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Cal Golf: Max Homa Finds Himself 3 Strokes Back of Red-Hot Jon Rahm

Collin Morikawa bogeys 3 of final 4 holes, slips into 4-way tie for sixth at The Genesis.
Jeff Faraudo|
Cal Golf: Max Homa Finds Himself 3 Strokes Back of Red-Hot Jon Rahm
Cal Golf: Max Homa Finds Himself 3 Strokes Back of Red-Hot Jon Rahm

Former Cal star Max Homa surrendered his spot at the top of The Genesis Invitational leaderboard at the Riviera Country Club and enters Sunday’s final round three strokes back of Jon Rahm.

But he had a bigger immediate problem after Saturday’s third round.

“My garage door, I guess, isn’t working right now,” he said. “My wife and kid need to get inside, and dog. So I’ve got to figure that one out and after that I will dream of birdies and great iron shots.

“Today was an encouraging day and I’m just going to be excited to have a chance to win a golf tournament tomorrow.”

Homa, 32, was the co-leader after Thursday first round and alone in first by one stroke after Friday. He was 4-under without a bogey through 14 holes on Saturday then bogeyed 15 and 16, allowing Rahm to take charge.

The world’s third-ranked player, Rahm assembled a flawless 6-under 65, capped by a birdie on No. 18, and is the clear leader at minus-15. The 28-year-old Spaniard is perhaps the hottest golfer in the world right now, having finished among the top seven in all five of his events this season with a pair of victories, and has been top-10 in nine straight events.

Homa's birdie putt on No. 13 got him to 14-under:

Homa, who also has won twice this season, is alone in second at 12 under, followed by Thursday co-leader Keith Mitchell at minus-11. No. 5 Patrick Cantlay and Gary Woodland are in fourth and fifth place at minus-10 and minus-9, respectively.

Homa was actually pleased with his play on Saturday, but also a bit frustrated.

"I played really well today, I just didn’t think I got a ton out of it," he said. "I thought I had a good drive on 15 and it went in the bunker. And I thought I hit a good 8-iron on 16 and it drifted left into the bunker.

“So it was frustrating. I hit a good two shots on 17 and ended up on the downslope with nothing. So it was just one of those games. I was proud of my patience. I was proud of how my game felt. So we live to see another day.”

He knows he will have to be better to catch Rahm.

“I need to play the par 5s better. I think if I drive it a little better I’ll be in a good spot. Still just not hitting enough fairways to attack. I felt like when I did hit the fairway this week I had a good look at birdie for the most part," Homa said. "That’s the tricky part about this place — you can be off by a foot and it feels like you’re off by a mile.”

Rahm, who played with Homa and Mitchell on Saturday, said the other two pushed him all day.

“Sometimes you can get a little blinded because everybody in the group was playing good, especially early on, the first 12, 13 holes,” Rahm said. “We kept looking at the leaderboard and there was a reason why, right? It’s not easy. I feel like we were the only three making putts out there, probably.”

Collin Morikawa, 26, just two strokes off the pace and alone in fifth after Friday, bogeyed three of his final four holes in the third round and slipped into a four-way tie for sixth place. He shot a 1-over 72 and sits at 7 under through 54 holes.

Morikawa was mic-d up for some live comments as he played the 10th hole:

Morikawa had birdies on Nos. 1, 11 and 17 but bogeys on 16, 16 and 18 undid his good work and dropped into a logjam at sixth place.

He is tied with Tom Home, Denny McCarthy and Adam Svensson.

Morikawa has to wait a long time to let his birdie putt on No. 17 drop in

Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler is tied for 15th place, 10 strokes off the leader, after carding a 70 on Saturday. No. 2 Rory McIlroy had a tougher day still, shooting 73 and falling 11 spots into a tie for 18th place at minus-4.

Tiger Woods officially made the cut Saturday morning after 14 other golfers finally finished their second round. The 47-year-old, playing in his first official event since The Open at St. Andrews last July, celebrated by delivering his best round of the tournament, shooting a 4-under 67 that featured an eagle on No. 1 and three birdies.

But Woods, who was tied for 58th through two rounds, remains well out of contention to win, 12 strokes back at minus-3.

Woods, who was ranked 1,294th in the world entering the week, wound with his best score-to-par since a 4-under 68 at the 2020 Masters. He was seriously inured in a car accident nearly two years ago and his competition schedule over the past year has been limited to nine rounds in three majors.

Homa quote after Friday's round:

Cover photo of Max Homa by Gary A. Vasquez, USA Today

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Jeff Faraudo
JEFF FARAUDO

Jeff Faraudo was a sports writer for Bay Area daily newspapers since he was 17 years old, and was the Oakland Tribune's Cal beat writer for 24 years. He covered eight Final Fours, four NBA Finals and four Summer Olympics. 

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