Torrey Pines -- and the elements -- will test golfers at Thursday's Genesis Invitational

Kirk Kenney, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Feb 12, 2025

Published in Golf

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SAN DIEGO — “I’d keep playing. I don’t think the heavy stuff’s gonna coming down for quite awhile.” — Carl Spackler

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Golfers were greeted by mist, sprinkles and drizzle during Wednesday’s Genesis Invitational pro-am.

It was a prelude to a forecast that calls for an inch of rain and winds gusting to 25 mph along the coast Thursday, when the PGA Tour’s $20 million signature event begins at the Torrey Pines Golf Course.

The Genesis Invitational’s 72-man field includes 46 of the top 50 players in the world golf rankings, led by No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 3 Rory McIlroy, No. 4 Collin Morikawa and No. 5 Hidei Matsuyama, the defending champion.

They are playing the same South Course that three weeks ago hosted the Farmers Insurance Open, but course is expected to play significantly different because of the wet weather. Though 32 players in the field also were here for the Farmers (18 made the cut), any advantage could be offset by the conditions.

Morikawa pointed out that when it’s sunny at Torrey Pines, the fairways are firm, providing plenty of roll.

When it’s wet?

“You’re not getting any roll-out in the fairways, so it’s going to play a lot longer,” Morikawa said of the 7,765-yard South Course. “Greens might play a little bit softer, but winds are going to be up. You’re going to be hitting more 6-, 5-, 4-irons into par 3s and into par 4s. You’re not going to get the roll-out that you would in the fairways.

“It’s just going to play a lot longer, and long only makes it harder. Then you add the factor of the weather, wind, rain, scores generally aren’t low in those conditions.”

Max Homa, a former Genesis (2021) and Farmers (2023) champion, said, “it would be great to see something a bit unique.” He was referring to the course setup, hoping it wouldn’t make the Genesis look like a “carbon copy” of the Farmers.

It could look different — at least during the first two rounds. Rain and wind are in the forecast.

“Unfortunately, we’re going to get a lot of rain so it will be soft,” Homa said, “but that will mean the rough’s going to play thicker.”

John Howard, the city’s golf manager, put it plainly: “It’s going to be rough in the rough.”

The biggest concern is water pooling on the course and making it unplayable, but drainage has been upgraded over the years to minimize such problems.

“These greens can definitely handle a certain amount of water,” Howard said. “They’re USGA specs. If you get a decent amount on there, it will definitely pull the water through it.

“Right now we’re, obviously, looking at pin positions that will be favorable that if we do get some weather that potentially we’ll not have to worry about it. There are going to be things the Tour’s looking at to ensure we have the best chance of getting in as much golf as we can. … We like to play it firm and fast, but it doesn’t always mean that Mother Nature is on our side.”

The Torrey Pines rough is notorious in the best of conditions. Wet weather only makes things worse.

“You’re basically going to get rough that is a lot nastier,” Howard said. “It’s going to be harder to hit out of. It’s going to be an interesting test of golf.”

While players may be allowed to “lift, clean and replace” their balls in wet and muddy conditions, the allowance applies to the fairway, not the rough, so shot-making will be at a premium for those who go astray.

Fog has been most impactful during pro events here over the past decade. In fact, it delayed the first round of the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

The second round of this year’s Farmers had an 86-minute delay when winds gusted to 35 mph. That prevented more than two dozen golfers from completing their rounds until the following day.

The Genesis Invitational’s smaller field means any disruption in play won’t put things behind as much as if there was a full 156-man field here this week.

Wednesday’s weather during the pro-am was more of a nuisance than anything.

According to the National Weather Service, rain is expected to persist throughout Thursday’s first round, though the worst of the storm isn’t expected until the round has been completed. The grounds will be thoroughly saturated as the storm clears out on Friday.

The wind could impact scores, but it isn’t expected to force play to be stopped the way it was last month.

Crews went around the course inspecting trees following last month’s event to make sure the course is safe for golfers and, this week, spectators.

“After the Farmers, we brought in a tree crew and went through all of the areas, specifically where spectators potentially are going to be,” said Howard, specifically mentioning areas along the 7th and 18th holes where trees were cleaned up. “They key was to make sure we took out any debris that was potentially going to come down. We took out any loose limbs, but opened the trees up as well so the wind could basically pass through them.”