Updated at 23.48
JOHN RAHM used two late birdies to power past Max Homa for a victory in the Genesis Invitational on Sunday that moved the Spaniard back to number one in the world.
Spain’s Rahm grabbed his third US PGA Tour title of 2023 after wins at the Tournament of Champions and the American Express in La Quinta, California.
It was his fifth win in his last nine worldwide starts, a run that included his third Spanish Open triumph in October and victory in the DP World Tour Championship in November.
Rahm was thrilled to capture a win at Riviera Country Club, the classic course west of downtown Los Angeles that has produced such champions as Ben Hogan but where, Rahm noted, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have never won.
“To reach that milestone of double digit wins, is pretty incredible,” Rahm said after capturing his 10th career US tour title.
“And to do it at a golf course with this legacy, this history, and hosted by the man himself, Tiger Woods, it’s a true honor. I can’t really explain it.”
For a while, however, it looked like Rahm might let this one get away.
He started the day with a three-shot lead over Homa and was up by three through eight holes.
- Tough Sunday -
Homa closed the gap with a birdie at the ninth and Rahm’s bogey at the par-four 10th, where he was well left off the tee, proved especially costly as Homa rolled in a six-foot birdie to pull level atop the leaderboard at 16-under par.
Rahm fell a stroke behind with a three-putt bogey at the 12th. But after Homa bogeyed 13, Rahm dropped the hammer, rolling in a 46-foot birdie bomb at the 14th and pushing his lead to two strokes with an aggressive birdie at the par-three 16th — where his tee shot straight at the flag left him less than three feet.
Homa, a local favorite from nearby Burbank who won the title in 2021, couldn’t find an answer, although he added interest at 18 with a third shot from the left rough that skipped across the cup.
He closed with a three-under-par 68 for a 15-under par total of 269 — one stroke in front of American Patrick Cantlay, who was alone in third after a 67 for 270.
American Will Zalatoris carded a seven-under-par 64 for 271.
“It was a tough week and a tough Sunday,” Rahm said. “I’m just glad I could come through at the end.”
Rahm, who last held the number one ranking in March of 2022, supplanted Scottie Scheffler just a week after the American toppled Rory McIlroy with a victory at the Phoenix Open.
In addition, Tiger Woods fired a two-over par 73 in the final round at the Genesis Invitational on Sunday, calling four completed rounds in his first start in seven months “progress” even if in classic Woods fashion he’d have liked to do better.
“It’s progress, but I didn’t win,” said the 15-time major champion, who is still limited by the severe lower right leg injuries he suffered in a February 2021 car accident, which have required multiple surgeries.
“It certainly was a little bit more difficult than I probably let on,” Woods added after posting a one-under-par total of 283 for 72 holes.
“My team has been fantastic in getting my body recovered day to day and getting me ready to play each and every day.
“That’s the hard part that I can’t simulate at home,” Woods said. “Even if I played four days at home, it’s not the same as adrenaline, it’s not the same as the system being ramped up like that, the intensity, just the focus that it takes to play at this level.”
Woods, who reiterated this week that with spinal fusion surgery behind him and a right ankle that will always make walking any course a challenge, he can only hope to play all four major championships in a season with “a couple” of other events scattered through a year.
“That’s just going to be my future,” Woods said.
The first major of the year will be The Masters in April at Augusta National — where Woods won his fifth green jacket in 2019.
He didn’t specify if he might try to compete in another tournament before the Masters.
Woods hadn’t played a tour-level event since he missed the cut at the Open Championship in July.
Sidelined after his accident for the remainder of 2021, he made a stunning return at the Masters last year to finish tied for 47th. But he withdrew from the PGA Championship after the third round.
A return at Riviera continued Woods’s long history with the course, where he made his PGA Tour in 1992 as a 16-year-old high schooler playing on a sponsor’s exemption.
- Unfortunate streak continues -
He missed the cut — and Riviera remains the course he’s played most without a tournament victory, with a runner-up finish in 1999 his best result in 14 tournament starts.
“Unfortunately, my streak still continues,” he said.
His four-under-par 67 on Saturday was Woods’s best round in relation to par since 2020.
But everything seemed just a little bit harder for the former world number one on Sunday.
After a birdie at the par-five first, he had bogeys at the fifth, eighth, ninth and 12th before rolling in a 30-footer for birdie at 13 that got him back into red numbers for the tournament.
At 15, however, he missed from within four feet for another bogey.
Woods bounced back quickly, sticking his tee shot at the par-three 16th within six feet and making that for birdie, but he was unable to take advantage of the par-five 17th, where he was in a greenside bunker on the way to a par.
He closed with a textbook par at 18 and had a wave for the large, supportive gallery.
While Woods has plenty of time to hang out with colleagues like Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy at home, teeing it up alongside them is different.
“I miss the fraternity of the guys,” he said, adding that after being away from the tour so much in recent years it’s also interesting to see “a lot of new faces out here that are going to be the future of our tour.”
Meanwhile, Shane Lowry and Seamus Power were the most impressive Irish performers as both finished the day on seven-under, while McIlroy was three shots behind them.
Elsewhere, Lydia Ko triumphed at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International with a final score of 21-under, while a disappointing final round of 74 saw Ireland’s Leona Maguire finish tied for 40th on five-under.
