Can a Perennial Ryder Cup Stalwart Finally Conquer The Riviera Country Club?
Every professional golfer has a course or tournament that they circle on their calendar. Whether it be because of the location, course design/prestige, or past success, players like to tee it up and play well in tournaments that mean something to them. For Patrick Cantlay, The Genesis Invitational at The Riviera Country Club checks all of the boxes. His love for and familiarity with Southern California adds a great deal of meaning to The Genesis Invitational for Cantlay; he told Golfweek that he considers the tournament “a home game.”
Cantlay grew up in Los Alamitos and routinely made the roughly 40-mile traverse north to The Riviera Country Club to watch the then-Northern Trust Open. In his youth, Cantlay watched the tournament with his dad and grandfather, in awe of the precision exhibited by the professional golfers just feet away from him. He explained to The Orange County Register that he recalls “being amazed at watching three golf balls in a row all come in and all be right there in front of me.” Little did Cantlay know, he too would be on the same stage as the pros he grew up watching.
The Southern California native earned his first start in the Northern Trust Open in 2012, thanks to his dominant amateur career at UCLA. To add to Cantlay’s already deep-rooted connection to The Riviera Country Club, UCLA is about 20 minutes east of the golf course; the university’s men’s golf team has been known to harness its game at the prestigious Los Angeles club. Despite missing the cut, Cantlay’s inaugural appearance at the tournament he grew up attending was a full-circle moment.
Since missing the cut in his first two Northern Trust Opens, Cantlay has made the weekend in every one of his starts at The Riviera Country Club. From 2018-2024 the Bruins men’s golf alum has logged six top-20 finishes, including three top-5 finishes. While Cantlay did finish in a tie for fifth last year, the tournament was played at Torrey Pines Golf Course due to the wildfires in the Pacific Palisades, which is where The Riviera Country Club is located. He credits his familiarity with the course’s grass types and layout as a major advantage. Cantlay told GolfDigest: “I think most people’s problems with kikuyu [grass] is they never play on kikuyu. There aren’t many places in the world where we see this grass; even the other Los Angeles courses don’t really have kikuyu. I fortunately grew up a Southern Californian, so I like the kikuyu grass and don’t think it’s that particularly difficult.”
In addition to Cantlay’s comfort on Riviera’s playing surfaces and grass types, his statistical profile fits the course very well. Since Adam Scott’s win at The Genesis Invitational in 2020, every winner of the tournament’s Data Golf profile boasts a positive number in either Strokes Gained: Approach, Strokes Gained: Around the Green, or Strokes Gained: Putting; Cantlay’s Strokes Gained profile is positive in all three areas. At Riviera, leaving yourself manageable putts and, if absolutely necessary, giving yourself a realistic chance to get up and down are of premium importance. The Riviera Country Club’s course designer George C. Thomas scattered signature features, like uniquely-shaped bunkers and winding barranca/waste area, across the course, presenting a daunting layout to the world’s best golfers.
While being a good statistical fit is important, scoring early and often also tends to lead to success at the PGA Tour level. Historically, Cantlay has come out of the gates hot, firing opening rounds of 68 or lower in six of his seven total appearances at Riviera since 2018. However, his fellow competitors have not been far behind; Cantlay’s early success has yet to result in a victory at The Genesis Invitational.
Leading up to this season’s edition of the tournament, Cantlay made a strong push towards the end of last year. Thanks to his consistent and steady finish to last year’s PGA Tour season, he earned a spot as a captain’s pick on the 2025 United States Ryder Cup squad. So far in 2026, Cantlay has competed in two complete tournaments: The American Express and Farmers Insurance Open. In those tournaments, he has logged a T-13 finish and a missed cut, respectively. Despite a relatively pedestrian start to the season, Cantlay has still gained strokes in relation to the field, both approaching the green and around the green. He also has gained strokes around the green and on the green through the first two rounds at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. In short, Patrick Cantlay is rounding into form ahead of The Genesis Invitational and should be headed for the top of the leaderboard at the event he attended as a child.
