Tiger Woods hosts many events, including the Hero World Challenge, the TGR Jr. Invitational, and others. However, he only hosts one on the PGA Tour, the Genesis Invitational. As the host, he has the right to extend sponsor invites to a select few golfers he wants to invite to the event. His choices for the 2026 Genesis Invitational, however, have not been received well by fans. He has drawn fresh attention to his role as tournament host after extending special invitations to Max Homa, Tom Kim, and Adam Scott for the upcoming $20 million PGA Tour Signature Event at Riviera Country Club.

Underdog Golf shared the list of invitees in an X post. The post also notes that one additional spot remains to be announced.

As host through his TGR Foundation, Woods controls four discretionary entries. These fall outside the tournament’s standard qualification pathways. In 2025, these invites went to Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland, and Justin Rose. Danny List received the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption for diversity advancement. Gary Woodland, Adam Scott, and Will Zalatoris were among the recipients in 2024, while Chase Johnson got the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption.

This year’s Genesis Invitational offers one of the richest purses on the PGA Tour calendar. $4 million is set aside for the winner alone. That financial scale, combined with the limited number of available exemptions, has placed added focus on how Woods has chosen to allocate his invitations.

Besides Max Homa, Tom Kim is also facing criticism. Fans are bashing both golfers and Tiger Woods for inviting them. Both these golfers have showcased uneven form. While Homa previously managed to get to a career-high of World No. 5, he currently sits well below that. This adds to the focus on the merit, based on which the 15x major champion chose the recipients.

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Fans are not happy with Tiger Woods’ decision

The announcement of the special invites quickly sparked a wave of reactions across social media. Most critics focused their attention on Max Homa and his current form.

One fan questioned the decision by pointing directly to Homa’s ranking slide.

“Please tell me what the hell Max Homa has done to deserve this spot. OWGR #144. There are LIV guys that have a higher OWGR than that,” he wrote.

Max Homa sits at World No. 144 in the OWGR rankings. He has an average score of 0.9661 points and 44.43969 total points. In 2025, he didn’t win a single event on the PGA Tour. In fact, he missed the cut in 9 of the 24 starts he had. Besides that, he was only able to manage to get into the top-10 twice. As the user pointed out, there are many on the LIV Golf with better rankings. For instance, Jon Rahm holds the No. 93 spot in the world rankings, while Bryson DeChambeau sits at No. 31. In fact, Patrick Reed edged past DeChambeau to become the World No. 29 after his win at the 2026 Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

Echoing similar feelings, another user said, “Please stop giving these guys spots thanks.” This comment shows a broader view of asking the 82x PGA Tour winner and the tournament to tighten up the invite process. These are Signature Events with a limited field. Giving out invitations without merit could be unfair to others.

One fan reflected on the criticism Rickie Fowler faced. “Homa will be the new Rickie this year with the invites!” he said.

While Fowler revealed he didn’t want to play through sponsor invites, he received 4 in 2025. This included the Genesis Invitational, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Truist Championship, and the Memorial Tournament. He even faced criticism from analysts for using sponsor invites as a safety net to avoid participating in the fall events despite his low FedEx Cup ranking.

A few others targeted Tom Kim alongside Max Homa. Kim’s performance hasn’t been that great either. The 3x PGA Tour winner played in 26 events, made the cut in 17 of them, and made it to the top-10 only at the 2025 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Therefore, one user wrote, “No kim or homa….. They suck,” dismissing both of them outright with a blunt message.

A different line of criticism leaned into the relationships behind the selections. One user joked that Woods was “sending the Jupes Links squad out for some tourney reps.” The comment reflects on Max Homa’s and Kim’s connection with Woods through the TGL project. All three play for the Jupiter Links Golf Club. The user hints that familiarity may have played a role in the decision-making.

Together, the reactions reflect a broader debate around how much weight host discretion should carry at a tournament with a limited field. For some fans, Woods’ picks highlight the value of star power and past success at Riviera. At the same time, others argue that these selections move away from the merit-based system that Signature Events follow.