
Welcome to La-La Land, just one of the many nicknames attached to Los Angeles.
This is home to the stars. Come here if you want the chance to make it big. But, remember, it’s a star-filled area, and everyone thinks they’ve got what it takes to rise to the top.
Oh, you thought we were talking about TV or the movies? Nope. Try the PGA Tour, which stops in Los Angeles this week for the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.
The PGA Tour players teeing it up in this event have enough star-power to compare with any blockbuster they can bring to the big screen.
Odds To Win The Genesis Invitational 2021 From FanDuel
FanDuel Sportsbook | Odds To Win |
---|---|
Dustin Johnson | +550 |
Jon Rahm | +1300 |
Justin Thomas | +1300 |
Rory McIlroy | +1300 |
Xander Schauffele | +1500 |
Patrick Cantlay | +1600 |
Bryson DeChambeau | +1700 |
Brooks Koepka | +2400 |
Tony Finau | +2900 |
Collin Morikawa | +3400 |
Daniel Berger | +3400 |
Viktor Hovland | +3400 |
A Star-Studded Field
Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, and many other top players will be on hand as 30 of the top 50 in the world rankings will tee it up. And with good reason. This is the final event of the wraparound season’s West Coast swing. The Tour started with a couple of stops in Hawaii, came back to California for two events, took a swing out to sunny Arizona for a week and wound up with a final two-week stint in California.
Next week there’s a doubleheader with the World Golf Championship at The Concessions in Florida along with an off-field Puerto Rico Open on tap. In fact, we won’t see the Tour near the West Coast again until mid-June with the U.S. Open being played at Torrey Pines.
But, first things first. Let’s check out the Genesis Invitational sports betting angles.
The good news: We’ve pinpointed a couple of players, not necessarily the big guns, who could shine brightly when it comes to golf betting. The bad news: The tournament’s host, Tiger Woods, won’t be one of those names as he’s still sidelined following yet another back procedure.
The Defending Champ Is Our Pick
We’ll start with the defending champ, Adam Scott. He’s been solid in the wraparound season and has an impressive track record here. How impressive? Start with last year’s victory and add in a T-7 in 2019 and it’s a little strange to see his odds are a sky-high +3500 at FanDuel.
He’s six-for-six in cuts in the 2021 portion of the season and is coming off a T-10 at the Farmer’s Insurance Open despite a 72-73 weekend showing.
We’re also going to look at a couple of players who have been right in the mix week-in and week-out. This will be two guys who just hang around and give themselves a chance to win: Patrick Cantlay at +1600 and Xander Schauffele at +1500. Their form, along with the tournament favorites, is why the bookmakers usually keep their numbers low.
Cantlay has back-to-back-to-back top 20s in this event including a T-4 in 2018. He also finished T-3 last week at Pebble Beach during the AT&T event so his SoCal vibe is hot.
Schauffele has seven runner-up finishes since his last victory (the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions) so he’s been right there knocking on the door.
All three of these players, like about 30 or 40 others in this star-studded field, have the ability to put together four impressive rounds and wind up with a winning check in the $1.5-plus million range.
A Look At A Longshot
And as a last choice, we’re going way, way down the board and looking for a longshot to possibly win. It’s a guy who just needs that one boost to finally get in the winner’s circle. This certainly could be that week as he’s had success here.
Watch out for Doc Redman. At +21000 he’s a solid value when you look at the fact he won the 2017 US Amateur at Riviera. This will be his first time taking part in this Genesis Invitational, an invitation-only event, so why not make a splash and win in back-to-back times he’s played this course in the national spotlight–once as an amateur and once as a pro.