Homa’s eagle at 12th hole propels him to Fortinet Championship victory
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
While it’s important to play a good round of golf in every round of the tournament, a great final round can get you a trophy. After all, Sunday is the day when a trophy is awarded to the winner, along with valuable FedExCup points, and winnings.
The finish couldn’t have been any more exciting.
When the day began, there were an astounding 20 players within four strokes of the lead. However, as the day went on, that number dwindled. It ended up coming down to Max Homa and Maverick McNealy.
In the end, it was Homa who was able to get the first trophy of the new PGA Tour season. The turning point in his round came when he eagled the 12th hole. On that hole, he hit the tee shot 298 yards and then converted his second shot from 95 yards out.
“Our strategy this week off the tee was if we were going to miss the fairway, we needed to make sure we moved the line so we’d miss it with the right angle with how firm the greens were,” Homa said of the eagle at 12. “So we did a good job of that, missed the fairway but I had a good lie.”
Homa also birdied holes 6, 8, 9, 13, 16, and 17. He had a bogey on the tenth hole. He ended up with a score of 19-under for the tournament after shooting 65 in the final round. He was very good at getting onto greens in regulation during the final round. After all, he was 14 for 18 in that category while also hitting 9 of 14 fairways.
This is Homa’s third PGA Tour victory and his first of the 2021-22 season. The victory gives him 500 FedExCup points, $1.26 million, and a spot in The Masters, PGA Championship, and Century Tournament of Champions. He is also exempt on the PGA Tour through 2024.
“I only had two weeks off, but it was very motivating,” Homa said of getting his first win of the season so early. “Sometimes with disappointment comes a lot of motivation. Not making East Lake hurt, not making the Ryder Cup hurt, and even though it’s just two weeks, I worked my tail off. Yeah, it’s fun to get out here, play some great golf, get a win in front of friends and family.”
On the other hand, Maverick McNealy entered the day as the co-leader. He held the lead for most of the day before his round fell apart on the back nine. He had a ton of pars on the day, but a double-bogey on 17 ruined his round.
“I was just trying to hit the same shot I hit yesterday, which is a low two-iron. Caught it off the heel and it caught the last branch of the tree and dropped straight back,” McNealy said of his double-bogey. “Standing there from 195 yards with a 6-iron and I hit it exactly — it was a great second shot — exactly where I wanted to play to and misjudged the lie.
“That’s something that I want to work on going forward,” he continued. “I play most of my practice rounds in the morning on Tuesday, I’m going to start playing later in the afternoon and just get a better feel for how those lies react because I was pretty good in the morning, but had a few short game mishaps late in the day that I think just conditions I’ve got to get better at.”
He came back to eagle 18, which put him just a shot behind Homa at the day’s end at 18-under. He wasn’t as great when it came to hitting the fairways and getting onto greens in regulation. He was 6 of 14 when it came to keeping it in the fairway and 11 of 18 getting onto the greens in regulation.
“That was fun,” McNealy said of the eagle at 18. “I mean, good golf’s more fun than bad golf, for sure. It was a great drive, (a) great second shot, and why not just make it, you know. Make sure Max knows that I was right there. But he played awesome and man, he came out of nowhere on the back nine.”
The PGA Tour won’t be in action next week, but that doesn’t mean golf won’t be played. Next week will be the prestigious Ryder Cup between the United States and Europe at Whistling Straights Golf Course. The event will be hosted by the United States. Golf Channel and NBC will have coverage of the Ryder Cup that begins on Friday.
