SAN DIEGO — To be the best, you have to beat the best. That’s what Justin Rose did over the past four days to win the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, protecting his status as the world’s top-ranked golfer.
After a shaky start Sunday that included three bogeys over his first five holes, Rose recovered to shoot a three-under-par 69 and beat his close friend Adam Scott by two shots. Rose conquered a field that featured 12 of the top 20 players in the world rankings to record his 10th PGA Tour victory, passing Nick Faldo for the most tour wins by a player from England in the modern era.
Rose, 38, finished with a 72-hole total of 21-under 267, a tournament record since the South Course was redesigned in 2003 and one shot off the overall record of 22 under shared by Tiger Woods (1999) and George Burns (1987). Scott birdied the final four holes to close out a 68 and finish at 19 under. Hideki Matsuyama (67) and Talor Gooch (68) tied for fourth at 16 under.
The scores were unusually low because recent rain had softened the greens, and there was very little wind coming off the Pacific Ocean.
“Twenty-one under par at Torrey Pines is great golf, ” Rose said, dedicating the win to his caddie, Mark Fulcher, who is hospitalized but doing well after having heart surgery last week. “This one’s for him.”
Scott said his closing surge was “too late” because Rose had built a four-shot lead and birdied two of the final four holes himself. Scott also blamed himself for missing two short putts on the front nine, one from 18 inches on No. 5.
“I think Justin performed like the No. 1 player should today,” Scott said. “When he was shaky, he bounced back nicely. He showed why he’s the No. 1 player in the world.”
Rose’s three-shot lead at the start of the day was trimmed to one after he made bogeys on Nos. 1, 4 and 5. But he played bogey-free the rest of the day while making five more birdies.
“I never lost the lead, so I had to stay patient,” Rose said. “I scratched a line on my scorecard after the sixth hole and said, ‘We build a round from this point on.’ ”
Scott moved to two shots behind with a tap-in birdie on the par-4 17th and needed an eagle on the 18th hole to force a playoff. But he hit his tee shot into a bunker left of the fairway and had to lay up. Both players made birdie on the final hole with short putts.
In his first event of the 2019 season, Tiger Woods was never a factor. His weeklong putting woes continued Sunday on his first nine, but he rediscovered his stroke with five birdies over his final eight holes to shoot 67, finishing in a tie for 20th at 10 under. He shot all four rounds under par at Torrey Pines for the first time since 2008, and it was his first sub-70 round here since 2013, the year of his most recent of seven titles in the event.
“It was nice to shake off some rust,” Woods said. “I think the whole week was good, very positive. I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be, but each and every day it got a little better. I was hitting my putts on my lines; I just wasn’t reading them right. I burned a lot of lips and made my share today, which was nice.”
Woods said his next event would be the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club (Feb. 14-17), where his charitable foundation is the primary beneficiary.
Source : NYtimes
