February 2, 2024; Pebble Beach, California, USA; Viktor Hovland lines up his putt on the fifth hole during the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament at Pebble Beach Golf Links. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The PGA Tour is in Los Angeles this week for the 2024 Genesis Invitational, a Signature Event on the 2024 schedule. The 1st round from the storied Riviera Country Club begins on Thursday, with a field of 70 players teeing it up in this star-studded tournament.
Below, we search for the best value prop bets among the 2024 Genesis Invitational odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions.
Tournament favorite Scottie Scheffler is the top-ranked player in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Xander Schauffele is ranked 2nd, followed by Viktor Hovland, Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay, all of whom will be playing at Riviera. Defending champion Jon Rahm is not in the field since he joined LIV, but tournament host Tiger Woods is playing for the 1st time since December.
Riviera Country Club is 7,322 yards long and is a par 71, testing all aspects of a player’s game – from distance off the tee to creativity around the greens.
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Genesis Invitational – Top-5 picks
Odds provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 8:17 p.m. ET.
Adam Scott (+550)
Scott is outside the Tier 1 and 2 groups this week but at Riviera, he’s performed like one of the best players in the world. He has 7 top-10 finishes in 15 appearances here, winning the tournament in 2020. In the last 4 years, he has 2 top-5s and also finished 7th five years ago.
Viktor Hovland (+275)
Hovland has played in this tournament 3 times and he’s finished 5th, 4th and 20th. A 2-for-3 hit rate in the top 5 is pretty darn good and at +275, that’s a great value – especially considering it’s a limited field.
Genesis Invitational – Top-10 picks
Max Homa (+140)
Homa is a Los Angeles native, so this is a tournament that’s important to him. He won in 2021 and in the last 4 years, he’s finished 5th, 1st, 10th and 2nd. It’s hard to get much better than that, and getting him at better than even money feels like a great bet. His odds are longer than usual after missing the cut last week in Phoenix but don’t put too much stock in that.
Collin Morikawa (+140)
Morikawa doesn’t have the length that a lot of champions at Riviera have had, but he’s deadly accurate and has played well here in the past. In his last 2 starts at the Genesis, he’s finished 2nd and 6th. Take him to make it 3 years in a row with a top 10 at Riviera.
Hideki Matsuyama (+400)
Matsuyama bounced back from a T-71 at Pebble Beach by finishing T-22 at the WM Phoenix Open last week, continuing to show good form. His last 3 starts here have been unimpressive but in 2019 and 2020, he finished 9th and 5th, respectively.
Genesis Invitational – Top-20 picks
Will Zalatoris (+130)
Zalatoris’ odds are still a bit long because he’s continuing to work his way back from injury, but this is a good tournament to buy some stock in him. He finished 15th in 2021, 26th in 2022 and 4th last year, so his track record at Riviera is very good.
Cameron Young (-110)
Young is 2-for-2 when it comes to top-20 finishes at the Genesis Invitational, and now it’s a limited-field event where the top 50 of 70 make the cut. That gives Young an even better chance to finish in the top 20. His length off the tee is a big advantage and he seemed to get on track with an 8th-place finish in Phoenix.
Nicolai Hojgaard (+150)
Course experience is typically important at Riviera, but Hojgaard is worth backing despite him making his debut here. He’s playing some of the best golf in the world right now, finishing no worse than T-31 in his last 5 starts with 3 top-10s, including a win.
Other T20 contenders (in order from longest odds to shortest):
- Matt Kuchar (+350)
- Cam Davis (+175)
Genesis Invitational – Matchups
Suggested play is golfer in bold.
Rory McIlroy (+135) vs. Scottie Scheffler (-165)
It’s hard to ever bet against Scheffler but at -165, it’s also not worth backing him to beat McIlroy. Before a terrible showing at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, McIlroy had been playing well with a win and 3 total top-10s in his previous 4 starts. It’s tough to pass him up at +135 to beat just 1 player – albeit, the best player in the world.
Collin Morikawa (-130) vs. Sam Burns (+105)
Morikawa has 2 top-6 finishes in his last 2 starts here, while Burns missed the cut in each of the last 2 years and has done so in 3 of his last 5 starts at Riviera.
Genesis Invitational – Top Australian
Adam Scott (+110)
There are only 3 Australians in the field this week: Scott, Jason Day (+188) and Cam Davis (+275). Though I also like Davis this week, Scott is too good to pass up at this number against 2 players who don’t have nearly as much experience at Riviera.
Genesis Invitational – First-round leader
Max Homa (+2800)
Homa has a great 1st-round record here. He was tied for the lead last year and tied for 2nd in 2022 and 2021. There are 7 players with better odds to be the 1st-round leader than Homa, making him a good value. I also like his top-5 (+500) and top-10 (+230) odds for the 1st round.
Matt Kuchar (+10000)
Taking Kuchar to lead after the 1st round is close to a dart throw, but he’s broken 70 in the 1st round of 4 of his last 5 starts here, including a 64 in 2020 when he held a 3-shot lead after the 1st round.
More expert prop bet predictions
Group D winner: Will Zalatoris (+400)
Zalatoris is going up against Matt Fitzpatrick (+300), Tommy Fleetwood (+333), Tom Kim (+350) and Wyndham Clark (+400) in this group. Zalatoris has 3 straight top-26 finishes in this event, including a 4th-place finish last year.
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This article originally appeared on USA Today Sportsbookwire: 2024 Genesis Invitational prop bet picks and PGA Tour predictions
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