There is every reason for Joaquin Niemann to be feeling confident entering Sunday’s final round of the Genesis Invitational. For starters, the 23-year-old native of Chile has picked apart Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles for three days now, rounds of 63-63-68 giving him the lowest 54-hole score in tournament history (19 under breaking the previous mark of 17 under). Meanwhile, he’s three shots clear of his closest chaser, Cameron Young, a rookie making only his 11th career start as a pro on tour who has just two career top-25s to his credit (albeit one a runner up at last October’s Sanderson Farms). Niemann is younger than Young (24), but has made 100 starts on tour, has previously won (2019 Greenbrier) and has posted 19 top-10s.
There’s also the fact that Niemann’s next closest chasers after Young are six, seven and eight shots back, respectively. But here’s where any tiny seeds of doubt might first begin to sprout. You see, those three aren’t rookies experiencing something for the first time. Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa are proven winners on tour who know they have no choice but to be aggressive and flag hunt on Sunday, and are all very capable of doing just that. Their strategy is simple and singular: Get off to a hot start so that they can grab Niemann’s attention has he works his way around Riviera.
It’s not an identical parallel, but last year’s final round at Riviera might prove a bit of a cautionary tale for Niemann. Sam Burns held a two-shot edge after 54 holes and stretched it to three with eight holes to play, but found the Hollywood spotlight a little bright as he was coming in, allowing Max Homa (two back to start the round) and Tony Finau (four back) to pass him. Homa ultimately took the title in a playoff.
Regardless of who pulls out the victory on Sunday, that player will have accomplished two things that tournament host Tiger Woods can’t even brag about. The champion will have won a tournament at Riviera Country Club (it’s the only PGA Tour venue Woods played more than 10 times that he never won on) and they will have earned a check for $2.16 million (Woods' highest single payday on tour was $2.07 million for his 2019 Masters win).
The overall prize money payout for the Genesis is a tournament record $12 million. Here’s the breakdown of the prize money payouts for each golfer who made the cut this week. Come back shortly after the tournament and we’ll update the results with individual names and payouts.
Win: $2,160,000
2: $1,308,000
3: $828,000
4: $588, 000
5: $492,000
6: $435,000
7: $405,000
8: $375,000
9: $351,000
10: $327,000
And More....
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