Jon Rahm overtook Scottie Scheffler atop the Official World Golf Ranking with his win at the Genesis Invitational last Sunday, marking his fifth win in his last nine worldwide tournaments and his third on the PGA Tour this year in just five starts.
The Genesis Invitational is held annually at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. The course is widely regarded as one of the best in the world, as it provides a unique challenge to the best players in the world without being extremely long or having particularly tricky conditions. Course architect George C. Thomas designed it so that on many holes, including the fourth, fifth and 11th, taking dead aim at the flags does not guarantee the best score the way it does on other courses. Due to the steep angles and narrow size of the greens, the course rewards playing away from flags and using knowledge of the natural slopes to place the ball where it will roll to the hole. This distinct design is part of the reason why the course is often ranked as a favorite among tour professionals, and why leaderboards seem to always be stacked with top players. Thomas’ work will be shown off once again this season, this time at the Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course, where the U.S. Open will be held in June.
The Genesis is the third event on the PGA Tour this season, which consists of 17 events that include the four majors, purses of $20 million and play commitments from the tour’s top players. Commissioner Jay Monahan announced the series last September, and it is part of an effort to consolidate the events attended by top players in order to enhance the PGA Tour’s product.
Rahm’s bogey-free six-under 65 gave him a three-shot advantage over Max Homa entering Sunday’s final round. At 15-under, Rahm had a chance to beat the tournament scoring record of 20-under that has stood for more than 35 years. Homa was no stranger to Riviera either, winning the event two years ago along with a T10 last year and a T5 in 2020.
Homa got off to a quick start with birdies on two of his first three holes to cut Rahm’s lead down to one. Rahm fought back with birdies of his own on the seventh and eighthi, and at the turn, his lead sat at two.
At the famously short par-4 10th, Homa hit a perfect 3-wood just short of the green, while Rahm hooked his into the trees left. Rahm’s first heavy chip was followed by a thin one into the right bunker, where he was fortunate to get up and down for a bogey 5. Homa was able to get up and in for a birdie 3, and all of a sudden, the duo was tied at the top.
Following pars for each player on the 11th, Rahm missed a 5-foot par putt on the difficult 12th, giving Homa the lead. Both players hit bad tee shots on the par-4 13th, with Homa’s going directly into a tree, ending up over 270 yards away from the hole and leading to a bogey. Rahm was lucky to have a clear shot to the green, salvaging par.
Both players went just long on the par-3 14th. With Rahm playing first, he buried a 45-footer that sucked the air out of a crowd largely pulling for Los Angeles-native Homa. Both made par on the 15th hole, and Rahm stepped up on the 158-yard 16th with a one-shot lead. 8-iron in hand, he took dead aim, chirping at his in-flight ball to “be the freaking number, come on!” It was, and a tap-in birdie gave him a 2-shot lead with two holes left to play.
Neither player could take advantage of the reachable par-5 17th, meaning Homa had to make a 2-shot swing on the 18th to force a playoff. Rahm steadily hit the fairway and knocked a wedge to the middle of the green, while Homa over-cut his tee ball into the right trees and hit a punch-out just short of the green. A last-gasp chip for Homa hit the pin and lipped out, and he fell to his knees, knowing any chance he had was gone. In his press conference after the round, Homa choked back tears, showing just how much his hometown event meant to him.
Rahm’s victory won him $3.6 million, and as the season creeps closer to the Masters, he is a heavy favorite to win, with 6-1 odds. The Honda Classic at PGA National is coming up next week but will have a relatively weak field as it is not a designated event. Favorites include Sungjae Im (9-1) and Shane Lowry (14-1). Look for Lee Hodges (50-1) to have a good week as well, following a T18 at the Genesis.
The next designated event will be the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which is held at Bay Hill, a course just outside of Orlando, Fla. Scheffler will look to defend his title and get his second victory of the year following his exemplary performance at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
