A few weeks ago, golf fans watched Harris English win the Farmers Insurance Open with a hard-fought, final-round 73. Clearly, Torrey Pines’ polarising South course didn’t play nice, with big-name pros dropping like flies throughout the weekend, but if you thought that setup was tough, just wait until you see what it looks like for this week’s relocated Genesis Invitational.
Better hit the fairways this week @thegenesisinv 👀👀 pic.twitter.com/Kkkb1v1QNt
— Ben Griffin (@bengriffingolf) February 10, 2025
Punitive doesn’t quite do it justice. In fact, we’d go as far as to call the rough at Torrey this week straight-up sadistic. As PGA Tour pro Ben Griffin illustrated on Monday, a missed fairway, even by a single step, will expose players to a world of pain and suffering.
In Griffin’s demonstration, his trusty Maxfli disappears entirely from just a few feet away, devoured by some of the thickest cabbage we’ve seen since hair metal’s heyday. Needless to say, if you thought this week’s Genesis was going to go a little easier on the field considering the change in venue due to the Los Angeles wildfires, think again.
But wait, it gets worse. America’s National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for San Diego County coastal areas, effective from 1pm on Thursday until early Friday morning (local time), with an atmospheric river expected to dump more than a quarter of an inch of rain on La Jolla along with 28mph wind gusts. Though the precipitation should subside by the start of play on Friday, expect the long stuff to play more like kudzu than kikuyu during the weekend.
