by Working as a meteorologist in La Jolla, California tends to be fairly predictable given that the sun is always shining and the sky is always blue. That is, it seems, unless the PGA Tour comes to town for the annual Farm Insurance Open.
When Harris English checked the weather for the final round at Torrey Pines Golf Course, he never blinked at the forecast of high winds and harsh conditions. On a day when several players were blown away by gusts of up to 25 miles per hour, English entered Saturday’s final round with a one-shot lead and an attitude that his game was designed for an occasion that was not intended to be, as he put it, “a darts show or putting competition.” For English, the South Torrey course is not a place where the winner gets to play checkers; You must “play chess.”
“I knew it was going to be a tough day today, I love it,” he said. “I love this golf course when it plays really difficult. As a leader coming into the final round, you kind of like that, that it’s going to be a grind. »
And raw, he did to hold off finalist Sam Stevens by one stroke. On a day when three players recorded scores of 79 and two others shot 80 and 81, English survived the windy conditions to post 1-for-73 in the final round, good for 8-under 280 for the week and picked up his fifth career PGA Tour title and first victory since the 2021 Travelers Championship.
The Englishman won twice in 2021, was a member of the winning US Ryder Cup team and rose to 10th in the world. But the 35-year-old former Georgia Bulldog had surgery in February 2022 to repair a torn labrum in his right hip. He returned to touring four months later, but anyone who watched him fall outside the world’s top 50 could see that it took over a year to fully recover.
The Englishman started slowly this season in his first two tournaments, but felt he was on the verge of a breakthrough. For the week, English ranked seventh in Acquired Traits: Approach and third in SG: Put, a reliable recipe for success. But he hit just four fairways and nine greens in the final round, relying on his stellar scrambling, particularly on the back nine.
The Englishman, who finished with birdies on his final three holes Friday to assume the 54-hole lead, dropped two shots quickly after bogeys at Nos. 1 and 5 as Torrey continued to bother his teeth. For the week, the South course played to an average of 73.6. However, English grabbed a birdie chip on the par-5 sixth after pitching from 46 yards to five feet. He kept a clean card from there, making 12 straight pars and becoming just the third player in tournament history to record a blown final round and go on to win, something done by John Daly in 2004 (75) and Jack Nicklaus 1969 (73).
Stevens, who entered the final round at 3 under and six shots back of the lead, shot a 4-under 68, the low of the day.
“When I got up to the eighth green, there was a big leader there and I looked and saw that Harris was either tied or 1 at that point. “I was fine, now we’re in this thing.”
Andrew Novak, who held the early lead at 9 after making a 54-foot birdie putt at the fifth, was third at 6, while Sungjae IM and Kris Ventura were fourth at 5.
“He played it perfectly,” Novak said of English’s execution down the stretch. “When he wasn’t in a leading position initially, he would get back into position. He made the putts he needed to make, he hit a lot of good wedge shots and he did what you have to do here. He went there and won it.
The Englishman tasted victory for the first time in 1,308 days and enjoyed celebrating his success with his 1½-year-old daughter, Emilia, for the first time.
“You think it would get easier to be in this position and then win four times here,” English said, “but it never gets easier.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Harris English celebrates for first time with 1½-year-old daughter
