Genesis Invitational - Tournament Review and Notes

Max Homa defeated Tony Finau on the second playoff hole to win The Genesis Invitational at LA’s Riviera Country Club, earning his second Tour title and his first since the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship.

Homa missed relatively easy putts (one was a 3-foot, 4-inch putt on 18) and his opportunity to win the tournament. In the second hole of the Playoff, after making par 3 on the 14th hole, Homa watched Finau miss his par putt after Finau had played out of a sand trap. Homa had been 55 of 56 with putts under five feet.

Homa, a native of nearby Burbank, California, earned 550 FedExCup points and moved to No. 10 in the FedExCup standings. Homa’s prize money take was $1,674,000 and he also earned a three-year exemption for the PGA Tour.

Finau collected his 21st top-five on Tour since the start of the 2016-17 season, tied for sixth-most among all players and the most among those without a victory in that span (Next: Tommy Fleetwood/11). It was Finau’s second consecutive runner-up on his tour schedule, including (T-2) - at Farmers Insurance Open, and this (Playoff-2) at the Genesis Invitational). Finau shot a final-round (64), tying Sam Burns (R-1) for the lowest score of the week.

Sam Burns held the outright lead after each of the first three rounds before finishing solo-third yesterday.

Defending champion Adam Scott finished T-38.

We’ll Be Back! - The next issue of PGA Tour Brunch will be sent to your inbox at Noon on Wednesday, February 24.

The Genesis Invitational - Final Leaderboard

Max Homa 66-70-70-66—272 (-12)*

Tony Finau 71-67-70-64—272 (-12)

Sam Burns 64-66-74-69—273 (-11)

Cameron Smith 69-68-71-67—275 (-9)

Jon Rahm 70-69-72-66—277 (-7)

Viktor Hovland 71-69-70-67—277 (-7)

Matthew Fitzpatrick 66-71-69-71—277 (-7)

* Homa won with a par on the second playoff hole (par-3 14th)

Full Leaderboard (link)

What They’re Saying:

Home Sweet Home for Homa (PGATourCom)

Homa Tops Finau in Playoff (ESPN/Associated Press)

Max Homa Feature (USA Today/GolfWeek)

Finau Keeps Looking Forward (PGATourCom)

Tiger Woods Unsure About The Masters (Yahoo Sports)

PGA Tour’s Official Final Round Highlights from The Genesis

#SportsBiz, Sporting Goods and the Golf Industry

What’s In Homa’s Bag? (PGATourCom)

Prize Money from The Genesis (Golf Digest)

Breaking: USGA and the R&A Revamp Rules for Amateurs (Yahoo Sports)

Breaking: Kirk Triplett Working with D2C:

Breaking Sports Biz News: Dedication To Community (D2C), a national non-profit that educates and empowers communities on diversity, belonging, and equity, announced a partnership with PGA Tour veteran golfer Kirk Triplett for the 2021 season. Triplett will carry D2C’s logo on his golf bag and will participate in awareness and education programs throughout the year. It is D2C’s first formal partnership in golf.

“We welcome Kirk to our growing D2C family,” said M. Quentin Williams, Dedication To Community founder and CEO. “His visibility on the PGA TOUR, his passion on the topic of education and awareness tied to diversity and his compelling backstory will be essential in helping grow our mission of education, equity and beautiful listening by all.”

Triplett and his wife Cathi had twin boys, Conor and Sam, in 1996 bu also adopted their daughter Alexis (now 20) and son Kobe (now 18). Alexis’ birth parents are Latino. Kobe’s birth mother is Japanese, and his birth father is African American. As the parents of a racially diverse family, the Tripletts understand that social justice issues affect all of us, not just those in the news. The publicity around the racial injustice incidents of 2020 led Triplett and his wife to realize that an opportunity to educate and potentially unite people of diverse backgrounds was upon them. They realized that the discussions they were having at their own dinner table needed to be had by his peers in the golf community as well.

To provoke more discussions, Triplett placed a Black Lives Matter sticker on his PING golf bag at the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship in August. It generated a great deal of media interest and continued the discussion in a positive manner as he travelled.

Triplett will next tee-it-up at the Cologuard Classic in Tucson, AZ this weekend on the Champions Tour.

See: Sports Media Report (link)

Up Next? Let’s Play Two!

At The Concession (Tournament link)

First Look at World Golf Championship (link)

2020 Tourney Results (from Mexico City) (link)

At the Grand Reserve Country Club (Rio Grande/Puerto Rico) - (Tournament link)

First Look at Puerto Rico Open (link)

2020 Tourney Results (link)

On This Day in Golf History:

February 22, 1981 - Johnny Miller set a new scoring record at Riviera CC when he posted a 14-under (270) to win the Los Angeles Open by two shots over Tom Weiskopf. Miller’s 21st title of his career broke the course record of (272) by Hale Irwin in 1976. (Courtesy of Randy Walker), Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE

Partin’ Putt:

Homa Run with Emotion:

PGA TOUR @PGATOUR

It wasn't a dream, @maxhoma23. You're @thegenesisinv champion. 🏆

February 22nd 2021

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