Top Scot Robert MacIntyre returns to Hollywood’s PGA Tour venue enjoying star billing for the opening two rounds of this week’s PGA Tour event in California.
Organisers of the $20m event have grouped MacIntrye with in-form and fellow Genesis Scottish Open winner Chris Gotterup and double winning Ryder Cup team-mate Justin Rose.
The trio tee-off later tonight (Thursday) at 8.25pm UK time and are out in the group ahead of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler along with fellow Open Champion Xander Schauffele and Si Woo Kim.
This week marks the 100th anniversary of the Genesis Invitational and a 61st hosting on the Pacific Palisades course.
The course has also long been home to some of Hollywood’s famous actors as evident by the vast array of photos all about the clubhouse including the likes of Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Fred McMurray, Elizabeth Taylor, Rita Hayworth, Katharine Hepburn, Greta Garbo and Hedy Lamarr.
Triple major winning Padraig Harrington played the tournament in 2014 and after one round he was being interviewed by the media with a photograph of Hepburn playing a golf shot on the wall beside him.
Harrington stopped, turned to the photograph of the Hepburn, and asked: “What do you like about this photograph?”
Your author cheekily remarked: “She was very attractive.”
Harrington quickly responded: “No, no. Look at her grip. Look at her golf grip. Very impressive.”
There’s also ‘Bogey’s Tree’ in honour of Humphrey Bogart to the side of the 12th green and where the Hollywood legend often used to park himself to watch the tournament.
MacIntyre is no stranger to Riviera having contested the 2017 US Amateur at the course while he joined fellow Scots Russell Knox and Martin Laird competing in the 2022 Genesis and with MacIntyre competing via a sponsor’s invitation, and finishing an impressive T15th.
He said: “I played the 2017 U.S. Amateur here at Riviera and it’s a great golf course and one that I have always been looking forward to coming back to, so it’s great being back.
“It’s one of those golf courses where you’d enjoy playing every day. It’s just so good. There’s the fabulous first tee shot from beside the clubhouse to the fairway below and just a great layout of holes.
“The clubhouse is also stunning and I remember when I was here for the US Am’ just admiring all the photographs of these famous movie stars, and dressed-up in golf gear. So, really happy to be back again”.
MacIntyre also tees-up having been bumped back four places in the past two weeks to World No. 9 and teeing-up in a seventh event since capturing last October’s Dunhill Links Championship on home soil at St. Andrews.
MEANTIME
Eight Scots will tee-up in this week’s Magical Kenya Open in Nairobi.
Tour rookie Cameron Adam will join Connor Syme, Ewen Ferguson, Calum Hill, Scott Jamieson, David Law, Daniel Young and Euan Walker on the host Karen course
