Scottie, scottie and Riviera: 'Weird relationship' remains
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler watched an 18-tournament top-10 streak come to an end at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, finishing tied for 12th. “This place and I have like a weird relationship, ” Scheffler said after holing a par putt on 18 Friday to make the cut.
Scottie’s Riviera history
Scheffler arrived at Riviera with a checkered history at the Pacific Palisades venue. As an amateur he missed the match-play cut at the 2017 U. S. Amateur and missed the cut as an amateur at the Genesis Open in 2018. As a professional he entered the week with four top-20s at Riviera but had never finished within six shots of the lead. He came into the Genesis riding a streak of 18 consecutive top-10 finishes, a run that is now over.
Riviera's championship pedigree
The George C. Thomas design has hosted U. S. Opens and PGA Championships and, since 1973, the PGA Tour’s LA Open, now the Genesis Invitational. A long list of greats have triumphed at Riviera: Hogan, Snead, Watson, Nelson, Mickelson, Couples, Faldo, Els and Scott. Yet the course has confounded other legends. Jack Nicklaus had two runner-up finishes at Riviera but never won. Tiger Woods made 15 starts at Riviera, including his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992, and while he made 10 cuts he recorded just three top 10s, including a runner-up finish to Ernie Els in 1999. Rory McIlroy’s T2 on Sunday was his best finish in Pacific Palisades.
The course’s Poa annua greens and a layout that correlates with Augusta National, asking players to control spin and trajectory while attacking small, tricky greens, have left even the game’s best puzzled. “It makes absolutely no sense, ” Max Homa said in 2023 about Woods being unable to win at Riviera. Adam Scott added then that Woods is “a really great iron player” and that Riviera’s results for Woods “may just be an anomaly. ” Woods himself said in 2024 that Riviera is visually comfortable to him but that “for some reason I just haven’t put it together at this event other than one time with a chance. ”
The closing-day roller coaster
The week at Riviera was a study in swings for Scheffler. The damage began in the first round: he went 5-over through 10 holes when play was called for the day on Thursday, the worst start of his career. He made a few birdies in the early hours of Friday to finish the first 18 at 3-over. He rebounded with a 3-under 68 in the second round and a 66 on Saturday.
On Sunday Scheffler’s final round began even-par through seven holes before he rattled off six birdies in his last 12 holes, including a back-nine 31 that produced a final-round 65. A 21-foot putt on the 18th that he needed for a birdie to get into the top 10 stopped an inch short.
What ultimately halted the streak
Other late moves on Sunday also reshaped the leaderboard. Tommy Fleetwood vaulted past Scheffler with an eagle that holed out from 173 yards on No. 15. Cameron Young birdied his final three holes to move ahead as well. Those swings left Scheffler in a tie for 12th and ended his run of 18 straight top-10s. The result also ended a run of eight straight top-four finishes for Scheffler. The 18-match streak is the longest in the modern era; the tour began keeping official stats in 1983, and Tiger Woods never managed more than 11 consecutive top-10s.
Scheffler acknowledged the week’s difficulties but also stressed his temperament: “I've never been one to quit, so it's not really – I mean, I'd feel pretty silly to quit in a PGA TOUR event. ” He credited getting earlier tee times and fresher, less chewed-up greens for part of his weekend improvement: it is “easier playing in the morning than it is late in the day, ” he said, and he “took advantage of it. ”
Final swings and the champion
The week’s winner began Sunday with a six-shot lead that swelled to seven at one point; the 26-year-old Jacob Bridgeman hung on for a one-shot victory. Scheffler’s mid-week position looked precarious — he was four over through 26 holes and in danger of missing the 36-hole cut — but he rallied to make the weekend and mounted the late run that ultimately fell just short.
Next events on schedule
Scheffler’s next start is expected in two weeks at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, followed immediately by THE PLAYERS Championship. He has won both of those events twice. A tie for 12th at a signature event like the Genesis remains a notable finish even as his remarkable streak comes to an end.
Scottie Scheffler’s week at Riviera reaffirmed the course’s tendency to both produce champions and frustrate the game’s biggest names; for Scheffler, the relationship with Riviera remains unresolved.
