Homa starts new PGA Tour season in style with Fortinet Championship title

Max Homa emerged victorious after a chaotic finish to the Fortinet Championship, chipping in for birdie on the last hole to win by one stroke from Danny Willett.

Homa and Willett came into the day tied for the lead, but heading into the last hole it was Willett leading by one stroke.

After Homa found the fairway bunker and was unable to reach the green, it appeared he had blown his chance to get the birdie he required, until a spectacular chip-in pulled him level with Willett.

The Englishman just needed to sink a four-foot birdie putt for the win, but it lipped out. On the return par putt to force a playoff, he incredibly lipped out again, gifting Homa the outright win at 16 under in an incredible turn of events.

It is the fifth PGA Tour win for Homa, who won multiple events last season for the first time in his career, after nabbing one win in 2018-19 and one in 2020-21. 

Homa collected a $1.44million cheque for his victory, with Willett earning $872,000 for second place.

Alone in third was American Taylor Montgomery, who shot Sunday's round of the day with an eight-under 64 to fly up the leaderboard and finish at 13 under.

Rounding out the top-five was round-one leader Justin Lower, and South Korea's An Byeong-hun, who was in the top-five for the entire week before finishing tied for fourth at 12 under.

Rickie Fowler only had one top-10 finish this past season, and he has already matched that figure as he finished tied for sixth at 11 under with Sahith Theegala and Canada's Nick Taylor.