** This post was supposed to go live at 7:00 am on Thursday, Feb 13th. For some reason it didn’t. My apologies **

Tomorrow the Genesis Invitational begins at Torrey Pines, and the biggest news is — Tiger was in, but then withdrew this past weekend. Tiger is still grieving his mother’s death and it prevented him from feeling fully prepared for the tournament, he explained:

I planned to tee it up this week, but I’m just not ready. I did my best to prepare, knowing it’s what my Mom would have wanted, but I’m still processing her loss.

Thanks to everyone who has reached out. I hope to be at Torrey later in the week and appreciate the continued… pic.twitter.com/HP45Tla3QQ

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) February 10, 2025

But the Genesis is still jam-packed with big names like Rory McIlroy, Scheffler, Åberg, Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Matsuyama, and more. So who will win? Who will fold? Who’s gonna be in the mix? Below I’ll give my projected top 3 finishers and my bust, as well as my reasoning behind the decisions.

1. Scottie Scheffler

I mean, how on earth can you bet against this guy? Scottie is Vegas’ favorite, and my personal favorite to win the Genesis Invitational this week. Although it is still very early into the PGA season and we’ve only seen a couple tournaments of play from Scottie, it has been promising. He finished T25 in the WMPO, and T9 at Pebble Beach, two very solid outings. In both tournaments, Scottie was knocking on the door of the leader and putting pressure on them. Sure, he didn’t win, but a top-25 and a top-10 win are still impressive.

2. Ludvig Åberg

Åberg is one of the best ball strikers in the game — plain and simple. Torrey Pines and the Genesis is a place that requires elite drivers of the ball and superb approach shots, which are both shots that Åberg has in his arsenal. He has shown last year and this year that when he’s on, there aren’t many players that can stop him. The only person I can think of would be Scottie, which is why Ludvig is at number two on my list.

3. Wyndham Clark

Wyndham Clark. Unfortunately, I don’t really have too much reasoning behind this pick, I’m just personally a Wyndham Clark fan, and I like to trust my gut sometimes. We know Wyndham is capable of playing here, since he’s a US Open champion, and this US Open – style course may suit his eye. He has struggled lately with the driver a bit, but with his confidence and fire, I’m sure he can turn things around when the lights get bright. Wyndham can hit large booming drives, and with a course that requires long drives and a strong long-iron game, I can see him surprising some folks this week.

Bust: Hideki Matsuyama

Look, I’m gonna give Hideki his credit. He played outstanding in Hawaii at the PGA’s first event of the season. He made history by breaking the PGA Tour record for lowest 72-hole score of -35! But, unfortunately, Hideki has been trending in the wrong direction ever since then. He’s still finished in the top-50 in all of the tournaments he’s played in so far, but he did the worst at the toughest course he’s played this season (T48 at Pebble Beach). Torrey Pines will be another challenging course, and I’m not sure that Hideki will have the game this week to conquer it. But I hope he surprises me!

That’s all I’ve got! I hope I’m right, but only time will tell. The tournament starts tomorrow, and we will see then.