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The PGA Tour returns to Riviera Country Club this week but the last two winners at the course are not in the field because both 2022 champion Joaquin Niemann and last year’s top dog Jon Rahm have joined LIV. The field is still good, as you would expect of an event that has been designated Signature. The favourite Scottie Scheffler was both brilliant and flawed last Sunday in Scottsdale. He jumped aboard the birdie train, putted clean off the 18th green in the third round, jumped back on that train, and then missed a series of short putts that left him exasperated. Rory McIlroy makes an eighth start in the event this week and he did hold a share of the 54 hole lead in 2020 but closed with a 73 for fifth. In fact, he’s made the cut five times and four times carded a 73 or worse in a weekend round. Tournament host Tiger Woods, who is making his first start of 2024, likes the course and has praised the simple “in front of you” design but he’s never won on it and is a little mystified why: “It suits a natural cutter of the golf ball and that’s what I have done pretty much my entire career.” He added: “It puts such a premium on putting the golf ball in play and hitting the ball high. You’ve got to hit the ball high into any of these greens and really control your spin and put the ball in the right spots because getting up and down here, as we’ve all seen, from kikuyu grass is not easy to do.” There is a long-standing link between Riviera and Augusta National, backed up by the notion that it suits those who move the ball left to right. Last year’s winner Jon Rahm completed the Riviera-Augusta National win double, joining Adam Scott, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Mike Weir, Nick Faldo, Craig Stadler and Freddie Couples on that list in the post-1990 era. Watson said of the connection: “Imagination is huge around here. It's so much fun. This golf course, they don't change it, they haven't changed it since I've been around, so it's a blast every year we come here and I get to create shots. Same thing at Augusta, you can be creative.” Jordan Spieth loves Augusta and has won there, but although he adores Riviera he has admitted: "I’m not quite patient enough to play this golf course." A final point about the greens. Woods admits they have flummoxed him and Scott once said: “I think it’s no secret the least putts are made here on Tour all year. The greens are quite severe. It’s an old traditional style golf course with severe greens.”
Angles to consider 1/ Course form It’s one of the most basic signifiers but it’s proved to be a good one for this tournament. Seven of the last eight winners had already registered a course top five finish. 2/ Californian Poa Annua form Think Silverado, Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach in addition to Riviera – all of them traditionally conceived designs with Poa Annua grass on the greens. Winners have strong records on these other courses but of the last eight winners only Bubba Watson didn’t have a top 10 in his three previous starts in California on Poa – so strong recent form has proved key too. 3/ Driving the ball In the Strokes Gained era there have been eight winners at Riviera and only one of them had not driven the ball well in the lead-up – seven of them had ranked 11th or better in one of their two previous starts. 4/ Augusta Recall those double winners mentioned above.
Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Tony Finau Big Tony is a two-time runner-up at Riviera (in 2018 and 2021) and also had top six finishes at Torrey Pines and Silverado on Poa in California – in fact he was sixth at Torrey Pines last month and he ranked second for SG Off the Tee at Pebble Beach last time out. Adam Scott The Aussie has 10 top 20 career finishes at Riviera including an unofficial (36-hole) win in 2005, second in 2006 and 2016, an official win in 2020 and fourth two years ago. He is also, of course, one of the winners who has done the Augusta-Riviera double. The form is strong: five top eight finishes in his last six starts and he ranked fifth for SG OTT at Pebble Beach. Wyndham Clark He ranked 11th for SG OTT when the winner at Pebble Beach and now he returns to LA where he became the US Open champion last June (not on Poa). He’s 3-for-3 at Riviera which includes T17th on debut when second after 18 and 36 holes, eighth in 2021 and T33rd last year.
Tips: 0-3; -6.00pts 1pt e.w. Tony Finau at 28/1 (Skybet 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 19th 1pt e.w. Adam Scott at 33/1 (Skybet, Paddy Power, BF Sportsbook, William Hill 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) 19th 1pt e.w. Wyndham Clark at 40/1 (Paddy Power, BF Sportsbook, William Hill 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7) mc
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