At last, the three big beasts will go head to head
HERE’S a novelty — a tournament featuring nearly all the best players in the world. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? In fact, you have to go all the way back to August last year to find the last time Tiger Woods, Brooks Koepka and new world No 1 Rory McIlroy were all in the same place at the same time.
How mad is that? Blame it on the shambolic global golf calendar, with its heavy emphasis on quantity over quality.
The sponsor of this week’s Genesis Invitational being staged in Hollywood, Los Angeles, makes upmarket cars, but the title is appropriate in the Biblical sense of a new beginning.
If you’ve spent the last six months paying little heed to the Royal and Ancient game, now is the time to start giving it your attention again.
The new season truly starts here and it’s going to be exciting viewing from now to the Masters in April.
Only Webb Simpson of the world’s top ten is not playing this week, setting the tone for a string of tournaments featuring the big guns.
McIlroy, for example, has committed to play in seven of the next nine events, culminating in another tilt at winning that oh-so-elusive green jacket. Even Tiger is expected to play in six, as he looks to get his game in shape for his Masters defence.
The run begins at storied Riviera, unquestionably one of the top three venues on the PGA Tour. Tiger’s the host this week, back in the town where he grew up, at the event where he made his tour debut at the tender age of 16. It’s almost beyond belief, given all he’s achieved, that he should still be awaiting his first win there at the age of 44.
Such is the small margin of McIlroy’s lead at the top of the rankings, he could be No 2 or No 3 by the end of the week, with Koepka and Jon Rahm in hot pursuit. If McIlroy does hold on to top spot, he will equal Sir Nick Faldo’s career record of 97 weeks at the summit, the most by any European golfer since the rankings began in 1986.
A notable landmark in sight, therefore, at a tournament ticking all the boxes.
Sure, the duel between Rahm and Tommy Fleetwood to conclude the European season in Dubai last November was great, and Lee Westwood’s win in Abu Dhabi last month was heart-warming.
But this is the week when everything moves to another level. Finally, world-class golf is back.