It's the second PGA Tour appearance for former Bethune-Cookman standout Willie Mack III this weekend as he competes in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California.
Mack is competing this weekend after tournament host Tiger Woods' granting him the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption. Three weeks ago, Mack made his PGA Tour debut at the Farmer's Insurance Open as a last-minute replace for Kamaiu Johnson as the sponsor exemption after Johnson tested positive for COVID-19.
How should Mack fare this weekend? We bring in Interim Golf Coach Dan Venema to provide the Ken Venturi-like expert analysis:
ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT AND THE COURSE: With Tiger Woods hosting, why would you want to miss his tournament? Riviera is designed by George C. Thomas and has hosted the US Open, PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Open. It's one of the more difficult tests on the PGA Tour's West Coast Swing. Riviera was rated as the PGA Tour's "Favorite Tour Course" in Golf's 2019 Anonymous Tour Pro survey taking 20 percent of the vote. The challenge for the players this week are the narrow fairways and the tall Eucalyptus groves that line each fairway.
HOW MACK'S GAME WILL FARE AT RIVIERA: After he missed the cut at Torrey Pines, Mack played 18 on Monday and nine on Tuesday at Riviera, so he is definitely familiar with the golf course. In the Pro-Am he shot four under and two under for nine holes. Length won't be an issue this week. If he can get some good momentum early, he will be fine. Willie also stated that he likes Riviera more than Torrey Pines.
WHAT HE NEEDS TO DO TO COMPETE: At the Farmer's Insurance Open, he had some equipment issues with his driver that have since been fixed. If he can hit the narrow fairways and greens and gives himself plenty of birdie opportunities, he will compete. Torrey Pines was a great learning experience for him.
THE FIELD: 16 of the top 25 players in the World are competing this week at Riviera. Some notables in the field include Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffle, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, John Rahm, defending champion Adam Scott, Bubba Watson, Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler. This is the best field before the Players Championship in March and the Masters in April.
MAKING HIS PRESENCE KNOWN: Mack and Collin Morikawa, the 2020 US Open Champion, played a practice round together at Riviera on Tuesday. Afterwards, Morikawa stated, "He's got game."
"Like I told him, we're all out here to win a golf tournament and I could see that in his eyes that he feels comfortable in that situation," Morikawa said. "I think he birdied 10 and 11 today with breeze, it was easy for him. You could see he's got game. He keeps working at it, he's grinding and that's what we're all doing. We love the game. To see that in his eyes, he just want sot keep getting better. Hopefully he has a great week and makes it all the way to Sunday and has a great finish to the tournament."
FOLLOWING MACK: He'll tee off at 11:19 a.m. EST (8:19 a.m. local) for Round One Thursday and 3:49 p.m. Friday (12:49 p.m. local) for Round Two. Live stats will be available on PGAtour.com. Follow @BCUGolf also for updates and analysis.
