Everybody was looking to begin the new PGA Tour season on a high note at the Fortinet Championship, but Max Homa was the one who walked away with a smile on his face on a rainy Sunday at Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa, Calif.
Homa, the defending champion, pulled out a one-shot victory over Danny Willett after holing a chip for birdie on the 72nd hole to close out a four-under 68 and a 16-under 272 total. It didn’t seem that it would matter too much, though, as Willett still had a 3½-foot putt for birdie that would have given him the victory. But Willett proceeded to miss the putt and leave himself with an even longer comebacker. He then missed that six-footer, giving Homa the title.
With the victory, the fifth of his PGA Tour career, Homa earned a first-place prize money payout of $1.44 million from an overall purse of $8 million. And he carries a good deal of momentum now into this week's Presidents Cup, where he's a member of Team USA for the first time in his career.
Finishing in a tie for fourth was 54-hole leader Justin Lower, whose backstory was the most intriguing of those near the top of the leaderboard come Sunday. In his last PGA Tour start, the Wyndham Championship in August, Lower frustrating three-putted his final hole to seemingly lose his tour card heading into the 2022-23 season. After the round, the 33-year-old got understandably emotional about what transpired, as the journeyman pro fell to 128th on the FedEx Cup points list.
But Lower got new life when six players jumped to LIV Golf after the Tour Championship. When they were suspended by the PGA Tour and thus dropped from the FedEx Cup eligibility list, Lower rose back to 122nd and kept his tour card.
Lower has taken that momentum to Napa, posting rounds of 63-71-69 to get to 13 under and grab a one-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final 18. A final-round 73 dropped him into a tie for fourth place, four off Homa’s winning number. But that was still Lower’s best career finish in 29 tour starts. And the $360,000 was by far the biggest prize money payout of his career, his previously high at $100,825 for T-8 at the 2022 Barbasol Championship. His overall career tour earnings were only $716,970 entering the week.
Here’s a breakdown of prize money payouts for every player who made the cut this week.
Win: Max Homa, -16, $1,440,000
2: Danny Willett, -15, $872,000
3: Taylor Montgomery, -13, $552,000
T-4: Byeong Hun An, 276/-12, $360,000
T-4: Justin Lower, 276/-12, $360,000
T-6: Rickie Fowler, 277/-11, $270,000
T-6: Nick Taylor, 277/-11, $270,000
T-6: Sahith Theegala, 277/-11, $270,000
T-9: Harris English, 278/-10, $218,000
T-9: Davis Thompson, 278/-10, $218,000
T-9: Brendon Todd, 278/-10, $218,000
T-12: Zac Blair, 279/-9, $140,666.67
T-12: Joseph Bramlett, 279/-9, $140,666.67
T-12: Thomas Detry, 279/-9, $140,666.67
T-12: Tom Hoge, 279/-9, $140,666.67
T-12: Brian Stuard, 279/-9, $140,666.67
T-12: Adam Svensson, 279/-9, $140,666.67
T-12: Harrison Endycott, 279/-9, $140,666.66
T-12: Paul Haley II, 279/-9, $140,666.66
T-12: Matt Kuchar, 279/-9, $140,666.66
T-21: Zecheng Dou, 280/-8, $87,200
T-21: Mark Hubbard, 280/-8, $87,200
T-21: Robby Shelton, 280/-8, $87,200
T-21: Matt Wallace, 280/-8, $87,200
T-25: Emiliano Grillo, 281/-7, $55,272.73
T-25: Kramer Hickok, 281/-7, $55,272.73
T-25: Beau Hossler, 281/-7, $55,272.73
T-25: Mackenzie Hughes, 281/-7, $55,272.73
T-25: Russell Knox, 281/-7, $55,272.73
T-25: Denny McCarthy, 281/-7, $55,272.73
T-25: Ben Taylor, 281/-7, $55,272.73
T-25: Jimmy Walker, 281/-7, $55,272.73
T-25: Hideki Matsuyama, 281/-7, $55,272.72
T-25: Cameron Percy, 281/-7, $55,272.72
T-25: Austin Smotherman, 281/-7, $55,272.72
T-36: Aaron Baddeley, 282/-6, $36,457.15
T-36: Alex Noren, 282/-6, $36,457.15
T-36: Will Gordon, 282/-6, $36,457.14
T-36: Brandon Hagy, 282/-6, $36,457.14
T-36: S.H. Kim, 282/-6, $36,457.14
T-36: Taylor Moore, 282/-6, $36,457.14
T-36: Vincent Norrman, 282/-6, $36,457.14
T-43: Wyndham Clark, 283/-5, $24,760
T-43: Brice Garnett, 283/-5, $24,760
T-43: Scott Harrington, 283/-5, $24,760
T-43: Stephan Jaeger, 283/-5, $24,760
T-43: Chris Kirk, 283/-5, $24,760
T-43: Andrew Putnam, 283/-5, $24,760
T-43: Alex Smalley, 283/-5, $24,760
T-43: Chris Stroud, 283/-5, $24,760
T-51: Chris Gotterup, 284/-4, $19,480
T-51: James Hahn, 284/-4, $19,480
T-51: Matthias Schwab, 284/-4, $19,480
T-51: Greyson Sigg, 284/-4, $19,480
T-55: Jacob Bridgeman, 285/-3, $18,560
T-55: Andrew Landry, 285/-3, $18,560
T-55: Nate Lashley, 285/-3, $18,560
T-55: Adam Schenk, 285/-3, $18,560
T-59: Troy Merritt, 286/-2, $17,840
T-59: Matti Schmid, 286/-2, $17,840
T-59: Brandt Snedeker, 286/-2, $17,840
T-59: J.J. Spaun, 286/-2, $17,840
T-59: Kevin Streelman, 286/-2, $17,840
T-64: Austin Eckroat, 287/-1, $17,280
T-64: Gary Woodland, 287/-1, $17,280
66: Lucas Glover, 288/E, $17,040
T-67: Nick Hardy, 289/+1, $16,720
T-67: Ben Martin, 289/+1, $16,720
T-67: Taylor Pendrith, 289/+1, $16,720
T-70: Michael Thompson, 290/+2, $16,320
T-70: Nick Watney, 290/+2, $16,320
T-72: Doug Ghim, 292/+4, $16,000
T-72: C.T. Pan, 292/+4, $16,000
The best of Golf Digest delivered daily
Sign UpWill be used in accordance with our PRIVACY POLICY