'Shriners Champ' Im Sung-jae "Star Wars Launch"… Woods "Host Appearance"

'Number 1' Jon Rahm and World Stars Gather at Genesis Invitational, Homa Defends Title, Scheffler Marches Toward Second Consecutive Win

'Shriners Champ' Im Sung-jae challenges for his second win of the season at the Genesis Invitational, a premium match.

[Asia Economy Golf Specialist Reporter Kim Hyun-jun] "World ranking ‘Top 10’ all assembled."

‘Shriners Champ’ Im Sung-jae (24) is heading into the Star Wars. On the night of the 17th (Korean time), the PGA Tour Genesis Invitational (total prize money $12 million) kicks off at the Riviera Golf Club in Pacific Palisades, California (par 71, 7,322 yards), a stage where the ‘Golf Emperor’ Tiger Woods (USA) appears as the host. World stars including ‘Number 1’ Jon Rahm (Spain) have all declared their participation, and defending champion Max Homa (USA) is aiming to defend his title.

Im Sung-jae secured his first victory early last October at the Shriners Open, which is included in the 2022 season. This year also started well with a tie for 8th at the Sentry Tournament and a tie for 6th at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. In eight tournaments, he has four ‘Top 10’ finishes and is currently 5th in the Playoff (PO) rankings. Above all, his green hit rate of 76.30% (8th) and his ‘needle-like iron shots’ are powerful. This time, he has a chance to demonstrate his presence in the premium matches.

'PO Champ' Patrick Cantlay is aiming for his first win of the 2022 season at the Genesis Invitational.

‘PO Champ’ Patrick Cantlay is the ‘number one favorite’ to win. Last season, he captured an impressive four victories. In October 2020 at the Zozo Championship, June last year at the Memorial Tournament, August at the BMW Championship, and September at the Tour Championship, he hit the ‘$15 million (1.8 billion KRW) jackpot’ to finish spectacularly. At the Phoenix Open that ended on the 14th, he finished 2nd after a playoff battle with Scottie Scheffler (both USA), which has instead fueled his determination.

There is no shortage of ‘star cards’ including Sam Burns, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland (Norway), Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Dustin Johnson (USA), and Hideki Matsuyama (Japan). Hovland, in particular, is on the rise after securing his second DP World Tour (European Tour) victory last month at the Dubai Desert Classic. Matsuyama is already on a ‘3-win march’ following last year’s Zozo Championship and last month’s Sony Open. McIlroy has joined the fray.

Defending champion Max Homa has stepped up to defend his Genesis Invitational title.

Homa aims for ‘2 consecutive wins’, while Scheffler dreams of ‘2 weeks straight victory’. Korea is represented by Kim Si-woo (27), Lee Kyoung-hoon (31), and Lee Jae-kyung (23), who are participating as last year’s Korean Professional Golf (KPGA) Korean Tour Genesis Championship winners. The title sponsor is the domestic company Hyundai Motor, and Riviera is located just 20 minutes by car from Koreatown in Los Angeles, making the support from the Korean community even more passionate. Another point of interest is that Woods will perform host duties such as at the awards ceremony.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.