Jon Rahm left little doubt on Sunday that he’s the best player on the planet — today and right now.
Rahm emerged from a tense battle with Max (The California Kid) Homa at beyond-difficult Riviera to win Tiger Woods’ Genesis Invitational.
Rahm simply played magnificent golf down the difficult home stretch of the historic layout. He started his march to victory with a 46-foot birdie putt at the par three 14th that spelled the beginning of the end of a valiant effort by Homa. Up until that moment, Rahm had his hands full and was tied with Homa at 15-under par through 12 holes.
Rahm was struggling a bit at the start of the final nine but had a conversation with himself. “I kept telling myself after the 12th hole that it’s a really freakin’ difficult golf course to finish.”
But Rahm finished in style, running in that bomb at the 177-yard 14th then he stuffed his tee shot at the short (158-yard) 16th inside three feet. That birdie got him to 17-under and sent Homa home in solo second at 15-under. “I’m proud of myself — but I’m pretty bummed out,” said Homa, who, like Rahm, had two wins this season coming to Riviera. “I didn’t have it off the tee. That back nine is really hard. I pushed him (Rahm), it felt good, I’m proud of that,” Homa added.
Rahm turned in two under but suffered those bogeys at 10 and 12, allowing Homa to tie the lead. But the two par threes proved the difference as Rahm finished with a two-under par 69 and a 17-under total for the week. Rahm has now won five times in his last nine events including three of his last five PGA Tour Events. This third win of the season returned Rahm to the No. 1 spot in the world rankings and he’s topped $9 million in the past 60 days.
The win was Rahm’s 10 PGA Tour win. “Pretty incredible,” Rahm said. “(To win) at a golf course with this legacy, this history and hosted by Tiger Woods, is such an honor.”
Another Legal Loss For LIV: No Immunity For Al Rumayyan:
LIV Golf wanted to take on the PGA Tour in the American court system and it’s not what the Saudis are accustomed to.
LIV suffered a major setback last Thursday when a federal judge ruled that PGA Tour lawyers could depose the Saudi Public Investment Fund, including PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, for documents related to the fund and its involvement as LIV Golf’s principal financier. Al-Rumayyan and the PIF had sought protection from the Tour’s legal probes — which threaten to unearth information about the highly secretive fund — on the grounds of “sovereign immunity,” a premise rejected by Judge Susan Van Keulen’s ruling.
Al-Rumayyan and the PIF had sought exemption under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, a 1976 law that defines the role of the U.S. judicial system in lawsuits against foreign nations and foreign citizens. Under the FSIA, foreign agents are immune from the jurisdiction of U.S. Courts spare for a few exceptions, one of them being when conducting commercial activity within the U.S. In the months preceding Thursday’s ruling, lawyers for LIV, Al-Rumayyan and the PIF argued that the fund was merely an investor in LIV — not a business partner — meaning the PIF was not conducting commercial activity within the United States. The ruling, which was handed down in the U.S. District Court of Northern California, rejected those arguments and asserted that Al-Rumayyan and the PIF were the “moving force behind the founding, funding, oversight and operation of LIV” and therefore not exempt from the Tour’s depositions.
Bad news for LIV and an indication that this lawsuit against the PGA Tour may become an uphill battle at best.
Lawyers for LIV have indicated they will ask a different federal judge, Beth Labson Freeman, to review Van Keulen’s ruling. Last summer, Labson Freeman dealt LIV another courtroom loss when she ruled that three LIV golfers — Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones — were ineligible to compete in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
A hearing is scheduled before Judge Labson Freeman for Friday, February 24.
