LA JOLLA – Torrey Pines Golf Course was the place to be this past weekend, unless you were some of the world’s best golfers. One by one the big names of golf fell further and further behind as the Farmers Insurance Open took a big hit when the star power of Tiger Woods, world No. 1 Jason Day, reigning U.S. Open champ Dustin Johnson, reigning PGA champ Jimmy Walker and Team USA’s local Murrieta hometown favorite, Rickie Fowler, all missed the cut after the first two rounds. For Tiger Woods, who returned to the PGA Tour after 17 months, his reemergence only lasted two days. But the show had to go on and after so many A-listers saw an early exit, a rising star shined bright on the world stage.
Spaniard Jon Rahm sank a 60-foot, 8-inch eagle putt on the 72nd hole to win the $6.5 million Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course by three shots Sunday, Jan. 29, winning over PGA Tour rookie C.T. Pan and Charles Howell III.
Rahm’s 7-under-par 65 was Sunday’s low round. It also included an eagle on the par-5 13. The first PGA Tour victory in Rahm’s career came on his 17th start and was worth $1.206 million. His previous best finish was a second-place finish in last year’s RBC Canadian Open.
Rahm is the first player since Jay Don Blake in 1991 to get his first PGA Tour victory at what is now the Farmers Insurance Open. The victory gives Rahm a berth in the Masters. Rahm is the sixth player in this 20s to win on the PGA Tour this season and at 22 years, two months and 19 days, the youngest this season.
Rahm began the round among five golfer’s three strokes off the lead, tied for 13th. He bogeyed the first hole, then birdied the third and fifth, finishing the front nine at 1-under-par. He birdied the 11th hole, sank an 18-foot putt for an eagle on the par-5 13th hole and birdied the 17th.
On his winning putt, Rahm said he “was aiming about 3 feet left of the pin, maybe a little more, to a little spike mark that was there and I was trying to just get it there.”
“That was my goal…start it on that line and get it to that line,” Rahm said. “After that, I knew the slope was going to take care of the rest.”
Rahm is a product of Arizona State, where he became the first two-time winner of the Ben Hogan Award as the best player in collegiate golf. Rahm was coached at Arizona State by Tim Mickelson, a native San Diegan, former University of San Diego coach and the younger brother of Phil Mickelson. The younger Mickelson resigned as the Sun Devils coach after the conclusion of last season and is now Rahm’s agent.
“Once I realized what kind of person he was and how much he was helping me mature as a person and my golf game, he really was a reference,” Rahm said of Tim Mickelson.
As for Woods, Tiger never got anything going after opening with a birdie Friday in the Farmers Insurance and didn’t come close to making the cut. He finished with a 148, including a par on the North Course for an even-par 72 and missed the cut at Torrey Pines for the first time in his career. Woods was coming off the longest layoff of his career as he recovered from two back surgeries. He last played the PGA Tour in August 2015.
Other local top golfers that either didn’t make the cut or made the cut and finished well behind the leader included Murrieta’s Rickie Fowler (147), who shot just one better than Woods, Lake Elsinore’s Aaron Wise, who tied for 71st place (+4, 292) and Idyllwild’s Brendan Steele, who finished in the Top 20 (-6, 282). San Diego area golfers Phil Mickelson (14th place, -7, 281) and Pat Perez (Fourth place, -9, 279) were hot on the heels of Rahm while the other local favorite, Jamie Lovemark, only made it through the first two days at four over (145).
Next up for some of the world’s best is the Omega Dubai Desert Classic (Rickie Fowler won this event in 2016), which will be bursting with energy when a blockbuster field, headlined by Tiger Woods and European Tour’s top-notch heavyweights, descends on Emirates Golf Club this week to create their own slice of history at the Majlis course. At home in the U.S. is the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona.
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