Jimmy Walker hits his tee shot on the fifth hole during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, in San Diego.
Advertisement
Brandt Snedeker watches his tee shot on the 18th hole at Torrey Pines during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, in San Diego.
The final round suspended three times because of conditions deemed too severe to play, and it was uncertain if the Farmers Insurance Open would finish Sunday. Five-times PGA Tour victor Jimmy Walker led by one stroke when rain and extremely strong winds forced the suspension of play for the day during the final round at the Farmers Insurance Open yesterday.
And that could take another day.
One shot behind were Walker and Gary Woodland, who shared the 36-hole lead with Choi and didn’t see anything go in until late in his round.
Choi was headed the wrong direction until he made a pair of birdies, saved par on three straight holes and then hit wedge to 3 feet on the par-5 18th for one last birdie.
Walker was 1-over in what he called “probably” the toughest conditions he’s ever played; Choi was 3-over to drop into a second-place tie with Snedeker at 6-under; and Brown was 6-over to fall all the way to seventh at 3-under.
Mickelson shot a three-under-par 69 on the South Course Thursday, putting him in a 19-way tie for 15th, three shots off the lead, then shot a four-over-par 76 on the North Course Friday. The numbers back that up. That means Walker, Choi and even Kevin Streelman and Freddie Jacobson at 5 under could have their hands full on the South Course. The wind was so fierce that the South Course was evacuated as the gusts started to push out windows in tents.
Twenty-three players are bunched within four shots on a packed leaderboard.
“Feels eerily similar, actually”, Snedeker said, looking out toward the course, where the leaders were just making the turn.
“It was like playing a British Open on a U.S. Open setup”, Snedeker said.
He had three more birdies on the back nine, but bogeyed the par-4 12th hole, the par-3 16th and par-4 17th. Having three three-putts out there the last two days definitely hurts and playing the par-5s not very well this week definitely hurt and that’s why I’m not here on the weekend.
“I couldn’t do it again”, Snedeker said.
“I had one of those lies (in the rough) going against you and it was really wet and I thought it was going to come out really soft”, he said of his third-shot chip that rolled past the pin and stopped on the fringe, 15 feet from the cup. “And I think we’re going to have both tomorrow”. He made his fourth birdie in five holes with an approach to 12 feet on No. 14 and then hung on.
Advertisement
Hoping to qualify for his first Masters start so he can enjoy his hometown’s storied event, Brown missed a seven-foot birdie putt at the 18th that would have given him to outright lead. He won at Torrey Pines in 2012 by rallying from seven shots back in the final round, needing help from a triple bogey by Kyle Stanley on the final hole before beating him in a playoff.
