England’s Justin Rose is a veteran on the PGA Tour, but he’s certainly not too old to make a big impact and establish records.
Rose won the Farmers Insurance Open for the second time by shooting 2-under-par 70 on Sunday in San Diego.
“I’m still loving it,” Rose said. “Still working hard.”
Rose, 45, became the PGA Tour’s oldest golfer to secure a wire-to-wire finish in more than 15 years, finishing at 23-under 265 for a seven-stroke victory and setting the tournament’s scoring record.
“The whole week has sort of been a record-setting week,” he said. “I was just kind of aware of (the scoring record). … I was aware of a big lead, but I kind of wanted to play for that.”
He’s also the oldest winner of this tournament.
Rose’s two highest scores came in the last two days at the Torrey Pines South Course, but he built such a lead beginning with Thursday’s 62 that it didn’t matter on his way to notching his 13th victory on the PGA Tour.
“So I had my own mini-goals coming down the stretch and kind of kept me refocused, which I think was the key for the week,” Rose said.
Rose also won the tournament in 2019, though he only had two triumphs on the PGA Tour since then. Rocco Mediate, then 47, held a lead for all four rounds at the Frys.com Open, as it was then called, in October 2010.
Pierceson Coody’s 65 marked the day’s best round and that lifted him to a share of second place at 16 under with South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (69) and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (69).
Jake Knapp (67) and Germany’s Stephan Jaeger (68) shared fifth place at 15 under.
Rose began the tournament with a 62 at the North Course and never wavered.
“I felt the environment for me was the same all week,” Rose said. “Starting off the day each day with a big lead is kind of key how you start. I played the front nine well this week. It kind of kept the momentum going.”
On Sunday, Rose played the front nine in 3 under before his only bogey on No. 12.
“You just don’t make a lot of putts out here, other than Justin Rose this week,” Tony Finau said after his round of 66.
Brooks Koepka shot 70 to complete his first tournament back on the PGA Tour, ending at 4 under and tied for 56th place. Improved putting marked his final round, which included five birdies and three bogeys.
“The biggest change is I feel like I probably don’t know about half the guys,” Koepka said. “It will be a fun year, just getting to know everybody.”
Finau, whose round included a 42-foot eagle putt the par-5 13th, finished tied for 11th at 12 under. He notched hole-in-one on No. 16 on Thursday.
“There’s so much golf in front of us. Happy to put together a solid tournament,” Finau said.
–Field Level Media
