Andrew Novak dropped an absolute monster of a birdie putt at the fifth hole to create one of the highlights of the tournament but was unable to hold on for victory as Harris English prevailed in the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.
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Novak, who was chasing his first PGA Tour victory after years of grinding away on the secondary Korn Ferry Tour, read the massive slope to perfection as his putt from 54 feet and four inches started well wide of the hole before coming back perfectly to drop in for a third straight birdie.
Despite being such a long putt, it never looked like missing as Novak had the line, and the speed, spot on and such moments can often be a pivotal step on the road to victory.
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Novak started the day one shot behind fellow American English, and finished two shots behind the winner.
Novak opened up a two shot lead when he dropped his massive birdie putt, but back-to-back bogeys at seven and eight handed the advantage back to English.
He held firm from then on make 12 consecutive pars to never give his rivals a serious chance to send it to a playoff or snatch the lead with -9 proving to be the magic number.
It was the 35-year-old’s first PGA Tour win since 2021, and it was vindication for a decade ago at Torrey Pines when he lost to Australian Jason Day in a four-way playoff.
English’s best result in a major also came at the iconic venue as he finished third in the US Open of 2021.
His best round of the week came on Friday with a third round of 66 on a day where wild wind gusts of almost 50km/h wreaked havoc.
Fellow American Sam Stevens finished in second place, but was left to rue missing his chance to force a playoff.
Stevens left his shot into the par 5 18th green short and his ball rolled down the hill and into the pond.
A brilliant chip from the drop zone, that hit the pin, helped save par and he entered the clubhouse with the low round of the day at four-under.
The windy conditions have returned again on Saturday at Torrey Pines – the tournament started a day earlier to avoid a Sunday clash with the NFL conference championship games.
The scoring average for a full round on the iconic south course in San Diego, which will also host The Genesis Invitational next month instead of Riviera due to the fires in Los Angeles, has been 75.18, slightly more than three-over par.
Players have found all kinds of way to try deal with the wind, including fan favourite Joel Dahmen, who finished -2 for the tournament, resorting to cutting the hood off his jumper to stop it flapping around.
Dahmen also created one of the biggest talking points of the day when he revealed that he and his caddie Geno Bonnalie came to San Diego in October to train with Navy Seals like Tiger Woods famously did.
The world No. 244, who has been as high as 58 in the world, became popular off the back of the first season of Netflix’s Full Swing but struggled afterwards with his frustrations regularly getting the better of him on course, so he hoped the training would make him mentally tougher.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I assumed it would be tough, but it was even tougher than I thought. I don’t necessarily love water, No. 1, and I don’t like being cold,” he said.
“I don’t think I would’ve gotten through the fall if I didn’t have that training. I can dig deeper than I thought I could before. There’s more in there. I’m just trying to tap into that more often.”
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