Tiger Woods is back on the course soon! Yes, the GOAT will be playing in the 2025 Genesis Invitational. Hence, Woods makes it a point to participate in it even when he is not in the best shape. But he is not the only big name confirmed for the tournament. The likes of Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and many others will also be on the field at the Torrey Pines South Course.

Most of the guys mentioned so far have qualified for the Signature Event. However, some golfers have received invitations to join the field on February 13, 2025. Dan Rapaport listed them out in his latest post on X. The tweet was captioned, “Not sure I’ve ever seen a more stacked list of sponsor’s invites than the Genesis next week, including: Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland, and Min Woo Lee”.

This confirms that Woods, Spieth, Fowler, Woodland, and Lee will be a part of the field at Torrey Pines on February 13, 2025. The names listed by the famed journalist are usually quite popular among the fans. However, their inclusion in the Signature event was not as well received as Jay Monahan & Co. would have hoped.

Fans had already shown their excitement about Tiger Woods’s comeback. But the same does not apply to the rest of the players. A few weeks ago, insiders questioned Jordan Spieth‘s 2025 debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. They believed that Spieth was stealing a spot from better players who deserved to play in the tournament much more. So it is not surprising that people are criticizing him this time as well. Rickie Fowler has also been getting a lot of heat recently due to his recent actions.

Rapaport’s revelation seems to have seems to have brought out similar emotions from the fans. The tweet received a lot of comments from a displeased community. Let’s see what everyone had to say about the sponsor exemptions.

Fans question Tiger Woods & Co.’s exemption

“Makes you question the authenticity of the whole enterprise, doesn’t it”, said a fan as he questioned the prestige of the Signature event. The Genesis Invitational generally sets up the best of the best on the PGA Tour against each other. However, this fan seems to believe that won’t be the case in 2025. Another questioned the quality of the players exempted as they said, “They wouldn’t need invites if they played better…” They believe that players like Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler should have naturally qualified for the event instead of receiving invitations.

Then there was one comment that read “‘Stacked’ except they’re sponsor’s invites because, well, they’re not very good”. They don’t believe that any of the sponsor-exempted players are good enough to play in the 2025 Genesis Invitational. Someone is unhappy with Rickie Fowler’s addition to the list. They said, “Fuck Rickie Fowler man getting hand outs left and right”. This is not the first time fans have specifically singled out Fowler. His inclusion in the 2025 WM Phoenix Open received a lot of slack.

One of the followers said, “More name worthy then stacked”. They seem to suggest that the sponsor-exempted players are more popular than they are good on the course. Their fame in the sport is the only reason they have received the invitations. Frustrated with the PGA Tour’s decision, one fan said, “Didn’t play well enough, but still get access to elevated OWGR pts. The system is broken! 🤦‍♂️”. They believe that the exemption process is unfair to the more deserving players.

Do you believe Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler, and Co. deserve to play at the 2025 Genesis Invitational? Share your views in the comments section.