Champion from across the globe
From Scotland to South Africa, Sweden to Canada, The Genesis Invitational has a list of champions from across the globe. These international winners have not only taken home the trophy, but they have forever shaped the identity of the tournament across generations. From record-setting performances to history-making moments, their victories have helped define what it means to win at a tournament where legends are made.
In the first 99 editions of the tournament, 20 have concluded with an international champion atop the leaderboard, including five of the first nine tournaments. More recently, five of the past six tournaments have ended with an internationally born player holding the trophy.
In 2025, Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg delivered a memorable performance to claim his second PGA TOUR victory. Making noise early in the weekend with his first hole-in-one on TOUR, Åberg carried that momentum into the final round. Three shots back entering the back nine of the final round, Åberg surged to the top of the leaderboard with a series of birdies and sealed the win with a decisive seven-foot putt on the 72nd hole.
Åberg was the fourth straight international champion, and the fifth in six years. In 2024, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan delivered one of the most remarkable final round performances in tournament history on his way to victory. Starting six shots off the lead, Matsuyama surged past the field with a flawless 9-under 62, the lowest final round ever recorded at The Riviera Country Club. Opening both nines with three consecutive birdies, and another three-birdie stretch on holes 15, 16 and 17, Matsuyama sealed one of the most impressive final rounds the tournament has ever seen.
Among the international names to leave a legacy at the tournament, Adam Scott stands out for both his rarity and resilience. In 2005, the Australian claimed victory in his debut appearance, winning a playoff after a rain-shortened 36-hole event — a result recognized by peers, though unofficial in the record books. Fifteen years later in 2020, Scott cemented his place in tournament history, winning by two shots against a stacked field and officially adding his name to the list of champions.
This recent run of international champions wasn’t the first time the tournament has seen four straight winners born outside the United States. In the early 2000s, Canadian Mike Weir delivered his own stretch of dominance at Riviera. In 2003, Weir surged up the leaderboard with a final-round 66 to force a two-hole playoff, where he clinched victory and his first of two consecutive wins. Weir’s success helped set the stage for a stretch of international dominance, followed by victories from Scott in 2005 and Rory Sabbatini in 2006.
Just a few years earlier, another international star made his mark. In 1999, South Africa’s Ernie Els captured the title at Riviera with a steady final round, outlasting a leaderboard packed with the game’s biggest names. While Els’ victory added to the tournament’s growing international legacy, the tradition traces back to its earliest decades.
In the tournament’s earliest years, five of the first nine champions hailed from Scotland. Macdonald Smith won four times between 1928 and 1934, becoming the first of two players to win the tournament four times.
From the early days of Smith to the recent brilliance of Åberg, international champions have left a lasting imprint on The Genesis Invitational. Their victories, each unique in style and story, have elevated the tournament’s global legacy and underscored its place among the game’s most prestigious stages.
CELEBRATING 100 YEARS
The Genesis Invitational continues a longstanding tradition of professional golf in Los Angeles. Debuting in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open at Los Angeles Country Club, the tournament was staged at various courses around the Los Angeles area before finding its permanent home at The Riviera Country Club. For a century the tournament has played host to iconic moments, legendary champions and defining chapters in the game of golf. In this special series, we look back on a century of tournament history and Celebrating 100 Years of memorable golf stories.