Scott Brown tied for the best finishing round at Riviera Country Club on Sunday with a 68, and wound up in a three-way tie for second. Had Brown won, he would have qualified to play in the Masters for the first time.
Here’s why that matters: Brown was partly raised by his grandparents, Elizabeth and Herman Thacker, whose home is the lone house next to Augusta National. The golf club spent a reported $40 million in recent years buying up the Thackers’ old neighborhood for more Masters parking. But the Thackers declined to sell their modest home, a three-bedroom brick abode where they have spent the last six decades.
When Brown was a boy, he and his grandfather routinely attended the Masters.
“I’d take chairs and put them at the 16th hole,” Herman Thacker told The Los Angeles Times last year. “Then I’d come back home and he’d eat breakfast, and then we’d go back over there and the chairs would still be there. People don’t bother them. We stayed right there all day.”
Brown, 36, who lives in Aiken, S.C., has won one PGA Tour event, the 2013 Puerto Rico Open, but that’s not a qualifying tournament for the Masters.
He had an indication early last week he would do well at Riviera.
“I did play really well in the Monday pro-am,” Brown said. “I think I shot like seven-under and it was blowing like 30 [mph] out here. Had a hole-in-one on 16, so it was a fun day.”
Familiar finish
Tying for second were Matt Kuchar, Sung Kang, and Brown. It was the 13th runner-up finish in a tour event for Kuchar, the third for Brown, and the second for Kang.
Spirit snapper
The 443-yard fifth was the hardest hole of the day Sunday, even for the players who finished at the top of the leaderboard.
Among the players who finished in the top 10, there were three bogeys (Kang, Scott Brown, and Hideki Matsuyama), two double-bogeys (Adam Scott and Chez Reavie), and a triple-bogey by Rory McIlroy on that hole.
That seven was the big blow-up for McIlroy, who had a share of the lead at the start of the day and played the rest of the round at even par.
Max Homa was the only top-10 finisher to birdie the fifth hole Sunday, doing so with a putt of 24 feet, 2 inches.
Good company
It was a forgettable finish for Tiger Woods, the tournament’s host, who placed last among the 68 golfers who made the cut, shooting a dreary 77 in the final round. That means he’s 0 for 13 at Riviera.
“I did not do much well today,” Woods said. “Good news: I hit every ball forward, not backwards. A couple sideways. But overall, I’m done.”
1/33
Adam Scott blasts out of a sand trap on the 15th hole during the final round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 16, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
2/33
Rory McIlroy hits out of the rough on 18th hole during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 15, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
3/33
Adam Scott watches hits from the 14th tee during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 15, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
4/33
Matt Kuchar hits out of the sand trap on the 14th hole during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 15, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
5/33
The gallery watches a drive by Tiger Woods on the sixth hole during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 15, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
6/33
Harold Varner III acknowledges the crowd have sinking a fourth-hole birdie putt during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 15, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
7/33
Rory McIlroy chips the ball onto the green near the pin to save par on the 18th hole during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 15, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
8/33
Rory McIlroy reacts after missing a birdie putt on the ninth green during the second round of the Genesis Invitational on Feb. 14, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
9/33
Tiger Woods reacts after bogeying the sixth hole during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 14, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
10/33
Matt Kuchar hits off the 15th tee during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 14, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
11/33
Bubba Watson lets go of his club after missing the fairway on the 11th hole during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 14, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
12/33
Rory McIlroy hits an approach shot to the ninth green during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 14, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
13/33
Harold Varner III rips his drive down the fairway toward the 18th green during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 14, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
14/33
Tiger Woods hits out of the rough on the edge of the 18th fairway during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
15/33
Tiger Woods hits out of a fairway bunker on the 17th hole during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
16/33
Tiger Woods reacts after hitting off the 17th during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
17/33
Tiger Woods looks at the flag depicting Kobe Bryant’s No. 8 jersey as he walks to mark his ball on the eighth green during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
18/33
Matt Kuchar hits off the sixth tee during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
19/33
A large crowd follows Tiger Woods as he hits from the fifth tee during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
20/33
Steve Stricker hits out of the bunker on the third hole during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
21/33
Tiger Woods as he hits out of the rough on the 18th hole during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
22/33
Matt Kuchar sinks a putt for par on the second green during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
23/33
Justin Thomas pays tribute to the life of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant with customized golf shoes during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
24/33
Shadows of fans in the gallery stretch across one of the bunkers on the 10th hole during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
25/33
Justin Thomas gets a ruling from an official after his golf ball landed in a woman’s shopping bag in the rough near the second green during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
26/33
Tiger Woods hits off the third tee during the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 13, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
27/33
Wyndham Clark hits out of the rough near the media tent on the second hole during the second round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 14, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
28/33
Rory McIlroy watches his tee shot on the 16th hole during the third round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 15, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
29/33
Harold Varner III hits out of a bunker and onto the 10th hole green during the final round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 16, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
30/33
Rory McIlroy hits out of the rough in between two trees on the 13th hole during the final round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 16, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
31/33
Matt Kuchar chips out of the rough on the 10th hole during the final round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 16, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
32/33
Adam Scott celebrates after winning the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades on Feb. 16, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
33/33
Adam Scott hugs his caddie John Limanti after winning the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club on Feb. 16, 2020. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Woods actually has 14 starts in this event (one was at Valencia Country Club), and this is one of just two events in which he has double-digit starts but no victories. The other is in the Northern Trust, where he’s 0 for 10.
Woods can take solace in the fact that Jack Nicklaus never won a tournament at this legendary course, either. But as CBS play-by-play man Jim Nantz pointed out, Nicklaus earned his first professional paycheck at Riviera — $33.33 in 1962, his share of a three-way tie for 50th at the Los Angeles Open.
Varner fades
Harold Varner III started Sunday tied for fourth, but finished tied for 13th after shooting 74. He’s still looking for his first tour victory.
Although he started the day with an eagle, he shot a 40 on the back with three bogeys and a double. He missed a five-foot par putt on 14, and a three-footer on 18.
Had he made that short putt on 18, he would have finished tied for 10th; those who placed 10th made $234,825 compared to Varner’s $176,700.
Live and learn
Ryan Palmer birdied the shortest hole on the course Sunday, the 182-yard 14th, with a tee shot to the back of the green and a putt of nearly 37 feet.
But that doesn’t wash away the memory of Palmer on the 14th in the third round. He made a sextuple-bogey there Saturday, needing five strokes to get out of the sand after putting his tee shot in a greenside bunker.
So his was a seven-shot improvement on the hole.
