While golf’s biggest names fell to the bottom of the leaderboard and out of the tournament, Scott Stallings collected his third career victory in just his fourth year on the PGA Tour.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods made early exits, but at one point in the final round eight players were within one shot of the lead on the back nine and a playoff seemed imminent.
K.J. Choi finished early posting the best round of the day, a six-under par 66 to finish at 8-under par for the tournament and was the leader in the clubhouse.
The Torrey Pines rough was playing very difficult and nearly every golfer struggled coming home. For a while it looked like a pro-am had broken out as players hacked their way from tee to green.
Stallings kept his nose to the grind stone and battled his way to a final round four-under par 68 for his touirnament winning nine-under par total.
Three birdies and one bogey on the front nine were followed by four birdies and two more bogeys on the back side.
It was a grueling day and one that demanded patience, as well as, a solid short game.
Graham DeLaet, Jason Day, Pat Perez and Marc Leishman finished tied with Choi for runner-up at eight-under par.
The biggest stories of the week centered around the play or lack thereof for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Mickelson was forced to withdraw after the second round citing a sore back. He is scheduled to defend this title this week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Tiger Woods did not play on Sunday either. He carded one of the worst rounds of his career on Saturday and missed the 54-hole cut.
He was one-under par for the third round on Saturday until consecutive double-bogeys at his ninth and 10th holes bumped him to three-over par. Five more bogeys followed at Nos. 11-15. He chipped in for par at No. 17 and made a sizable putt for par at the last hole to finish with a seven-over par 79.
Woods was paired with Jordan Spieth on Thursday and Friday. While Woods was shooting one-under par for the first 36 holes, Spieth shot 71-63 to get to 10-under par and beat Woods by nine shots.
Spieth twisted his ankle during Friday’s round, however, and it affected his swing on the weekend. He finished with a pair of 75’s that moved down to finish at T-19.
A name we haven’t much out of for almost a year, J.B. Holmes, was in the field at the Farmers Insurance Open for his first start since the Honda Classic last March. He made the cut and finished at three-under par good for T-23.
If you remember Holmes had brain surgery late in 2011 that forced him to miss the end of that year.
Last year he fell while roller blading and broke his ankle and required surgery on his elbow. He was not able to hit a golf ball for over 5 months.
He anticipates playing a full schedule in 2014.
I blame this on guys like Gary Player and Tiger Woods that try to act like professional golfers are real athletes.
They should confine their physical activities to the 19th hole or the couch.