Max Homa, leaving behind a lost year on the golf course, finished in a tie for 12th at the Masters on Sunday.
The 34-year-old Cal grad, whose world ranking plummeted from No. 5 to 81 since finishing in a tie for third at Augusta National a year ago, tied for 12th after a final-round 1-under 71.
Homa finished four days at 4 under par in a tournament won by Rory McIlroy in a sudden-death playoff on th 18th hole over Justin Rose after both players finished 72 holes at 11 under.
Having repeatedly come up short at the Masters, the 35-year-old from Northern Ireland made a birdie putt to become just the sixth player to complete golf’s grand slam of the four majors.
“It feels incredible. This is my 17th time here and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” McIlroy said. “The last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that . . I’m just absolutely honored and thrilled.”
Rose, who shot a final-round 66 to force the playoff, said, “Obviously I wanted to be the bad guy today. But it’s a momentous occasion in golf.”
McIlroy takes home a first-prize check of $4.2 million while Rose earned $2.268 million.
Collin Morikawa / Michael Madrid-Imagn Images
All four Cal golfers in the field finished in the top 30:
— Collin Morikawa, a top-10 finisher the past three years at the Masters, wound up tied for 14th at minus-3 after a final-round 72.
— A year after finishing in a tie for 16th at the Masters, Byeong Hun An shared 21st place at 2 under. An shot a 1-under 71 on Sunday.
— Michael Kim, playing the Masters for the first time since 2019, wound up tied for 27th at minus-1. He carded a 71 in the final round.
Patrick Reed finished third at minus-9 with defending champion Scottie Scheffler fourth at 8 under. Scheffler was attempting to win the Masters for the third time in four years.
Bryson DeChambeau, who trailed McIlroy by just two strokes after Saturday, ballooned to a 75 in the final round and finished in a tie for fifth place at 7 under.
Homa, who hadn’t even made the cut in his previous five tournaments this year, guaranteed himself an invitation to play the Masters again next year by finishing among the top 12.
Max Homa hits out of a bunker on the fourth hole. / Grace Smith-Imagn Images
Homa would have finished a couple spots higher except for a double-bogey on the 18th hole. Earlier, he had birdies on Nos. 5, 6, 9 and 13 with a bogey on No. 7.
Morikawa, ranked No. 4 in the world, finished in a tie with Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm after a final round that included three birdies and three bogeys.
An struggled early in the final round, with bogeys on the second and third holes. But the 33-year-old South Korean finished strong with birdies on Nos. 8, 10 and 17.
Kim, 31, shot 71 on Thursday, Friday and Sunday on the way to his best Masters showing in just his second time at Augusta.
Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky
Recent articles:
Is Cal football about to lose Jack Endries, one of its most productive players?
Cal’s Alekna breaks the world record in the discus
Cal basketball adds a sharpshooting forward from Delaware
Cal wraps up spring football with a public scrimmage; no pecking order for the quarterbacks
Cal rugby powers past Arizona, to face Saint Mary’s in national semifinal
