– Justin Rose (-17) signed a 65 today on the South course at Torrey Pines and firmly leads the Farmers Insurance Open after two rounds. Seven under on the day on the toughest course of the rotation, after going ten under on Thursday on the ‘easier’ North course… For now, he has no rival, to the point that he has broken the tournament’s historical record after 36 holes. No one had ever reached such a total of -17, and it’s worth noting that this San Diego club, Torrey Pines, has always been one of the private gardens of a certain Tiger Woods, where he won eight times…
– On the other hand, it would be worth checking carefully if anyone has ever made up to six birdies on the eight different par 3s that adorn the two courses. Well, that’s exactly what Rose has done so far. Eight par 3s, by the way, and six of them over two hundred yards in length, which shows how well the Englishman’s irons are performing. Moreover, on the two short holes where he didn’t make a birdie (holes 11 and 16 of the South course, which he played today), he left himself two reasonable birdie chances that he couldn’t take advantage of. If this isn’t a record, it’s certainly close. This Rose, without a doubt, would have challenged even the best Scheffler, absent this week. Anyway, tomorrow he will start with a four-shot lead over his closest pursuer, Seamus Power (-13), and six over the next on the leaderboard, Joel Dahmen (-11) and Max McGreevy (-11).
– And while Rose was soaring, Koepka (-3) was struggling, still too tangled on the greens, barely efficient with the putter in hand, but finally achieving the primary goal on his return to the PGA Tour, which was to make the cut and give himself the chance to keep sharpening his game in competition. To do this, he had to sign a card of 68 strokes on the North course, which is not bad at all. The Floridian reached the last third of the round under pressure and outside the cut, but he took advantage of the opportunities this course offers, finishing on hole 9, with two par 5s (holes 5 and 9) and a short par 4 (hole 7), to make the two birdies he needed. It will be interesting to see how far he can go in the next 36 holes, having made the cut just in time and also overcoming the tough moment and uncertainty of the return. At the crucial moment, it must be said, he holed an eagle putt from about four metres on hole 17, the eighth of his round, and also reached the green on the mentioned short par 4 to putt for eagle and make a birdie that got him into the weekend. Timely flashes of a great champion.
– Xander Schauffele (-2), on the other hand, missed out in his return to competition, ending the streak of 72 consecutive cuts he had made since missing the weekend at the 2022 Masters. The Californian, who also played the North course today, was in a very similar situation to Koepka heading into the final stretch of the round, but he made a bogey on the short par 4 after missing a putt of just over a metre and a half, and was also unable to make the birdie on 9, a par 5, the last hole of his round, missing again a more than reasonable birdie putt.
