Rory McIlroy will be the favourite for many heading into this week’s Genesis Invitational following his outstanding performance at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on his first PGA Tour start of 2025.
Rory McIlroy made a real statement with his display at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, with the Northern Irishman winning by two to secure his first ever victory at the event. It was exactly what his fans would have been hoping to see as major championship season ever so slightly starts to appear on the horizon.
Next up for the 35-year-old is the Genesis Invitational, which is now being played at Torrey Pines following the fires in California earlier this year.
McIlroy does not actually have much experience of playing in tournaments at Torrey. So it will be interesting to see how he fares in the coming days.
Rory McIlroy shares what has surprised him about Torrey Pines
He has not finished lower than 16th in his four appearances at the course. But, perhaps ominously, it seems that McIlroy was caught a little off-guard during his practice round ahead of this week’s event as he was asked how close it is to the US Open setup.
“It’s definitely closer to Farmers Insurance Torrey Pines. I heard from the guys that played a few weeks ago that it was windy and the greens got firm and it got really tricky. It’s not, especially with this weather, it’s not going to be like that this week,” he said.
“But the course is going to play long, the rough is very, very penal, so there’s a premium of putting your ball in the fairway and then controlling the spin into the greens. Not that I didn’t remember, but it took me by surprise when I played a few holes yesterday just how much pitch and slope there is on these greens. So if you are lucky enough to be hitting the ball out of the fairway, you’re going to have to control your spin on these greens a lot as well, so a lot of like three-quarter shots.”
Rory McIlroy makes a claim about the future of the best players on the PGA Tour and LIV Golf
Of course, no-one seems to be better to speak to than McIlroy when it comes to getting an insight into the talks which are happening behind the scenes between the PGA Tour and the PIF.
McIlroy may not be in on all of the discussions, but the four-time major champion rarely shies away from talking about what he knows.
One of the big talking points is what the golfing landscape will look like when there is a deal. As things stand, the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour simply cannot continue with their current schedules while also offering the best players the chance to face off more often.
And McIlroy has now spoken about the potential balancing act which could come in.
“Yeah, I absolutely think in ’26 you could get to a point where we play together more often and then you try to – like you have to – I think part of this is bringing the DP World Tour in as well as a really big partner of this and maybe running the global, you know, outside of America part of this in a way. So I think there is,” he added.
“You’ve had LIV guys play in a lot of DP World Tour events over the pass couple years, so I think there’s an opportunity here where in ’26 I don’t think it will get all the way there, but I think you’ll start to hopefully see a move towards where it could go.”
It is still so difficult to see what the game will look like in a few years. It is hard to imagine that the PGA Tour will change a great deal, while there is a place in the calendar for some of what LIV Golf offers.
Clearly, deciding the new calendar is going to be the largest hurdle to clear now that the tours are on a similar page.
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