This article is part of our Yahoo PGA DFS Picks series.
The Genesis Invitational
Pacific Palisades, California
The Riviera Country Club - Par 71 - 7,383 yards
Field - 72 entrants
Purse - $20M
Tournament Preview
After Torrey Pines handled hosting duties in 2025, The Genesis Invitational returns to the historic Riviera Country Club to highlight its 100th-anniversary celebrations with the PGA Tour's second Signature Event of the 2026 season and a $20M purse. Tournament host Tiger Woods draws an elite 72-man field that'll be cut down to top-50 and ties, as well as those within 10 shots of the lead after 36 holes.
A renowned backdrop near Beverly Hills, Riviera features slick poa greens that are among the toughest on Tour to hit in regulation, with a measly 56.4 percent GIR rate here since 2020. And although the surrounding kikuyu rough might not penalize wayward tee shots as much as a true hazard, its inconsistencies can wreak havoc around the putting surfaces as a proper short game becomes necessary early and often. There are six par-4s that measure between 450-500 yards and all three of Riviera's scorable par-5s fall shy of the 600-yard mark, so expect a majority of approach shots to come from 150-plus as confident mid-long iron play is paramount. As for the weather, cooler and wetter conditions than normal could have this layout playing much softer and therefore longer, lending additional importance to driving distance.
Recent Champions
2025 - Ludvig Aberg (Torrey Pines)
2024 - Hideki Matsuyama
2023 - Jon Rahm
2022 - Joaquin Niemann
2021 - Max Homa
2020 - Adam Scott
2019 - J.B. Holmes
2018 - Bubba Watson
2017 - Dustin Johnson
2016 - Bubba Watson
Key Stats to Victory
SG: Tee-to-Green
Proximity: 150-plus yards
Total driving
Scrambling
Yahoo Value Picks
Based on $200 salary cap
Cream of the Crop
Rory McIlroy - $45
Because Yahoo's pricing is so comparatively soft every week, especially at the top of the board, most lineup builds will feature 2-3 of the McIlroy/Scheffler/Fleetwood/Schauffele alpha crew this week, with a $43 Russell Henley likely getting super squeezed if you're looking for an expensive but barely-owned punt option in large-field GPPs. However, the true "values" in this range are McIlroy, Scheffler and Schauffele, while Fleetwood is closer to properly priced at $44 albeit still a solid play. McIlroy might've failed to record a top-10 result on the leaderboard at Pebble Beach, but he quietly ranked fourth among the field in SG: Approach, first in percentage of 320-plus yard drives and second in par-breaker percentage, cashing 25 total birdies and two eagles across 72 holes. That's the kind of scoring upside you need from a high-salaried player when they don't earn a stellar placement bonus.
Scottie Scheffler - $44
Somehow, a Win-T3-T4 stretch to begin Scheffler's 2026 campaign still isn't good enough for Yahoo's salary algorithm, which has now kept him beneath the $45 maximum for back-to-back weeks. The World No. 1 fired Sunday's low round at Pebble Beach with a nine-under 63, in which he racked up six birdies and three eagles while gaining 4.2 strokes with the putter to ultimately fall just two shots shy of eventual champion Collin Morikawa. Scheffler also paced the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in SG: Off-the-Tee, guiding him to tie for the event's best par-5 scoring average (4.13) alongside Min Woo Lee and Jake Knapp.
Xander Schauffele - $42
Schauffele's MC-T41-T19 stretch since his 2026 debut at the Farmers Insurance Open certainly doesn't inspire much on its surface, but he still ranks top-10 among the Genesis field in SG: Off-the-Tee, putting from 15-25 feet and ball speed this year. He's gained a collective 7.1 strokes ball striking over his past two starts, and the California native historically grades best with the putter on poa annua greens. Schauffele tied for fourth here in 2024 when he paced the event in par-5 scoring.
Glue Guys
Collin Morikawa - $33
Morikawa finally broke through for his first win since the 2023 ZOZO Championship last week at Pebble Beach, where he posted the third-best SG: Approach performance of his career while also pacing the tournament in P5: Birdie or Better Percentage alongside Min Woo Lee. A psychological phenomenon exists where DFS gamers struggle to click on a winner the following week after their triumph, which could help limit Morikawa's ownership at just $33. However, the course history narrative favors Morikawa, placing T19-T6-T2 here at Riviera since 2022.
Matt Fitzpatrick - $30
Fitzpatrick hit the Signature Event's most greens in regulation (61) while gaining a career-high 7.8 strokes on approach last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am en route to his second straight top-15 finish, ascending to second in SG: Ballstriking and fourth in Prox: 150-200 through his first 10 measured rounds of 2026. The Englishman has missed the cut in back-to-back trips to Riviera, but he tied for fifth here in 2021 when he gained 5.75 strokes on and around these greens.
Patrick Cantlay - $29
Cantlay owns a pair of top-15 results through his first three starts of the season, most recently tying for 14th at Pebble Beach where he ranked third among the field in GIR percentage, seventh in putting from 5-10 feet and 11th in SG: Approach. He's placed T17 or better, including three top-4s, in six of his last seven Riviera outings, so Cantlay figures to be quite chalky at just $29 as a horse for the course.
Bargain Bin
Si Woo Kim - $25
Although his streak of 11 consecutive worldwide top-25s came to a halt last week at Pebble Beach, this $25 salary is simply disrespectful for the No. 1 tee-to-green player through 20 rounds this year. He ranked fifth among the AT&T Pro-Am field in overall proximity and T7 in GIR percentage, though Kim lost three strokes with the putter. Any semblance of positive regression on the greens would do wonders for Kim's ceiling.
Min Woo Lee - $24
Lee tied for runner-up honors last week at Pebble Beach where he notched the second-best SG: APP performance of his career, while also ranking second among the field in SG: Putting on the way to 23 total birdies and two eagles. He's not typically that good of an iron player, but Lee's power off the tee could be a massive benefit from a DFS scoring perspective at Riviera.
Jake Knapp - $20
The UCLA product is very mispriced down here at the $20 minimum after commencing his 2026 campaign with a T11-T5-8-T8 run from the Sony Open in Hawaii through the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he led the field in total feet of putts made en route to four eagles. Knapp ranks third among the Genesis field in percentage of 320-plus yard drives, third in three-putt avoidance and seventh in scrambling this season. Given the salary relief he provides, expect extremely inflated ownership on Knapp in this spot.
Looking for the best golf picks on Yahoo? Find the top Yahoo PGA DFS picks and value plays for every tournament from RotoWire golf expert Bryce Danielson.
