Alex Hunter provides his top one and done golf pick for the Genesis Invitational.
Taylor Pendrith checks all the boxes this week. The Canadian is playing the best golf of his career right now, with eight top 13 finishes in his last 10 starts and sitting at a career-best No. 38 in the World Golf Rankings. Pendrith has been in the mix for a win in his last two starts, with a T7 at the Farmers Insurance Open and a T9 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Like the Genesis Invitational this week, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is one of the PGA TOUR’s eight Signature Events this season, meaning it is a tournament that consists of the PGA TOUR’s best players competing for a huge $20 million purse. Also, Pendrith’s T7 at the Farmers Insurance Open is extremely notable, as three of the four rounds for that event are played at the South Course of Torrey Pines, which is the site of this week’s Genesis Invitational. This tournament is usually played at Riviera CC, but given the tragic wild fires affecting the Los Angeles area, the PGA TOUR elected to host the Genesis at Torrey Pines this year.
Pendrith has finished T16, T61, T9 and T7 in his last four starts at Torrey Pines and he gains a strong 1.3 strokes per round at the South Course for his career. Pendrith clearly has a love for this venue and using him in your OAD is a great call this week considering his career-best form. Ranking fourth in SGT2G for the season, Pendrith has been one of the best strikers in the world and he has remarkably shot under par in an eye popping 18 consecutive rounds. Plus, the South Course is one of the longest courses on the PGA TOUR at 7,765 yards and when we compare this field’s last 24 rounds at tracks over 7,400 yards, Pendrith ranks eighth in strokes gained per round at 1.43.
The Sony Open: Maverick McNealy (T45)
The American Express: Justin Thomas (second)
The Farmers Insurance Open: Ludvig Aberg (T42)
The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Collin Morikawa (T17)
WM Phoenix Open: Hideki Matsuyama (T25)
Mariah Carey No Outfit Mulligan Needed