Rory McIlroy continues his Masters preparation. Photograph: Harry How/Getty
For all that he has achieved as a professional golfer, Rory McIlroy – who hit the ground running in winning his opening event of the PGA Tour season, at last month’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – still has boxes to tick, aside from the obvious one of completing the career Grand Slam with a green jacket.
That quest, of course, will come soon enough on his latest visit to Augusta National for the Masters in April. For now, the world number three’s immediate aim is to add the Genesis Invitational title at Torrey Pines to his Pebble Beach success, doing so would be the first time McIlroy has kicked off a PGA Tour season with back-to-back wins.
McIlroy’s decision to reduce his playing schedule this season has already brought benefits, following up a fourth-place finish in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour with victory in Pebble Beach where he fended off Shane Lowry’s challenge down the stretch in a one-two finish for the Irishmen. Both McIlroy and Lowry are back on tour this week, after skipping the WM Phoenix Open.
Séamus Power is the third Irish player in the field, coming in on the back of 17th-place finish at Pebble Beach and tied-36th in Phoenix. Power earned his place the fields for Pebble Beach and the Genesis off his top-10 finish in the FedEx Cup Fall Series but is not yet exempt into the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which is the next of the PGA Tour’s $20 million signature events.
Of the three Irish players in the field, only Lowry played in the Famers Insurance Open, when he missed the cut. However, it would seem that conditions for this week’s return to Torrey Pines – with the course replacing Riviera due to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area – will be hugely different due to expected heavy rain for the first two days.
“With the forecast, the weather, the rain, it’s going to play really tough. It’s going to play long, it’s going to play where [finding] fairways matter a lot. I don’t think you can really overpower a golf course this long when the rough is that big. Fairways are going to be important. Torrey Pines is already a very, very difficult golf course,” opined world number four Collin Morikawa on the weather potentially adding to the challenges faced.
Indeed, defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, who played in the Farmers Insurance, isn’t inclined to believe that will help given the change in conditions from firm to soft with added rough. “It’s really not going to help me this week,” said the Japanese player.
McIlroy – who played the pre-tournament pro-am – has talked of adopting a different approach to his on-course thinking and strategy this year.
“It’s strategy and picking more conservative targets at times, and maybe picking more conservative clubs off tees. Then I think the big thing is obviously short game as well. My short game last year was a little up and down. I would have a good week, then I’d have a bad week. There wasn’t a ton of consistency in it,” was McIlroy’s self-analysis of the changed approach, which has already reaped benefits.
That win in Pebble Beach brought McIlroy closer to Xander Schauffele in the official world rankings. For McIlroy to overtake Schauffele and move to number two behind Scottie Scheffler, he likely needs a tied-fifth or better finish.
Shane Lowry at Torrey Pines North Course earlier this year. Photograph: Sean M Haffey/Getty
Lowdown
Purse: $20 million (€19.25 million)/$4 million (€3.85 million to the winner)
Where: La Jolla, California
The course: The South Course at Torrey Pines – 7,765 yards, par 72 – plays host to a PGA Tour event for the second time inside a month. Harris English was a surprise winner of the Farmers Insurance Open just three weeks ago and, due to the wildfires in Los Angeles which forced a change in venue from Riviera, the South Course comes in as the once-off home to the Tiger Woods-hosted tournament, a signature event on the PGA Tour. Golf course architect Rees Jones did an upgrade to the course before the US Open in 2021 which included moving some tees and bunkers to further strengthen the course’s defences to what already was the longest course on the US Open circuit.
The field: Although world number two Xander Schauffele remains sidelined due to injury, there is a stellar field headed by world number one Scottie Scheffler – playing for a third straight week following surgery for a hand injury accidentally self-inflicted on Christmas Day when using a wine glass to roll ravioli – and number three Rory McIlroy, playing for the first time since his AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am win. Tiger Woods’s absence brought first reserve Jake Knapp into the limited 50-player field, while Chris Kirk’s withdrawal saw Mark Hubbard get in.
Quote-Unquote: “I’m pretty into the ‘trusting the process’ type mindset. I know I’m getting better even if it looks like I’m getting worse. I think I know what I’m doing is right. It’s very difficult to continue to see bad, but last week I actually hit the ball incredible and I missed the cut by five. Golf does not like me at the moment, I’ve noticed that.” – former Genesis Invitational champion Max Homa on his struggling form. Homa has not had a top-10 finish since the Wells Fargo last May and missed the cut in Phoenix.
Irish in the field: Séamus Power is in the opening group off the 1st, playing alongside Patrick Rodgers and Ben Griffin (5.30pm Irish time); Rory McIlroy is in a group with Viktor Hovland and Adam Scott (off the 10th, at 6.14pm); Shane Lowry is in a three-ball with Stephan Jaeger and Jason Day (off the 10th, at 6.58pm).
Betting: Scottie Scheffler is in the third straight week of tournament play – tied ninth at Pebble Beach, tied 25th at Phoenix – and is installed as the 4-1 favourite with Rory McIlroy, who won in his PGA Tour opener at Pebble Beach, rated a 6-1 chance. The 33-1 about Robert MacIntyre looks a tempting each-way wager with the left-handed Scot finishing strongly in Phoenix to secure a tied-sixth place. Another player worth an each-way look is Sam Stevens who finished runner-up to English in the Farmers Insurance Open.
