Round 3: Farmers Insurance Open
January 28 2012
8:16 am
PGA TOUR Today
Round 3 preview
Amanda Balionis breaks down the action as the field heads to the weekend at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Round 2: Farmers Insurance Open
January 27 2012
10:15 pm
Tidbits from the second round
LA JOLLA, Calif. — News and notes from the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open:
• Cut: 79 players made the cut at 2-under 142 from a field of 155 professionals and one amateur. Since more than 78 players made the cut a second cut will be made following the third round to the top 70 players and ties.
• Brandt Snedeker has 10 straight under-par rounds at this event along with two straight top-10 finishes (2010/T2 and 2011/T9).
• Phil Mickelson’s highest opening 36 holes in a non-major is a 154 at the 2003 Chrysler Championship (80-74) and 2000 at THE PLAYERS (83-71).
• The top seven scores Friday were shot on the North Course.
• An amateur has made the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open four of the last five years: Jamie Lovemark (2007 and 2008), Gregor Main (2009) and Anthony Paolucci (2011). Jay Hwang, a golfer at UCLA, was the only amateur in the field this year and missed the cut.
• This week’s Farmers Insurance Open is rewarding school spirit during the third round of the tournament Saturday. For the second year, all fans and TOUR players are encouraged to wear their own university colors in support of Farmers “University of Farmers” advertising campaign. Click here to read more about the “University of Farmers” campaign.
7:11 pm
Final update: ‘Boring’ golf leads
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM
LA JOLLA, Calif. — Kyle Stanley’s game plan was as simple as it was effective on Friday.
"My mindset right now is I’m trying to play boring golf — hit fairways, hit greens and make a few putts," he said almost sheepishly, and you certainly couldn’t argue with the results so far here at Torrey Pines.
Stanley followed up an opening 62 by firing a solid 68 on the South Course, and he was rewarded with a one-stroke lead at the midway point of the Farmers Insurance Open. He thinks his length is an asset on the South, and the adjustment he made to his alignment on Monday continues to pay dividends.
"It’s tough," Stanley said. "Like you said, you have to be patient. It’s a totally different golf course, totally different set up than the North course. But I like it. I think it fits my game pretty well and I’m driving it straight right now, so that definitely helps."
Stanley, who closed with a 32 to move to 14 under, owns a one-stroke advantage over Brandt Snedeker. The Tennessean played the North Course and shot a 64 that included a stretch of five straight birdies as he made the turn and a total of nine overall.
"I’m driving the ball as good as I’ve ever driven it in my career, which isn’t saying a lot, but it’s saying enough for me right now," said Snedeker, who has hit 19 of 28 fairways over the first two rounds to rank ninth among the field. "I’m still putting the ball really, really well. So I’m excited with where I am after the first two days.
"I feel like as good as I’ve played, I’ve left a few out there, which is a good feeling to know my game is where it needs to be."
PGA TOUR rookie Sang-moon Bae and Martin Flores, who has his card for the second time, are tied at 12 under after both shot 67s on the South Course Friday. Bill Haas, the reigning FedExCup champion, and Hunter Mahan are also in double figures at 10 under.
Mahan played the North Course and shot a 65, which was the second-lowest round of the day there. Haas followed his 63 on the North with a 71 on Friday.
“I’m excited with the way I’m hitting it,” Mahan said. “Driving is going to be more important on the South side, and I think that’s going to be a strength of mine. If I can hit a lot of fairways and greens, I think I’ll have a good chance.”
The cut came at 2 under. Among the players making an early exit was local favorite Phil Mickelson, a three-time champ who shot 77-68 to miss by three shots. Also heading home were 2010 Farmers champ Ben Crane; J.B. Holmes, playing for the first time since September brain surgery; and last week’s runner-up, Robert Garrigus.
6:09 pm
Mickelson’s play not reflecting practice
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM
LA JOLLA, Calif. — Phil Mickelson’s lament Friday after he missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open was one with which many weekend golfers could relate.
"It’s easy for me to see where the difference is, and the difference is that I’m not taking it from the practice tee to the course," Mickelson said after shooting a 68 on Friday that left him 1 over for the tournament.
"My practice sessions have been better than they have in quite some time. But it’s not correlating on to the golf course. I just need to have a better focus. That’s the only explanation that I really have.
“There is not any one area of my game that I don’t feel good about. … Unfortunately, I’m going to have a weekend off here and we’re going to have perfect weather out here at Torrey, and I’d love to be playing, but I don’t have that opportunity."
Mickelson, who is headed next week to the Waste Management Phoenix Open where he is a two-time champ, put himself behind the eight-ball with an opening 77. That round was Mickelson’s second highest ever at Torrey Pines and paved the way for his just his fifth early exit in 23 starts at his hometown event.
But Mickelson may have had other things weighing on his mind. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on its website this afternoon that Mickelson’s 10-year-old daughter Sophia fainted and suffered a small seizure at school last Friday.
She was hospitalized until Monday and underwent a series of tests on Thursday but returned to school today. Mickelson considered withdrawing from the Humana Challenge but his wife Amy told him to stay and play because she had things taken care of at home.
“I don’t want this to get out of hand,” Amy told Tod Leonard, who covers golf for the newspaper, on Friday at Torrey Pines. “She’s doing OK. I’m confident in the doctor who I met yesterday who specializes in her situation. We’re figuring it out. For me, the knowledge is a good thing. I don’t like limbo.”
Mickelson improved statistically on Friday, hitting two more fairways and five more greens in regulation than he did in the first round. He also took 29 putts as opposed to 32 on Thursday when he called his round "pathetic." Still, the North Course is the more generous of the two and Mickelson wasn’t able to take it really low to give himself a realistic chance to make the cut.
"Yesterday’s round was shocking to me just because my expectations were so high because I knew I was playing well," Mickelson said. "To come out with that score was, I don’t know what else to say about it. So I’ve got to let it go and move on.
"Today was the day where I needed to let things happen, because I had to shoot 7- or 8-under par. You can’t go out expecting to shoot that score and have it happen. You just have to let it happen, and it didn’t quite get there. … But I’ll have some time now to work on it, whether I want to or not, and see if I can get it turned around for next week’s tournament in Phoenix."
Mickelson went to college at Arizona State and lived in the area for 12 years. So the change in altitude, temperature and terrain shouldn’t be that much of an issue for him — and he likes TPC Scottsdale because "it has great risk-reward," Mickelson said.
Whether he starts playing the way he’s practicing, though, remains to be seen.
"I won’t know until Thursday, because I feel pretty good with the areas of my game, but I’m not bringing it to the course," Mickelson said. "So I won’t know if the practice and the work I do these next four days will correlate until I tee it up on Thursday."
5:51 pm
New balls, exotic clubs, taking stock
By John Schwarb, PGATOUR.COM
ORLANDO, Fla. – Titleist dominates the golf ball market, led by its iconic ProV1. This year, the company is taking a renewed run at the part of the market it doesn’t have.
And by its standards, Titleist is getting a little crazy in the process.
The company launched a revamped line outside the unchanged ProV1 and ProV1x this week at the PGA Merchandise Show, including a pure distance ball and – hold on tight – two offerings in yellow.
The NXT line includes a new NXT Tour and NXT Tour S (for soft), with the latter available in white and yellow. The SoLo is also available in white and yellow.
Titleist has sold yellow balls in Japan for a few years but it hasn’t had such an offering in the U.S. in at least 15 years. The company tested many shades of yellow with customers and the colors used on the NXT Tour S and SoLo are slightly different.
The company’s other new offering is the Velocity, a pure distance ball. A high-speed solid core is enveloped in a NaZ2 cover (two parts zinc, one part sodium) with a 332 icosahedral dimple design. Its price point is between the SoLo and NXT, and available with double-digit orange numerals – 00, 11, 22, 33.
For those not quite ready to go so crazy, the Velocity also is offered with regular 1-4 numbers.
MORE BALLS: Bridgestone is releasing updated versions of its popular B330 series on March 1. The company is heavy into ball fitting, with more than 40,000 fittings in 2011 and hundreds more on-site at the Show this week, and slots customers into one of four B330 models.
The B330, used on the PGA TOUR by Davis Love III, Brandt Snedeker and Fred Couples, is their Tour-style ball for swing speeds of 105 mph or more. The B330-S is a spin model, preferred on TOUR by Matt Kuchar and Billy Hurley III.
For swing speeds under 105, Bridgestone offers the B330RX and B330RX-S (the 330 refers to number of dimples; and all models feature new dual-dimple technology), and the B330RX is offered in white and yellow. Bridgestone estimates that in other models offered in both colors, yellow is preferred 30 percent of the time.
ADAMS MAN: Robert Karlsson, second in a playoff at last year’s FedEx St. Jude Classic, switched allegiances from Titleist to Adams Golf over the offseason. On a trip to the company’s test facility in Dallas, he took an immediate liking to the new Speedline Fast 12 driver. He signed a contract with the company, then later bought Adams Golf stock.
CAR CLUBS: Callaway has touted an allegiance with Lamborghini to develop materials for its drivers, but a new company on the Show floor takes the car relationship even further.
Mercedes AMG Formula One Team (that’s the entire name) has released a complete line of clubs, balls, clothes and accessories, targeting buyers who want the prestige of a racecar team on their golf bag. The prestige comes at a price – a driver’s suggested retail price is $499 and a set of irons with graphite shafts is $1,299.
With the price comes technology inspired by the actual Formula One team. The driver features a “Venturi Channel” on the sole, an aerodynamic cavity that disperses air and increases swing speed.
But make no mistake, the Mercedes AMG Formula One Team buyer wants to show off the name. On the company’s driver, the words “Mercedes AMG” appear six times.
5:45 pm
Women’s Day: Business meets golf
Women's Day: Business meets golf
Bill Rosinski (SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio) speaks with Charlene Shirk (PGA TOUR) and Crystal Watkins (Torrey Pines Bank) about an initiative designed in part to help professional women build their businesses.
LA JOLLA, Calif. — A sell-out crowd of 140 attended Friday’s second annual Women’s Day presented by Torrey Pines Bank at the Farmers Insurance Open.
The theme for the event was “Making the Cut: the Ability to Achieve” and Lisa Nichols, the author of the nationally acclaimed best-selling book “Chicken Soup for the Soul” was the featured speaker at the luncheon.
The women in attendance also received golf tips from PGA of America pros, and the event concluded with a “Wine Down Network Up” session in a hospitality chalet on the 16th hole.
“Women are a powerful force in our business community, and I am proud to be part of an institution that recognizes the power and influence that women have in society and business,” said Teofla Rich, Senior Vice President and head of the Private Bank and Women’s Banking Group. “We are pleased to provide a forum for women to network, learn and accelerate performance.”
5:20 pm
Cut check: Some big names going home
The cut line is currently at 2 under late in the second round at Torrey Pines, which means some pretty big names are headed home early.
None of them bigger than Phil Mickelson, whose 68 wasn’t enough to get him out of the hole he dug with that opening-round 77.
Mickelson was hardly the only big name to struggle. Ryan Moore was seven shots better in Round 2 with a 68, but he’s one outside the number, while William McGirt and Brendan Steele are both even par (Steele still has a couple holes to play).
J.B. Holmes, making his first start since undergoing brain surgery last summer, is done at 1 over, as is Danny Lee and Y.E. Yang. Bo Van Pelt and Angel Cabrera also missed the cut at 2 and 3 over, respectively.
4:18 pm
Watch: Bae makes birdie
Bae takes advantage of precise chip
Sang-moon Bae hits his 66-yard approach shot to 7 feet and holes the birdie putt on the par-5 13th hole.
4:03 pm
Leaderboard update: Sneds on roll
LA JOLLA, Calif. — Brandt Snedeker knows how to get on a roll, just like he did last week when he reeled off six straight birdies during the third round of the Humana Challenge.
Well, he’s just birdied five straight as he made the turn on the North Course at Torrey Pines. Snedeker, who started on the back, birdied Nos. 17 and 18, then added three more at Nos. 1-3.
The surge has moved Snedeker to 11 under and within two strokes of the leader, Sang-moon Bae. The 25-year-old South Korean is 5 under through 16 holes on the South Course.
Kyle Stanley has made a 21-footer at the first hole, his 10th of the day, to make it two birdies in a row on the South Course. He’s also at 11 under and one stroke off the pace.
Camilo Villegas, the first round co-leader at the Humana Challenge, continues to contend. He’s just birdied 3 straight on South and heads a group of five players at 9 under.
The cutline has moved to 2 under. Phil Mickelson is 3 under through 16 holes on the North Course but 2 over for the tournament.
3:02 pm
Leaderboard update: Bae holding steady
LA JOLLA, Calif. — Sang-moon Bae has made his first bogey of the round but he bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 13th to regain sole possession of the lead in the Farmers Insurance Open.
Bill Haas moved briefly into a tie with the South Korean when he birdied the fifth hole to move to 11 under. He’s playing the South Course, as well, and has completed six holes in 2 under.
Kyle Stanley is even through six holes on the back nine at the South and stands 10 under for the tournament. Chris DiMarco and Robert Allenby have made the biggest move of the day, playing 12 holes on opposite sides of the South in 5 under to climb to 9 under for the tournament.
The cut line is currently 1 under. Phil Mickelson, who opened with a 77 on the South, had moved 3 under for the day but he just made his first bogey and only has six holes left to try to make up ground.
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