Genesis Invitational Weather: Rain Means Preferred Lies In Round 1

Preferred lies in the first round of the 2026 Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club — (Image credit: Getty Images)

One of the reasons for the PGA Tour wanting to move the Genesis Invitational to the summer will be on show this week with bad weather resulting in preferred lies in operation.

The first round of the $20m Signature Event will have the lift, clean and replace of preferred lies being used due to heavy rain around the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles.

"Well, I think that, one, you're going to get weather not like this," Woods said ahead of the event about moving the tournament he hosts to later in the year.

"That's number one. We're going to have perfect days. It's always perfect in So Cal here in August.

"So yes, we're looking at things like that, looking to go to bigger markets later in the year for the Playoffs."

Along with having better weather for the event and having a FedEx Cup Playoffs tournament in a big market such as Los Angeles, it would also provide the PGA Tour stars with a tougher test at a faster and firmer Riviera.

Thursday weather forecast for The Genesis Invitational. Preferred lies will be in effect for the first round. pic.twitter.com/7AVUC7HF1gFebruary 19, 2026

Rory McIlroy agreed that Riviera in the summer would be a tougher test than in February.

"This week it doesn't matter if you hit it in the fairway or not. It's actually a benefit sometimes if you do hit it in the rough because the ball's not going to come spinning back on you," said McIlroy.

"If you do get it in August where the greens are firm, there's more of a consideration of strategy off the tee especially and it starts to make the guys think a little.

"But it certainly becomes a much more strategic golf course in that way."

There could be a considerable change to the West Coast events in the new PGA Tour future, with also Torrey Pines reportedly lined up for a potential Playoffs event while McIlroy also suggested they would like to move Pebble Beach to later in the summer.

That would also be a totally different test, as we've seen in the contrast in scoring between US Opens staged at Pebble Beach and AT&T Pro-Am on the PGA Tour held in February.

Genesis Invitational tournament weather forecast

The early forecast for the week did predict the heavy rain that has hit Riviera and continues to fall as the first round got under way on Thursday.

Those preferred lies will hopefully only be in place for the first round and better weather is expected from Friday onwards, but much will depend on how soft the course gets in round one.

Friday and into the weekend looks a lot better with at least the sun coming out, if not hugely warm weather being expected in the Los Angeles area.

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website. Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.

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