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Every year in February, the Genesis Invitational is held at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades. It is one of the most prestigious events this side of major championships and is hosted by Tiger Woods. Unfortunately, this year's tournament is in serious jeopardy.
Well, at least at its typical location.
The Pacific Palisades, located on Los Angeles' west side, has been ravaged by wildfires. Thus far, more than 19,000 acres have burned, specifically in the Palisades. It has been reported that more than 10,000 homes and businesses have burned to the ground.
That is obviously the worst news. On a much lighter, less sad note but sad nonetheless, Riviera Country Club may not survive.
This was the view of the fire from the golf course on Tuesday afternoon.
The Palisades fire has continued to burn. With winds expected to pick back up Thursday night, there is no end in sight. There are a total of five major fires across Los Angeles: Palisades, Eaton, Hurst, Sunset and Creek.
Thankfully, firefighters were able to get the Sunset, Hurst and Creek fires somewhat under control. However, the Eaton fire is still decimating Pasadena and Altadena. There are already five reported deaths from that fire and four-to-five thousand destroyed structures.
Despite no deaths reported from the Palisades, the fire is taking on historic proportions.
For context, that is a map of the eastern part of the Palisades fire via the Watch Duty app. Notice on the right side Riviera, and the golf course directly beneath it. The dark red on the map are burn scars, places that have already burned down. While it does not appear the fire has reached the golf course just yet, if Thursday night's winds blow east, that may well just happen.
Even if the fires do not reach the course, the level of devastation in the area will make it hard to host a golf tournament.
It would be a shame as the Genesis Invitational is one of the most important tournaments on the PGA Tour. Most of the best players in the world descend upon LA and are greeted by Woods, who made his PGA Tour debut here in 1992.
Last year, Hideki Matsuyama, who won the 2025 PGA Tour season opener in Maui last week, captured the title in 2024. Woods made his triumphant return to golf that week. However, Tiger was forced to withdraw midway through the Genesis Invitational amid sickness.
