Genesis Invitational preview: What to know for Tiger's return to action

Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy have already posted wins this year, Scottie Scheffler just took the Phoenix Open for the second straight year to grab the No. 1 spot in the OWGR, and the Netflix documentary covering the PGA TOUR drops this week.

It's safe to say that professional golf is having a moment right now.

The hype around the sport will only continue to build this week with the annual trip to historic Riviera Country Club - with one Tiger Woods making his first start on TOUR since last July. Woods serves as the tournament host in Los Angeles but will have dual duties this week in his return to action.

Here's what to know for the week in California.

How to watch

All streaming on ESPN+

Marquee groups

3 reasons to watch

The event at Riviera is almost always a must-watch, but there are a few reasons why this year's event comes with even more hype

Tiger is back

The last we saw Tiger in a competitive event on TOUR - with apologies to the father-son event in December - was his missed cut at the Open Championship in July. While there was never a doubt he would be in attendance in Los Angeles due to his role as tournament host, most figured that would be the extent of his participation this week.

While Woods has plenty of history at Riviera, it hasn't exactly been the most productive course for the 15-time major winner. He's never won a TOUR event in 11 tries at the venue as a professional - the most he's teed it up at a course without claiming a victory. Woods has been adamant in his recovery that he would only be playing the majors and maybe one or two other events a year. The fact he feels healthy enough to make Riviera one of those stops is a great sign for his prospects in 2023 and beyond.

The field is loaded

Fresh off the second designated event of the season in Phoenix, all the big guns are back at it again in Los Angeles. The commitment of the top players to participate in the elevated tournaments for 2023 has guaranteed loaded fields on a regular basis. The previous two designated events this season saw Rahm and Scheffler claim victory - the current No. 3 and No. 1 players in the world, respectively. Don't be shocked if another superstar is standing in the winner's circle on Sunday at Riviera.

The course

Many of the courses we see throughout the season on the PGA TOUR leave a lot to be desired from an architectural perspective. Riviera isn't one of those, as the George C. Thomas layout is widely regarded as a top-three layout on the schedule. At just over 7,300 yards, it isn't one of the longer courses on the circuit, but it consistently challenges the top players in the world and produces a worthy winner.

Last year's result

Joaquin Niemann went wire-to-wire last year in Los Angeles to claim the biggest win of his young career by two strokes over Cameron Young and Collin Morikawa. The Chilean opened with a pair of 63s to give himself a huge cushion heading to the weekend and was able to close things out at the historic venue.

However, there'll be no title defense for Niemann as he opted to join LIV Golf in August and was last seen finishing fifth in the Asian Tour event in Oman last weekend.

Niemann isn't the only former champion who won't be in attendance due to their move to LIV Golf, as both Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson joined the rival circuit after previously winning at Riviera.

Previous winners

2022 - Joaquin Niemann (-19)
2021 - Max Homa (-12)
2020 - Adam Scott (-11)
2019 - J.B. Holmes (-14)
2018 - Bubba Watson (-12)
2017 - Dustin Johnson (-17)

Betting odds

Jon Rahm +800
Rory McIlroy +900
Scottie Scheffler +1,100
Justin Thomas +1,400
Collin Morikawa +1,800
Tony Finau +1,800
Xander Schauffele +1,800
Max Homa +2,200
Patrick Cantlay +2,500
Jordan Spieth +2,800
Sam Burns +3,300
Sungjae Im +3,300
Viktor Hovland +3,300
Tiger Woods +10,000

Odds via theScore Bet