|
Collin Morikawa entered The Genesis Invitational with his third
opportunity to claim the top spot for the first time in his
career. Morikawa, who also had mathematical chances to claim No.
1 at the Hero World Challenge and the Tournament of Champions,
needed to win on Sunday and have Rahm finish worse than solo
fourth.
Rahm, who made the cut on the number, rallied to tie for 21st at
Riviera Country Club. That still left the door open for Morikawa,
who made a spirited Sunday run before settling for a T2.
Morikawa is now just 0.3398 points behind Rahm for the top spot.
Patrick Cantlay, who entered the week with the same equation to
wrest No. 1 away from Rahm, scuffled to a T33 after also making
the cut on the number.
Cantlay remains No. 3, followed by Norwegian Viktor Hovland and
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy. Scottie Scheffler and Justin
Thomas each climbed a spot with top-10 finishes at the Genesis,
with Xander Schauffele, Dustin Johnson and Japan's Hideki
Matsuyama rounding out the top 10.
Chilean Joaquin Niemann vaulted 12 positions to a career-best
No. 20 with his second PGA Tour victory. Australian Adam Scott
also surged 12 spots to No. 34 with his T4, while PGA Tour
rookie Cameron Young shot up 60 places to No. 53 with his T2.
Morikawa, who admitted in January that becoming No. 1 in the
world rankings is a "dream" of his, entered Sunday eight shots
off Niemann's lead. He shot a 4-under 32 on the back nine to tie
Rahm for the low round of the day with a 65 but ultimately was
unable to catch the Chilean who led wire-to-wire.
"I just had to put together a few better rounds and make a few
less mistakes," Morikawa said Sunday. "But overall I'm happy
with the way things kind of played out."
--Field Level Media
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
|
