Tears of Genesis Invitational 2023

"For me, this award is very meaningful. In 2021, I held the cup but did not have my family and friends to witness. And the result this time makes me heartbroken, when everyone is cheering me on and I tried my best. tried my best, but failed", Homa tried to stop her tears while giving an emotional speech right after the final round of the Genesis Invitational, on the morning of February 20, Hanoi time.

At the Genesis Invitational 2021, Homa set a -12 victory, which was awarded the cup by Woods himself. Last period, the victory for the champion belonged to Jon Rahm at -17, two strokes away from Homa.

In the final round, Homa was at -12, while Rahm was -15. Both started the last round, from hole 1. Finishing hole 10, Homa and Rahm stood at T1 (-16). The next three holes, he and his Spaniard took turns scoring a bogey. Homa alone lost his hand at the par4 13 hole, 469 yards long – the first shot was only 186 yards because the ball hit a tree, the second shot added 116 yards but into the wasteland. Homa limited the "damage" to the bogey by hitting the green on the third shot, 159 yards from the flag.

And like that, he went to hole 14 still T1 (-15) with Rahm. But there, Rahm took the birdie with a putt from the edge of the green, 13.7 meters from the hole, to overtake his American colleague. On hole 16, Rahm birdie again, up -17 while Homa still -15.

The par4 18th hole, Rahm's second shot just reached the edge of the green, 11.2 meters from the target while Homa's ball had not yet arrived. Before hitting the third shot, nearly 20 meters away, the caddy encouraged Homa: "Shall we finish the job?". If that word allows the ball to go through, he will put mental pressure on Rahm, then there is still the possibility of bogey and the two have to play the extra hole.

Homa aimed the flag and shot. Ball up, rolling hole rim.

Homa let go of his cane, collapsed, and covered his face with regret.

After that, he scored par to finish at -15, while Rahm finished similarly and took the cup with $ 3.6 million and returned to the world number one, replacing Scottie Scheffler. Homa received 2.18 million USD for the runner-up position.

After the match, Homa said: "I wanted to force Rahm, but it didn't work." He missed nine out of 14 fairways all round, including the 13th hole with a bogey.

Homa is 32 years old, has been on the PGA Tour since 2014, so far, he has earned a combined prize of $ 19,132 million. In the past four years, he has won six cups on the PGA Tour, five of which have been since the Genesis Invitational 2021. Finishing this year's tournament, Homa jumped 12 places to eighth in the world.