Harris English (-8) already has the five. The unflappable 35-year-old golfer achieved his fifth victory on the PGA Tour last night after completing a fabulous exercise in survival at the Farmers Insurance Open. He fought and won against the wind and against Sam Stevens (-7), a golfer who teed off more than an hour earlier and posted a score in the clubhouse that for many minutes seemed like it could be good.
It was indeed a great winning score. It would have been enough to defeat 17 of the 18 golfers who teed off after him. Only Harris English held on. The survivor of Torrey Pines. What the Georgia player, a Ryder Cup man, did was no easy feat. He started the day with two bogeys in the first five holes, made a birdie, the only one of the day, on the 6th hole, and from that moment on, he strung together twelve consecutive pars. A display of resilience. If you prick him, he doesn’t bleed.
The day was once again very challenging on the South Course at Torrey Pines. It didn’t reach Thursday’s heights, but it wasn’t far off. The wind blew strongly again, very gusty, and temperatures remained very low. It wasn’t easy to score. Only two players, Sam Stevens, who shot the best round of the day with 68 strokes, and Will Gordon, who shot 69, managed to break 70 strokes. A very tough test. Hats off to English’s coolness, who kept making pars one after another until he claimed victory, his first since the Travelers Championship in 2021. Interestingly, his fourth win was also in a Ryder year in the United States.
The truth is that English didn’t suffer excessively, despite winning with the highest score since the 2016 edition, where Snedeker also won with a single-digit score. His two most commendable pars were on holes 8, a par 3 where he completed a spectacular recovery after missing the green about 70 yards to the left, and on 12, where again from about 70 yards, slightly less, he managed to make an approach and putt. He didn’t miss many good birdie opportunities either. He played to par, and it worked. Cool as ice. An ice block.
While English held on, the rest fell like a house of cards. One blow after another: Novak, who held on until the final bogey on 15, Potgieter, Sigg, KH Lee, Snedeker, Griffin, Dahmen, Schmid, Castillo, Bryan… Almost all shot 75 or more and moved away from the trophy sooner rather than later. Beyond Novak, who managed to finish third, applause is due for the resilience of Sungjae Im and Kris Ventura, who shot under par to finish in fourth place.
Stevens, one of the few PGA Tour members without a Wikipedia entry, was left with the taste of honey on his lips. He will have to keep waiting to achieve his first win on the American circuit. At least he had the consolation of securing his presence at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am next week, a designated event where he will play for 20 million dollars and for which he wasn’t qualified before the Farmers. He got in through the Aon 5.
Highlighting the top 10 finish of Danny Willett, who always handled tough conditions well, as well as the top 15 finish of amateur Luke Clanton, who is one step away from earning a PGA Tour card through the PGA Tour University of points accumulated through various merits.
