Sunday, January 28, 2018

NOREN LEADS FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN

                               

2018 Farmers Insurance Open
(The 12th of 44 events in the US PGA Tour  Season)

San Diego, Calif.                  Jan. 25-28, 2018              Purse: $6,900,000 ($1,242,000 to the winner)         
Torrey Pines Golf Course                                            500 FedExCup points to winner
South Course (Host)                                                      Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,698
North Course                                                                 Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,258

Third-Round Notes – Saturday, January 27, 2018

Weather: Sunny. High of 68. Wind NW 10 mph.

Third-Round Leaderboard
Alex Noren             70-66-69 – 205 (-11)
Ryan Palmer          66-67-73 – 206 (-10)
J.B. Holmes            70-72-65 – 207 (-9)
Michael Kim            69-68-70 – 207 (-9)
Seven players tied at 8-under

Other Asian Scores
C.T. Pan                     69-70-69 – 208 (-8)
Hideki Matsuyama  72-69-73 – 214 (-2)
Anirban Lahiri          71-72-72 – 215 (-1)
Si Woo Kim              71-71-74 – 216 (E)
Sung Kang                72-71-75 – 218 (+2)


Alex Noren
Noren birdied Nos. 13, 16 and 18 to post a third-round 69 and take a one-shot lead at 11-under.

This marks Noren’s first lead after any round on the PGA TOUR and just the fourth time he will begin the final round in the top 10. Most recently, he was T2 at the 2017 Wells Fargo Championship and played in Sunday's final group; he closed with a 77 and finished T31.

Noren is making his debut at the Farmers Insurance Open and just his second start of the 2017-18 season. He finished T31 at the WGC-HSBC Champions in his only other start.

Noren’s most recent results on the European Tour were in November 2017, finishing T45 at the DP World Tour Championship and T12 at the Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player.

Noren is a nine-time winner on the European Tour and is currently No. 19 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Third-Round Lead Notes
Since 2000, on just five occasions has a player managed to convert a 54-hole lead/co-lead into victory at the Farmers Insurance Open; Tiger Woods (2003, 2008, 2013), John Daly (2004) and Phil Mickelson (2000).
 
Through 11 events in the 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season, six players have converted a 54-hole lead/co-lead into victory, most recently Dustin Johnson at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Since Woods turned his 54-hole lead into a victory in 2013, the last four winners have been at least two shots off the lead entering the final round.
·       2017 – Jon Rahm (trailed by 3)
·       2016 – Brandt Snedeker (trailed by 6)
·       2015 – Jason Day (trailed by 2)
·       2014 – Scott Stallings (trailed by 3)

C.T. Pan
Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan shot a third round 4-under-par 68 to move into contention in T5 position, three shots behind leader Alex Noren.

He birdied the 6th and 9th holes, both par fives, from eight and 11 feet respectively but dropped a bogey on hole 7 after three-putting from long range. Pan was rock solid coming home with birdies on 11, 17 and 18 as he rolled in putts of eight, 12 and 24 feet respectively to take his three-day total of 8-under 208.

In last year’s Farmers Insurance Open, Pan finished T2 which is his best finish to date on the PGA TOUR.

This week’s Farmers Insurance Open is Pan’s seventh start in the 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season and his first event in 2018. He registered top-20 finishes at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia and RSM Classic but missed the cut at last week’s CareerBuilder Challenge.

Pan Quotes
It was a very solid day with a lot of good shots finding the fairways and I hit a lot of greens. The putter got hot coming in, and I managed to make a few long putts over the last three holes to finish at four under for the round. Overall, it was great golfing and I’m looking forward to the final round.


Ryan Palmer
After Palmer eagled No. 13, he was 2-over on his last five holes and finished with a 1-over 73 and is 10-under overall. He leads the field with three eagles, as he made two eagles Friday in his 5-under 67 on the North Course.

His second-place position through 54 holes is his best since he was T2 through three rounds at the 2016 DEAN & DELUCA Invitational; he shot a final-round 68 and finished T3.

Sunday will mark Palmer's second final round in five starts at the Farmers Insurance Open. In 2006, he shot a second-round 62 on the North Course and was T12 entering the weekend. He carded weekend rounds of 75-73 and finished T35.

Palmer began the 2017-18 season on a Major Medical Extension, with six events available to earn the necessary 29 points to equal No. 125 J.J. Henry's 365-point total from the 2017 FedExCup points list. In his second start of the season last week at the CareerBuilder Challenge, he finished T20 and earned 37.55 points, so he has retained full eligibility through the end of the season.

Tiger Woods
Woods made four birdies Saturday, including three on par 5s, en route to a 2-under 70. He is T39 at 3-under.

On Saturday, Woods took 26 putts and his total distance of putts made was 91’ 8”. In the first round on the South Course, he took 31 putts and the total distance of putts made was 34’ 11”.

He missed his last four fairways on Friday and the first five fairways on Saturday. He has hit 14 of 42 fairways this week, tied for second worst in the field.

The 2-under 70 is tied for Woods’ third-best score (in relation to par) when hitting three or fewer fairways during a non-major round on the PGA TOUR. He shot a 3-under 69 on the South Course at the 2007 Farmers Insurance Open and a 3-under 67 at the TOUR Championship in 2005.

Third-Round Stats
  • 3 of 14 fairways (R1: 8/14, R2: 3/14)
  • 9 of 18 greens in regulation (R1: 12/18, R2: 9/18)
  • 26 putts (R1: 31, R2: 24)
  • 7 of 9 scrambling (R1: 3/6, R2: 7/9)

Jon Rahm
From 210 yards on the 18th fairway, Rahm hit his second shot into the greenside water hazard en route to a double bogey. He also bogeyed Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 12, giving him a third-round score of 75, and he is T12 at 7-under.

Last year, Rahm was T13 after three rounds and trailed by three. He played in the fifth-to-last group in the final round.

Since the start of the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs, he has six top-10s in his last seven starts.

Should Rahm go on to win, he would be the first player to successfully defend a PGA TOUR title since Brendan Steele won the 2016 and 2017 Safeway Open. The last player to win consecutive Farmers Insurance Opens was Tiger Woods (2005-2008).

With a win this week, he would supplant Dustin Johnson as the No. 1-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking.

J.B. Holmes
Holmes started on No. 10 and after shooting 36, he shot 29 on the front nine en route to the day's best score, a 7-under 65. He began the day T47 and improved to T3 entering the final round.

Holmes' nine-hole score of 29 was the 11th sub-30 score this season.

The round of 65 was Holmes' best score in 45 career rounds at the Farmers Insurance Open. His tournament record includes two top-10s in 12 starts, with his best finish being a tie for second in 2015.

Holmes will play in Sunday’s final group for the first time since he was a 54-hole co-leader at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2017. He shot a final-round 84 and finished T41.

Michael Kim
Making his fourth start at the Farmers Insurance Open, Kim is T3 at 9-under after shooting 69 on Saturday.

This is tied for Kim’s best position through 54 holes in his PGA TOUR career. He was T3 entering the final round at the 2017 Waste Management Phoenix Open, and he finished T24 after shooting 74 on Sunday.

Kim went to Torrey Pines High School and grew up approximately 10 minutes from Torrey Pines.

 
Additional Player Notes
Gary Woodland carded a 6-under 66 and improved from T47 to T5. Since starting with a 2-over 74 on the North Course, he is 10-under on the South Course.

Through 10 holes, Jason Day was 3-under for the day and 10-under for the tournament, but he fell back after making bogey on Nos. 11, 12 and 14. He finished with a third-round 71 and is T6 at 8-under.

Seven past champions are in the field:

Player
Score
Position
Jon Rahm
68-66-75 – 209 (-7)
T12
Brandt Snedeker
72-71-74 – 217 (+1)
T67
Jason Day
73-64-71 – 208 (-8)
T5
Scott Stallings
75-71 – 146 (+2)
MC
Tiger Woods
72-71-70 – 213 (-3)
T39
Nick Watney
69-73-70 – 212 (-4)
T31
Phil Mickelson
70-68-76 – 214 (-2)
T44

Scoring Averages:      R1              R2              R3              Cumulative
South Course               71.615       72.667       72.208       72.163
North Course                71.308       71.513       -                 71.410

Hardest/Easiest Holes (Third Round)
Hardest (South) – Par-4, No. 12 (4.545)
Easiest (South) – Par-5, No. 6 (4.662)

Bogey-free rounds:
R1 – Ryan Palmer (South – 66), Ted Potter Jr. (South – 66), Rory Sabbatini (North – 68), Nick Watney (South – 69), Peter Uihlein (North – 68)

R2 – Jason Day (North – 64), Cameron Smith (South – 68), Jon Rahm (North – 66), Kevin Streelman (North – 68), Beau Hossler (North – 68)

R3 – Justin Rose (69), Beau Hossler (69)
 
 
 
 

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