Bob Weeks Picks Six – Genesis Invitational

TSN Senior Reporter

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Never underestimate what a drawing card a great golf course is. Riviera Country Club is one of the best layouts on the PGA Tour, judging by the field assembled for this year’s Genesis Invitational.

The top-10 ranked golfers in the world are all in the field, and according to statistician Justin Ray, the last time this happened at an event that wasn’t a major, World Golf Championship, or playoff tournament was in 2007 at Quail Hollow.

This event also tends to be where a lot of players begin their PGA Tour season in earnest. Rory McIlroy is playing for the first time this year while Dustin Johnson is making just his second start of the campaign.

Patrick Cantlay +1000

Cantlay has done just about everything but win so far this year with a fourth, ninth, fourth and second logged over his past four tournaments. You can choose from a plethora of impressive stats to show why he is among the top picks this week and here are a few: second in scoring average (69.424); third in putting average and first in putting from inside 10 feet. That might change this week based on current form and past performance at Riviera. He’s been inside the top 20 in his last four appearances including a tie for 15th  a year ago. The course seems like a good fit for a player with his talent.

Dustin Johnson +1600

It doesn’t take much of a deep dive to see that Johnson likes playing at Riv. In 14 starts in this event, he’s ended the week inside the top 10 on 10 occasions. Included in that group is a win and a couple of runner-ups. Johnson hasn’t been all that impressive of late. Just two PGA Tour starts so far this season with a tie for 45th and a tie for 25th on the ledger. He did end up eighth at the Saudi