first start of the year. It just looked like more of the same, but now he’s got it going and the West Coast swing has always been a place where he feasted. I expect another strong run at Riv with some amazing shots on the way to another late Sunday tee time.

Kyle: Brendan hit the big names, but I like my deeper cuts. While we’re all enamored stateside with Cat, we’re letting what should be a massive golf story for the next couple seasons flow beneath the radar. Please respect my son, the Young God, the Boy King, Haotong Li.

Consider the consequences for golf when one of the game’s brightest young stars hails from China. The world’s most populous nation has what could be a labeled a contentious relationship with the sport at best. Mao Zedong banned the game in 1949, as it was one viewed representative of the nation’s wealthy class. That type of governmental pushback, thought it’s ebbed and flowed over the years, still exists today. The growth of the sport is curbed nationwide by strict regulation on the construction of new facilities, current president Xi Jinping has told members of his ruling Communist Party not to play the game, and the government closed 111 courses just last year alone.

Perhaps that’s why China’s never really even sniffed having a global star in the men’s game. There’s reason for that to change. Hot on the heels of a third-place finish at last year’s Open, Li held off a charging McIlroy to win in Dubai last month for what’s easily the biggest win of the 22-year-old’s career. He’s now up inside the top 35 in the rankings, and traveling to the States for a first-choice PGA Tour event for only the second time ever.

Watch this space.

Brendan: It’s properly rated. It’s hard to overrate. The architecture nerds, who can always pick nits, will tell you how it can be better with some widening of the fairways and changes in maintenance. But it’s still so good and just so fun throughout, for both the most keen golf course architecture nerd and the novice who can just recognize a fun hole without knowing why.

Kyle: I’ll go a little underrated, just as we haven’t seen Riv host a major since the 1995 PGA — and we use the Major Championship Course classification too often to draw bright lines between what’s a good track and a great track. It’s a historic gem on a Tour loaded with cookie-cutter TPC-type tracks with little character.

Kyle: I don’t know that I have a strong opinion on any individual hole, but I don’t think you can beat the walk-up 18 at Riv. Walking up into the natural amphitheater is as memorable and iconic as a finish as exists anywhere in golf. I’ll go with that here.

Brendan: The 10th has suffered a bit from overexposure during the social media era. That doesn’t mean it’s not great. It’s just that we know that already — literally everyone has said so and talks about it ad nauseam. I love to watch the players hit into the par-3 4th. It’s a beast of a Redan hole and watching the best in the world trying to attack it off the tee is fascinating.

Brendan: None.

Kyle: Sawgrass, because just reading this sentence will make you very mad.

Brendan: The Oman Open is that mid-week Fun Belt or MACtion college football game and the Genesis Open is the Saturday night showcase between two blue bloods. It’s a total curiosity. It’s an odd Euro Tour move and who knows what kind of future it has after this inaugural event. But I don’t think I was the real target for this question ...

Kyle: [AN ABSURD CHORUS OF RAP AIRHORNS ECHO FROM OVER THE HORIZON LINE]

HELLO, FRIENDS. PLEASE DON’T LISTEN TO BRENDAN. I’M HERE TO TELL YOU ABOUT THIS WEEK’S REAL ATTRACTION, THE NEW FIFTH MAJOR, THE DUST UP IN THE DESERT. OUT WITH THE BIG CAT. IN WITH THE MUSCAT. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE OMAN OPEN.

FIRST, YES, THIS IS A REAL GOLF TOURNAMENT, AND NOT SOME CLUB PRO GUY-ESQUE TWITTER SCHTICK I’M RIPPING OFF FOR GAGS AND JOKES. THE EUROPEAN TOUR, EARTH’S BEST SPORTING ORGANIZATION, WILL SANCTION AND SPONSOR ANY TYPE OF GOLF COMPETITION ANYWHERE ANYTIME. IT FRIGGIN’ OWNS, AND ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE PROBABLY EXHIBITS LIGHTLY VEILED XENOPHOBIC TENDENCIES ON TWITTER. GRAYSON MURRAY AND LEE MCCOY, HELLO.

ANYWAY THIS WEEK WE’RE GONNA PLAY A PROFESSIONAL TOP-TIER GOLF TOURNAMENT IN MUSCAT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. SURE, SURE, WE’VE BEEN FINISHING THE CHALLENGE TOUR SEASON HERE FOR A FEW YEARS. BUT I DON’T KNOW, THERE’S SOMETHING WEIRD AND AWESOME ABOUT PLAYING GOLF IN A NEW PLACE THAT HAS PRODUCED LITERALLY ZERO PROFESSIONAL GOLFERS OF NOTE. WHILE THE PGA TOUR HOSTS ROUGHLY THE 797TH TOURNAMENT OF THE YEAR MARKETED FOR RICH CALIFORNIANS THE EUROPEAN TOUR IS [CHECKS NOTES] UH, HEADING TO A NATION WITH AN EXTREMELY QUESTIONABLE HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD. GROW THE GAME. SURE. UM. GOLF COURSE IS VERY BEAUTIFUL, THOUGH. LOOK AT THIS.

ANYWAY, THE EUROPEAN TOUR IS GOOD BECAUSE IT’S WEIRD AS HELL, AND IT’S GONNA BE AT PEAK WEIRD THIS WEEK. THE ORDER OF MERIT IS LED BY SHUBHANKAR SHARMA, A 21-YEAR-OLD INDIAN KID WHO WAS OUTSIDE THE TOP 500 IN THE WORLD A HANDFUL OF WEEKS AGO. HE CAN PLAY HIS WAY INTO THE MASTERS THIS WEEK, WHICH IS A PRETTY DOGGONE BIG DEAL FOR REASONS MUCH SIMILAR TO HAOTONG LI DISCUSSED ABOVE.

[deep breath]

OK, sorry, sorry. I’m done. Watch the European Tour.