The weirdest golf year in recent memory delivered perhaps the strangest start to a season in PGA Tour history. Max Homa (-16) won the Fortinet Championship on Sunday over Danny Willett (-15) by a single stroke, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the story of what happened at Silverado Country Club on Sunday afternoon.

The duo played in the final trio in the final round in Napa, the first of 47 PGA Tour events in the 2022-23 season, and both took the tee box on the first hole one back of their third playing partner, Justin Lower, who began the day at 13 under. Lower played decent golf for the first nine holes, but both Homa and Willett caught him, and it became mostly a two-man race on the second nine.

It was a race that Willett appeared as if he was going to win following a heroic birdie on the par-4 14th hole from behind a tree. That moved him to 16 under on the week and put him one up on Homa going into the final four holes.

Both men parred the next three, which meant Willett’s one-stroke lead still stood on the 18th tee box. What happened over the next 20 minutes was astounding.

How it unfolded on No. 18

On the 576-yard closing hole, Willett hit a poor drive out to the right but got back in position and on his third shot hit a filthy wedge to 3 feet 7 inches for a birdie that would have put him at 17 under and guaranteed a win unless Homa made eagle.

Homa was not going to make eagle. He left his 3-wood approach short of the green in a bunker and then didn’t reach the green with his third shot out of the sand. Standing 32 feet from the cup in a low spot around the 18th green, with Willett’s marker — not even 4 feet away from the cup — staring back at him, Homa knew he would have to hole his birdie chip attempt. And then he did.

Remember, that didn’t guarantee victory or even a playoff, though. Willett had a short 3-foot, 7-inch putt for birdie to pull ahead of Homa and win the tournament moments after Homa tied him at 16 under. He hit the birdie putt almost 9 feet, which meant he still had another 5 feet coming back for par and a playoff with Homa. Incredibly, he missed that one, too.

It was the first time all week anyone in the field had three-putted from inside of 5 feet. Everyone who made the cut was T1 in three-putt avoidance from 5 feet and closer. They all finished 100% at avoiding three putts from that distance or closer. Poor Danny Willett was 73rd at 95%.

‘It was a wild finish’

Willett said after the round that he was not surprised by Homa chipping in ahead of his three-putt and that he was proud of the way he started his new season. A win here would have been his ninth in 355 career OWGR events but just his second on the PGA Tour.

“I expected him to do it,, but then it’s still a bit of a shock when it happens,” Willett said. “We all played really good today. Like I said, bit of a shame to kind of finish how I did.”

“Obviously going to remember that last, but good week, nice to be in contention basically all week from Friday,” added Willett. “Yeah, just a shame how I finished but that’s golf, we’re going to do it again another day. yeah, a bit disappointing finish to the round, but you’re trying to hole it. Hit it a little bit too firm.”

 Homa said his head was spinning at what had transpired.

“Last like three minutes are kind of a blur, but I played really good golf, I played solid,” Homa said. “Danny and Justin both played great, but I just tried to play my game and just see where it got me. I don’t know, it was a wild finish.”

Exciting ending gives Homa vintage victory

The victory is Homa’s second straight at the Fortinet Championship and his fourth in his last 41 starts worldwide. Incredibly, nobody has more individual OWGR victories since the start of 2021. Not Rory McIlroy (4). Not Scottie Scheffler (4). Not Sam Burns, Viktor Hovland or Xander Schauffele (all also 4).

It has been true for over a year now, but given his early-career struggles, it remains wild that Homa has become such a consistent winner and such a threat at all events, but especially so when he’s one of the top few players in the field (which has become most events he plays in). His finish on Sunday was indicative of a player who has matured into a star on the PGA Tour, but it was also indicative of an insane sport that seemingly never delivers a bland week.

In fact, a sleepy few days in wine country had all the makings of one of the more low-key tournaments of the entire calendar year, and that’s how it went for most of the first 71 holes. Then it suddenly turned and we got a hole-out, an abysmal three-putt and perhaps the most shocking final few minutes we’ll see on the PGA Tour from now through next year’s Tour Championship.

Rick Gehman and Greg Ducharme recap a full weekend of global golf action. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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NAPA, Calif. (AP) — Justin Lower weathered the wind and birdied the 18th hole Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the season-opening Fortinet Championship.

Lower shot a 3-under 69 to get to 13 under at Silverado Resort & Spa, with his fifth birdie of the round giving him his first career 54-hole lead in his 29th start on the PGA Tour. He’s looking for his first tour victory.

Defending champion Max Homa and Danny Willett were a shot back after even-par 72s. Byeong Hun An had a 71 to get to 11 under.

While several players who went out early in the day posted low scores in good playing conditions, the course got much harder late in the day when the wind picked up to wreak havoc on the players.

Willett took several minutes on the eighth green clearing off blowing leaves just before making a birdie putt that put him briefly in the lead at 13 under.

Workers with leaf blowers came out on the next hole to keep the green clean but Willett made a double-bogey 7 after his approach shot flew past the green.

There were few birdie chances available with players happy with pars late in the day. That led to a very condensed leaderboard with eight players within three shots of the lead headed into Sunday.

An moved into a one-shot lead when he hit a solid tee shot on the par-3 15th came and then made a birdie from about 6 feet to get to 13 under. But he gave it back and more with a double bogey in the par-5 16th when his second shot got caught near the root of a tree.

That opened the door for Lower, who put his second shot on the par-5 18th just off the green and then made the short birdie putt.

It’s been quite a few weeks for Lower, who appeared to lose his tour card after three-putting the final home of the Wyndham Championship for a bogey when he only needed a par to remain in he top 125. But after more defections to the LIV Tour, Lower moved back into the top 125 and is taking advantage of it in the first tournament of the new season.

Conditions aren’t expected to be much better in the final round, which has already been altered by an ominous forecast with rain and wind. The leaders will tee off several hours earlier than scheduled with the final round featuring threesomes off split tees.

Davis Thompson and Harrison Endycott shot the low rounds of the day with 65s that left Harrison in a four-way tie for fifth place with Paul Haley II, Matt Kuchar and Adam Svensson. Endycott was a stroke behind in a four-way tie for ninth.

Endycott the first player out on the course and played as a single in his first career tournament make the cut with a birdie on the the final hole of the second round. He overcame a broken driver early in that round and was happy to have all of his clubs available Saturday.

“Definitely helps when you’ve got a driver in the bag after yesterday’s shenanigans with the cracked driver face,” he said. “This golf course is tough hitting 3-wood everywhere. So it was nice to get freed up, played some good golf today.”

Haley, who had gone 3,315 days between appearances on the tour from the 2013 Wyndham Championship and the start of this tournament, was tied with Thompson in the group at 10 under after a 66.

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NAPA, Calif. (AP) — Max Homa moved into position to defend his title at the Fortinet Championship, shooting a 5-under 67 on Friday to share the early 36-hole lead with Danny Willett at the PGA Tour’s season opener.

Homa, a two-time winner last season and a captain’s pick for next week’s Presidents Cup, had an eagle, four birdies and a bogey — his first of the week — for a two-day total of 12-under 132 at Silverado Resort & Spa.

“The course fits my eyes,” Homa said. “I hit a lot of wedges today and I’ve been hitting the wedges really well, so when I get a lot of wedges from fairways like these, I feel like I can attack the pins.”

The four-time PGA Tour winner played collegiately at California.

“I’ve got a great support system here,” said Homa, who won the 2013 NCAA individual title. “I’ve got friends and family up here and a bunch of, you know, people who appreciate I went to school up here.”

Willett, winless in the United States since his triumph at the Masters in 2016, shot a bogey-free 64. The English player kept his PGA Tour card for this season because of players defecting to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series.

“Yeah, we kind of got handed a lifeline with the guys leaving, which was nice,” Willett said. “We kind of had to reassess things and decided we’d press on and play a little bit more this fall over here and really try to get some points up early.”

Willett has eight titles on the European tour, most recently last October at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

He had eight birdies in his second round and is bogey-free for the week.

“You know, the rough is hit and miss and with the greens being firm as they are. To go bogey-free is really good,” said Willett, who has only six top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour since winning his lone major. “The field game is pretty sharp, the short game’s pretty sharp.”

First-round leader Justin Lower was two shots back after a 71. His best finish in 28 previous PGA Tour events dating to 2013 was a tie for eighth.

“It’s always hard to follow up a very low round with another good round or even lower,” Lower said. “But I will take one under today. Could it have been better? Yes, but it definitely could have been worse as well.”

Jason Day, Harris English, Charley Hoffman and Webb Simpson were among the players who missed the cut.

Copyright 2022 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

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A new PGA Tour season — the last with the fall swing as we know it — began on Thursday in Napa, California, with a lengthy weather delay and a pretty fascinating first-round leaderboard. The entire field was unable to finish Round 1 on account of some early fog on the West Coast and a handful of golfers will finish up their first 18 holes on Friday morning.

Let’s take a look at a feel-good story at the top of the board after a partially completed Round 1 and a couple of big names who got their new seasons off to a great start.

The leader

1. Justin Lower (-9): Everybody probably remembers his teary press conference after narrowly missing making the top 125 last year at the Wyndham Championship. Lower later retained his PGA Tour card by being bumped up because some of the players ahead of him in the top 125 moved over to LIV Golf, and he took advantage of it on Thursday at the Fortinet Championship.

Lower’s T8 finish last year at the Barbasol Championship is the best of his career by OWGR points earned, but he’s in a great position to better that and put himself in a great spot to get well ahead of the curve of making the top 125 when this season concludes. Lower said after his 63 on Thursday that a year of experience on the Tour makes all the difference in the world.

“I left this course last year kind of in shock, honestly,” Lower said. “I was like, ‘God, if this is how the Tour is, I need to get a lot better very quickly.’ Yeah, I feel a lot more confident than I did at this point last year just being the last card last year and then being where I am this year, I feel a lot more confident with my game and a lot more comfortable, for sure.”

Other contenders

2. Max Homa (-7)

T3. Ben An, J.J. Spaun, S.H. Kim (-6)

T6. Greyson Sigg, Nick Taylor, Rickie Fowler, Sahith Theegala, Emiliano Grillo, Scott Harrington, Matti Schmid, Sung Kang, Brice Garnett, Robby Shelton (-5)

This dawned on me last year at this very tournament, which Homa won, but he has turned himself into one of the most consistent threats to win on the entire PGA Tour. He shot his third consecutive 65 at this event (dating back to last year when he shot 65-65 on the weekend to win) and picked up right where he left off on his best year ever on the PGA Tour last season. With the Presidents Cup coming next week, Homa’s form is a great sign for the U.S. team and perhaps an even better sign for him as he tries to win this tournament for the second straight year (Brendan Steele did the same in 2016 and 2017).

Rickie’s return

Rickie Fowler has had a rough few years, but he had an awesome Thursday with a 5-under 67, which is his second-best round since the Wells Fargo Championship in May. Contention from him this weekend would be incredibly popular and the absolute perfect start for the PGA Tour to a new season.

“Like we’ve talked, just trying to get back to being more consistent,” Fowler said. “I’ve had some good weeks in the past few years, but it shouldn’t just be a few weeks in those years, there needs to be more. That’s kind of the biggest thing is just getting back to playing some consistent golf, consistently being in contention and having chances to win tournaments.”

2022 Fortinet Championship updated odds and picks

• Max Homa: +350
• Justin Lower: 9-1
• Sahith Theegala: 12-1
• J.J. Spaun: 14-1
• Emiliano Grillo: 14-1
• Hideki Matsuyama: 20-1

I think Homa has the best chance to win, but I don’t like his number here. I’d rather have Theegala at 12-1 or even somebody like Adam Svensson — who was fifth in strokes gained tee to green on Thursday — at 55-1.

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The 108th PGA Tour season will begin on Thursday with the 2022 Fortinet Championship from the Bay Area. The first tee times come at 10 a.m. ET. Hosted at the North Course of Silverado Country Club, the season’s inaugural event will have an $8 million purse with $1.44 million going to the victor. Last year, it was Max Homa who took home the winner’s share with a one-stroke victory over Maverick McNealy. The two of them are back again as part of the Fortinet Championship 2022 field, and every previous winner of this tournament since 2015 will also tee off on Thursday.

Homa is the 10-1 favorite, per Caesars Sportsbook, in the latest 2022 Fortinet Championship odds as he seeks his fifth PGA Tour victory. World No. 16 Hideki Matsuyama is the highest-ranked player in the field and is listed at 16-1, as is Corey Conners. McNealy and Cameron Davis are at 22-1, while 2020 winner Stewart Cink is a massive 130-1 underdog. Before locking in your 2022 Fortinet Championship picks, be sure to see the PGA Tour predictions and betting advice from SportsLine’s proven golf model.

SportsLine’s proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, the model is up over $9,500 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.

McClure’s model included J.T. Poston in its best bets to win the 2022 John Deere Classic. That bet hit at +5500, and for the entire tournament, McClure’s best bets returned almost $1,100. At the 2022 Masters, McClure’s model was all over Scottie Scheffler’s first career major championship victory heading into the weekend.

In addition, McClure’s best bets included Collin Morikawa winning outright at the 2021 Open Championship, even though he was listed as a massive 40-1 long shot. The model was also all over Jon Rahm’s (10-1) first career major championship victory at the 2021 U.S. Open. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the weekend, but the model still projected him as the winner.

This same model has also nailed a whopping eight majors entering the weekend. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.

Now that the 2022 Fortinet Championship field is locked, SportsLine simulated the tournament 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard.

Top 2022 Fortinet Championship predictions 

One major surprise the model is calling for at the 2022 Fortinet Championship: Matsuyama, an eight-time PGA Tour champion and one of the top favorites, stumbles this week and finishes outside the top five. Matsuyama got off to a blistering start last season, winning two of his first six tournaments. However, the 2021 Masters champion struggled down the stretch, finishing T-35 or worse in four of his last five events. 

In addition, Matsuyama was inconsistent with his putter last season, ranking 114th in strokes gained: putting (-.028) and 121st in 3-putt avoidance (3.01%), which doesn’t bode well for his chances to win this week. He’s not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in the 2022 Fortinet Championship field.

Another surprise: Brendan Steele, a 45-1 longshot, makes a strong run at the title. There are seven golfers in this year’s field that are previous Fortinet champions, but Steele is the only multi-time champion in tournament history. He went back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, and both wins came at Silverado’s North Course. He’s also played well recently at the course and enters this year’s event with 11 straight rounds of shooting par or better.

Steele has shot so well here because the course is favorable to good ball-strikers and that’s where his strength lies. Last season he ranked sixth on tour in strokes gained: off-the-tee (.694) and 16th in greens in regulation percentage (69.33 percent). He was also among the top 15% on tour in strokes gained: tee-to-green (.884), as he’s exceptional with either a driver or iron in his hands. Given his history with this course and a current game which should play well here, Steele is going heavily undervalued in 2022 Fortinet Championship bets. See who else to pick here.

How to make 2022 Fortinet Championship picks

The model is targeting four other golfers with odds of 30-1 or longer who will make surprising runs. Anyone who backs these long shots could hit it big. You can only see the model’s picks here.

So who will win the Fortinet Championship 2022? And which longshots stun the golfing world? Check out the 2022 Fortinet Championship odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected 2022 Fortinet Championship leaderboard, all from the model that’s nailed eight golf majors, including this year’s Masters.

2022 Fortinet Championship odds, field

See full Fortinet Championship 2022 picks, best bets, and predictions here.

Max Homa 10-1
Hideki Matsuyama 16-1
Corey Conners 16-1
Maverick McNealy 22-1
Cameron Davis 22-1
Sahith Theegala 28-1
Taylor Pendrith 30-1
Davis Riley 35-1
Emiliano Grillo 40-1
Alex Noren 45-1
Brendan Steele 45-1
Denny McCarthy 45-1
Andrew Putnam 45-1
Chris Kirk 50-1
Tom Hoge 50-1
Troy Merritt 50-1
Thomas Detry 50-1
Taylor Montgomery 50-1
Justin Suh 60-1
Chez Reavie 60-1
Gary Woodland 60-1
Taylor Moore 60-1
Trey Mullinax 60-1
Alex Smalley 65-1
Cameron Champ 65-1
Jason Day 65-1
Webb Simpson 65-1
Wyndham Clark 65-1
Matt Kuchar 65-1
David Lipsky 75-1
Adam Long 75-1
J.J. Spaun 75-1
Luke List 90-1
Nick Hardy 90-1
Justin Lower 100-1
Rickie Fowler 100-1
Carl Yuan 100-1
Mark Hubbard 100-1
Brendon Todd 100-1
Patrick Rodgers 100-1
Kevin Streelman 100-1
Michael Thompson 110-1
Adam Svensson 110-1
Callum Tarren 110-1
Chesson Hadley 110-1
Martin Laird 110-1
Stephan Jaeger 110-1
Joseph Bramlett 110-1
John Huh 130-1
Michael Gligic 130-1
Beau Hossler 130-1
Christopher Gotterup 130-1
Russell Knox 130-1
Zac Blair 130-1
Charley Hoffman 130-1
Tyler Duncan 130-1
Matthew NeSmith 130-1
Cameron Percy 130-1
Peter Malnati 130-1
C.T. Pan 130-1
Lee Hodges 130-1
Brandon Wu 130-1
Nick Taylor 130-1
Dylan Frittelli 130-1
Stewart Cink 130-1
Austin Eckroat 130-1
Michael Kim 150-1
Vincent Whaley 150-1
James Hahn 150-1
Matti Schmid 150-1
Greyson Sigg 150-1
Hayden Buckley 150-1
Robby Shelton 150-1
Harris English 150-1
Will Gordon 150-1
Lucas Glover 150-1
Doc Redman 150-1

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Max Homa’s career season started last year in Napa, Calif., and he’ll try to duplicate that success starting Thursday at the 2022 Fortinet Championship. Homa went 19-under par on the North Course at Silverado Resort and Spa last fall, shooting a 7-under 65 on Sunday to beat Maverick McNealy by one stroke. Homa won the Wells Fargo later in the season and made the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the first time in his career, finishing fifth in the final standings. Homa, who played collegiately at Cal, and Stanford product McNealy are among a strong California contingent who will kick off their 2022-23 seasons at Silverado. Rookie of the Year nominee Sahith Theegala, 2019 Fortinet winner Cameron Champ and fan favorite Rickie Fowler are among the other natives of the Golden State scheduled to compete. Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, is the highest-ranked golfer in the field at No. 16, followed by Homa (22nd) and Corey Conners (25th).

Homa and Matsuyama are 14-1 co-favorites in the latest Fortinet Championship odds, with Conners right behind at 16-1. McNealy (28-1), Cameron Davis (28-1), Theegala (28-1) and Taylor Pendrith (28-1) are also among the favorites in the 2022 Fortinet Championship field. Before locking in any 2022 Fortinet Championship picks, be sure you check out the PGA Tour predictions and best bets from golf insider Patrick McDonald.

After spending time at FanSided and NBC Sports EDGE, McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in the spring of 2022. Now covering the sport from a broader perspective, McDonald still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis on the PGA Tour.

He takes a measured approach to his outright selections and finished the 2021-22 season up 42 units on those plays, having hit Cameron Smith (22-1) at the Tournament of Champions, Hudson Swafford (250-1) at The American Express, Joaquin Niemann (70-1) at the Genesis Invitational and Justin Thomas (66-1) live at the PGA Championship.

Now, McDonald has studied the 2022 Fortinet Championship field and is locking in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. You can head to SportsLine now to see all of his 2022 Fortinet Championship picks and predictions.

Top 2022 Fortinet Championship expert picks

Shockingly, McDonald is fading Conners, even though the Canadian’s iron game is among the best on tour. He was second on tour in greens in regulation last season, landing it on the putting surface 71.9% of the time. Conners also ranked fifth in strokes gained off the tee and 13th in strokes gained tee-to-green. But that’s where things broke down, as he was 131st around the green and 136th putting, which kept him from being a consistent contender. He missed five cuts, compared to four top-10 finishes, in his 25 appearances in 2021-22. He hasn’t played Silverado since 2019.

On the other hand, Homa was in contention regularly last season behind a strong all-around game. That balance was evident at Silverado last fall, as he was in the top 20 in greens in regulation and putting and second in strokes gained tee-to-green. He finished the season 25th off the tee, 24th tee-to-green and 27th putting, and that consistency led to his career year. The 31-year-old finished in the top 25 in 15 of his 24 tournaments in 2021-22, posting five top-10s. He ranked 23rd in scoring average (69.972) and 40th in birdie average (3.94 per round). See who else to pick here.

How to make 2022 Fortinet Championship golf picks

Before this week’s PGA Tour event in Napa, McDonald has locked in his best bets for the 2022 Fortinet Championship. They include a massive longshot to win who is priced well into triple-digit odds. You can only see all of the expert’s picks at SportsLine.

So which 2022 Fortinet Championship picks should you target? Where does all the betting value lie for Fortinet Championship 2022? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Patrick McDonald’s top prop picks for Fortinet Championship 2022, all from the expert who ended last season up 42 units on outright plays.

2022 Fortinet Championship odds, field, top contenders

See full Fortinet Championship 2022 picks, best bets, and predictions here. 

Max Homa 14-1
Hideki Matsuyama 14-1
Corey Conners 16-1
Maverick McNealy 28-1
Cameron Davis 28-1
Sahith Theegala 28-1
Taylor Pendrith 28-1 
Cameron Davis 29-1
Davis Riley 29-1
Brendan Steele 37-1
Denny McCarthy 40-1
Tom Hoge 40-1
Emilian Grillo 40-1
Gary Woodland 40-1
Wyndham Clark 42-1
Webb Simpson 42-1
Trey Mullinax 42-1
Chris Kirk 50-1
Chez Reavie 50-1
Kevin Streelman 50-1
Cameron Champ 50-1
Jason Day 50-1
Alex Noren 50-1
Taylor Montgomery 50-1
Andrew Putnam 50-1
Justin Suh 50-1
Thomas Detry 50-1
Taylor Moore 50-1

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