The PGA Tour built its Signature Event model around guaranteed play and guaranteed money. One tournament at Riviera Country Club has never agreed to those terms.

The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, RBC Heritage, Cadillac Championship, and Truist Championship all guarantee 72 holes, no matter how you play. The Genesis Invitational is different. After 36 holes at Riviera, only the top 50 and ties move on. If you are outside that group and more than 10 shots behind the leader, you leave with nothing. No money. No FedExCup points.

This is the 10-shot rule. If you are within 10 shots of the lead after 36 holes, you make the cut, even if you are not in the top 50. For example, if the leader is 8-under, a player at 2-over still plays the weekend. The rule started at The Masters in 1962 and was followed for almost sixty years. Augusta dropped it in 2020 and never brought it back. Riviera still uses it.

Tiger Woods confirmed the philosophy behind the format in 2023. “I certainly am pushing for my event to have a cut,” Woods said. “I think that maybe the player-hosted events may have cuts.” The 2026 Genesis Invitational is the structural proof of that conviction.

Genesis is one of three Player-Hosted Invitationals on the PGA Tour. The other two are the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Tournament. All three have a 36-hole cut. The rest of the Signature Events do not. This matters. The cut changes the payout. At Genesis, the winner takes home 20% of the $20 million purse, which is $4 million. In no-cut Signature Events, the winner gets 18%, or $3.6 million. The $400,000 difference is simple. At Riviera, players who miss the cut get nothing. That money goes straight to the top finishers.

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The 2026 field shows what is at stake. Forty-one of the top 50 players in the world are in the 72-man field. Eighteen of the top 20 are playing. Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy headline the list. Defending champion Ludvig Aberg is back at Riviera. He won in 2025 at Torrey Pines, after wildfires forced the event away from its home course.

The 2026 tournament marks 100 years since the event began as the Los Angeles Open in 1926. The records are clear. Ben Hogan leads with five wins: 1942, 1945, 1947, 1948, and 1960. Tiger Woods won in 1999 and 2004. Woods and Adam Scott both hold the lowest 72-hole score, 260 at 24-under. The single-round record is 61, set by Bob Locke in 1950. Billy Casper made 42 straight cuts here in the 1960s, a record for consistency. Riviera has hosted 21 times since 1973. In 2025, Ludvig Åberg shot 13-under to win. The winners’ list runs from Macdonald Smith to today.

The loss of one Signature Event at the start of 2026 makes Genesis carry more weight than usual on the calendar.

How The Sentry’s cancellation elevated the Genesis Invitational

The Sentry was cancelled because of drought conditions at Kapalua in Maui. That removed the traditional opening Signature Event from the schedule. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a no-cut event, became the first major tournament of the year. Genesis came next, and it is the first event of the season where players could be eliminated after two rounds.

The Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral and the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow arrive later in the spring. Neither has a cut. When the Genesis Invitational concludes on February 22, it will stand as the only early Signature Event of 2026 where entering the weekend is not automatic.

That is what the cut at Riviera actually means. Survival here is earned across 36 holes, not assumed across 72.