SAN DIEGO – Patrick Reed was not so affected by a rules controversy the day before that he won the Farmers Insurance Open by five strokes, the biggest margin in his nine wins on the PGA Tour.
Reed closed with a 4-under 68 at Torrey Pines, making an eagle in par 5 sixth and ending his dominant Sunday with a birdie on the 18th.
The former Masters champions finished with 14 strokes, after four consistent days on municipal fields overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He shared the lead in the first round with Alex Noren, was in a group one shot from the lead in the second round and then shared the lead in the third round with Carlos Ortiz.
Reed said that staying mentally strong, as well as a good game with his wedge and club, were able to “keep me in the golf tournament and really allowed me to have a fun ride until 18. ”
The controversy arose on Saturday, at par 4 10, when Reed hit a 190 yard shot from a bunker with a TV replay showing the ball bouncing once before settling in the rough. Without waiting for a referee, Reed took the ball to see if it fit. Reed told the officer that no one in his group, as well as a close volunteer, saw him bounce. He received a free drop and saved the pair in a round of 70.
On Sunday, Reed made the initial jump with a 45-foot eagle shot at No. 6 to reach 12 under and followed up with a birdie in par 4 seventh. His only bogey was in the eighth par 3, and he recovered with a birdie in the ninth par 5. He played the rest of the way until he sank a 2.5 meter birdie putt at No. 18.
“I was able to leave it behind when the head of the rules showed up and said you did everything you were supposed to do,” said Reed. “When you do everything you should do, at the end of the day which is all you can control. Today, I felt good, I felt confident and I really went to the golf course, I plugged in my headphones and I kind of entered my world with my coach and got that first shot. ”
Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Ryan Palmer, Henrik Norlander and Viktor Hovland tied for second.
Reed said he was resistant.
“I knew today would be difficult, especially with that leaderboard and seeing how many big names were there at the top. I knew that you would have to go out and play offense. You couldn’t play defense You had to go out there and shoot a number.
“It was kind of shaky there at the beginning, kind of a few strokes that seemed to get away from me a little bit. But I was able to trust the short game at the beginning and get into the rhythm there in the middle of the round. ”
Hovland was the closest in the chase with four birdies in the first nine, including the ninth to reach 12 under. But the birdies dried up and he cheated on numbers 14, 15 and 17 – missing a 2-foot mark on 17 – in a round of 1-under 71.
“The first nine were incredible, made four birdies and was really solid from the tee to the green; made some putts there too,” said Hovland. “In the back I didn’t really feel like I played badly, you know, there were just a few mistakes and it’s so easy to just let things go.
“But it’s nice to be up there with a chance to win. It didn’t work this time, but I think I learned a lot.”
Ortiz stumbled badly with a round of 6-over 78. He was injured with three bogeys in the first nine that left him right in the corner. He had even more back problems when he bogeyed No. 11 and then had trouble getting out of a greenside bunker at No. 12, catching a double bogey 6. He bogeyed 15, 16 and 18.
Rory McIlroy closed with 1 to 73 and finished eight shots behind, and it was still a big part of Sunday. With so much attention on Reed having relief from the built-in lie on Saturday, McIlroy made something similar happen at hole 18 in the third round. When he finally found him, he determined that he was embedded, informed the other two players in his group and played him right at the bottom of the field.
The PGA Tour issued a statement on Sunday, stating that both players followed the rules. Reed took it a step further by calling a rules officer to confirm, although he had already removed the ball from where he was.
“You are trying to deal with the information you have at that time, and the information that Patrick had at that time was that the ball had not bounced and the information that I had at that time was the same,” said McIlroy. “And I went down and about my life, that my ball was connected, it was at its own height mark, so I had relief.
“In golf, you prefer to be on the wrong side of the rules than on the right side of them, just because that’s what our game is about. ”