Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood can take plenty of positives from the way they kicked off their PGA Tour campaigns at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last week.
Both players had a quiet start to the DP World Tour season in January, but each managed to secure a top-15 finish in the opening signature event of the year.
Fleetwood finished level with Scottie Scheffler in fourth place at Pebble Beach, while McIlroy came home 10 places further back.
Looking ahead, both players have a good chance to build momentum at this week’s Genesis Invitational.
Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood grouped with Collin Morikawa for Genesis invitational opening rounds
There’s a distinct Ryder Cup feel to some of the early groups at Riviera this week. One of the most notable pairings sees Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood starting their campaigns together in Pacific Palisades, with Collin Morikawa joining them fresh off his recent win.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Morikawa has mixed feelings about that group. Keegan Bradley took plenty of criticism for putting him and Harris English together twice at Bethpage, where they lost both matches to McIlroy and Fleetwood.
And with English sitting out his singles match on Sunday, he didn’t play a single hole over the closing stretch of the competition.
Justin Rose and Robert MacIntyre set for familiar pairing at Riviera
This week at Riviera, there’s another interesting group with a bit of recent history. Justin Rose and Chris Gotterup are both coming off strong starts to the season, while Robert MacIntyre joins them after finishing level with Gotterup at Pebble Beach.
Rose and MacIntyre didn’t pair up in the 2025 Ryder Cup, but they did share two matches together in Rome in 2023 without suffering a defeat.
Rose’s experience stood out during the Friday afternoon session back then. But as the week went on, MacIntyre began to find his stride, proving that he could handle the pressure of that stage.
Since then, he’s gone on to win twice on the PGA Tour.
Other notable groups this week include Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele playing alongside Si-woo Kim. Defending champion Ludvig Åberg is paired with Hideki Matsuyama and J.J. Spaun as well.
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