USA TODAY International Edition
Homa wins Genesis
The local boy made good this week at Riviera Country Club.
Max Homa, raised 25 miles north of Los Angeles in Valencia, California, fired a final- round bogey- free 66 and made a par on the second playoff hole to win the Genesis Invitational over Tony Finau.
“I’ve been watching this tournament my whole life,” said Homa, who posted a 72- hole total of 12- under 272. “It’s why I fell in love with golf.”
Homa, 30, never played famed Riviera, a private club that is nearly 100 years old and boasts hosting multiple major championships, until he was 21, but he remembered attending the PGA Tour’s annual trip to Tinseltown on many occasions and snacking on the soft pretzels as he watched his heroes.
Homa, who began the final round three strokes off the lead, played beautifully on Sunday, but he almost rained on his own victory parade. It looked as if he had delivered a Hollywood ending in regulation, sticking a wedge from 129 yards to 3 feet at the last hole, but his birdie putt to clinch lipped out.
Homa was able to put what could’ve been a soul- crushing miss behind him.
At the first extra hole, the 282- yard par- 4 10th, Homa’s tee shot headed left and nestled near the trunk of a tree. His chances looked to be slim, but he hooded his 50- degree wedge and played a nifty shot to the right side of the green and saved par. Finau had a 7- foot putt to win at the first playoff hole but missed.
On to the par- 3 14th, where Finau’s tee shot at the second playoff hole landed in the left greenside bunker while Homa drilled an iron to 12 feet and cozied his first putt to tap- in range for par. When Finau missed from 10 feet, Homa had his second PGA Tour victory to go along with the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship.
Homa and Finau spent the day chasing 24- year- old Sam Burns, who was seeking his first win. Burns built a three- stroke lead with nine holes to go to reach 13 under but made three bogeys in a four- hole stretch and settled for a third- place finish at 11 under.
Nothing stood in the way of Homa winning the tournament he called his “No. 1- A, 1- B, 1- C,” that he most wanted to win. “City of Champions,” he said. “Dodgers, Lakers, me.”