Pacific Palisades, California – Joaquin Niemann went wire to wire at Riviera to defeat the best field of the season. The Genesis Invitational victory is his second PGA Tour title (September 2019, Greenbrier). Collin Morikawa, who started the day eight back (had a chance to become the No.1 ranked player in the world with a victory) managed to put up the best challenge on Sunday – firing a final round 65 to finish tied for second with Cameron Young at 17 under par. Morikawa had the rare feat of shooting all four rounds in 60’s at Riviera 67-67-68-65.
Niemann’s 16 under par total after 36 holes is a new tournament record. The 23-year-old Chilean showed some nerves early on Sunday in Pacific Palisades, but his chip-in eagle on the short par 4 eleventh freed him up down the stretch to complete the two-stroke triumph over a stellar leaderboard that included Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, and Adam Scott. Niemann finished with a 265 total (19 under par) after rounds of 63-63-68-71.
“Obviously it’s one of the toughest tournaments during the year. It’s got the best field, the best players are here and that proves to myself that I can be competing with the top guys, I can be up there in the world ranking,” Niemann said.
“I think it’s going to give me a lot of confidence for what is coming next.”
The event was clouded somewhat by the breaking story of Phil Mickelson’s comments to the Fire Pit Collective’s Alan Shipnuck regarding the Saudi Golf League’s attempt to dismantle the PGA Tour of its greatest stars. On Sunday, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau all but ended the coup attempt when they announced that they would not leave the PGA Tour for Greg Norman’s new Saudi League.
Scores: https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2022/genesis-invitational/leaderboard.html
