After excellent play in the 2022 Genesis Invitational, Joaquin Niemann is the new champion. Scoring -19 after four rounds, he was a bit of a surprise to win this event, especially at +7000 odds to win at most bookmakers.
Other golfers performed well, giving the current champ a run for his money. Below you can see how Niemann became the new Genesis Invitational champion.
Who is Joaquin Niemann?
Niemann is currently the 32nd best golfer in the world. His recent performance will obviously bump up his ranking, but Niemann has been bouncing around the middle of the 20’s and 30’s lately.
His performance was almost record-setting at -19 under. In fact, he was just one shot short from tying Lanny Watkins back in 1985.
On top of that, this course has not seen a younger golfer, at 23 years of age, win this event since Phil Rodgers did in 1962. That was also the same time that Jack Nicklaus made his professional golfing debut.
Niemann was able to take home $2.16 million and celebrate his second PGA Tour victory. This was almost a given since he opened up the first two days with a 63 in each.
He had plenty of room to breathe during his exceptional play, with many moments to look at. On the final day, he had a tough birdie on hole number eight then got plenty of momentum with the eagle on hole 11.
Top Players in the Field Performances
Collin Morikawa, the current second-best golfer in the world, had a remarkable final day of play for this event to get him in contention to win. He holed an eagle chip on a difficult 10th hole that happened to bounce in his favor into the cup.
A few holes later, he had two late birdies that gave him a shot to win. However, he missed a much-needed 10-foot putt on the final hole in his attempt to win this event and take over the number one spot in the world while coming in second.
Viktor Hovland was another surprise in this event, as the fourth-best golfer in the world finally showed up to tie for fourth. Lately, Hovland has had mixed results in events this year.
He missed the cut in the Phoenix Open, which was nowhere near as competitive as this event. Before that, he competed in the Dubai Desert Classic, where he won in a playoff against Richard Bland.
In addition, many were not aware of Hovland’s ability to think outside the box. Just look up his attempt on hole 15, where his tee shot is way off to the right. Although he was unable to birdie or better on the hole, he still found par three times and bogey once when he did this.
Surprising Results
Jon Rahm, the best golfer in the world rankings, tied for 21 in this event after scoring -7 under after four rounds. More was to be expected from the top golfer, but it appears it was not his day.
Patrick Cantlay was another favorite to win, too, especially being the third-best golfer in the world. He tied for 33rd and scored -5 under.
