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The final leaderboard for the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club in San Diego, California is in. While the rest of the field crumbled, Brandt Snedeker prevailed with a 3-under 69 in tough conditions to win by one stroke over runner-up K.J. Choi. Below is the truncated top-10 leaderboard:
(1) Brandt Snedeker (-6)
(2) K.J. Choi (-5)
(3) Kevin Streelman (-4)
(T4) Freddie Jacobson (-3)
(T4) Jimmy Walker (-3)
(T6) J.B. Holmes (-2)
(T6) Jonas Blixt (-2)
(T6) Billy Horschel (-1)
(T8) Patton Kizzire (-1)
(T8) Aaron Baddeley (-1)
(T8) Martin Laird (-1)
(T8) John Huh (-1)
Here are my thoughts and a few statistics on the champion and some notable golfers near the top of the leaderboard:
Winner: Brandt Snedeker (-6) – This is Snedeker’s first PGA Tour win since the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am last year, and it’s coming off a solo-second finish two weeks ago at the Sony Open. He’s had an amazing start to 2016, with a T3 at the Hyundai in addition to the Sony and the Farmers this week. Snedeker has a history of performing extremely well at the Farmers — several second-place finishes and a playoff win in 2012. Can he carry his terrific form through the Florida swing and into the first major of the year? Only time will tell.
Today: 4 birdies and 1 bogey for a 3-under 69. Scores over four rounds: 73, 70, 70, 69 (282). His find-round of 69 was by far the best in the field on a day when conditions were nearly unplayable. Weather delays extended the finish of the tournament into Monday where conditions remained tough for the players finishing their rounds. Players at or near the top of the leaderboard collapsed around Snedeker who got into the clubhouse on Sunday.
K.J. Choi (-5) – Choi, with 8 PGA Tour wins, hasn’t won on Tour since the 2011 PLAYERS Championship. In his 4 starts of the 2015-2016 season (not including this week) he hasn’t finished any better than T50. Choi also has some degree of course form here, with a T2 in 2014 and a T9 in 2013. Given his age and his history, I do expect him to contend a few more times, but whether or not he’ll ever win again on Tour remains a question.
Today: 1 birdie and 5 bogeys for a 4-over 76. Needing par on the back nine to win outright, he made 2 bogeys coming in and fell just short. Scores over four rounds: 68, 67, 72, 76 (283).
Kevin Streelman (-4) – Streelman’s best finish this season, aside from this week, was a T11 last week at the CareerBuilder. It does appear that he might be on the uptrend. He has two wins on the PGA Tour, the last being at the 2014 Traveler’s Championship. The last time he played the Farmers was in 2012 when he missed the cut.
Today: 4 birdies, 4 bogeys and a double for a 2-over 74. Scores over four rounds: 69, 69, 72, 74 (284).
Jimmy Walker (-3) – He finished T13 in his last Tour start at the Sony Open. Walker has 5 Tour wins, his last at the 2015 Valero Texas Open where he shut out Jordan Spieth by 4 strokes.
Today: 6 bogeys and 1 birdie for a for a 5-over 77. He had held the lead at several points during the tournament, including in the final round, but a run of bogeys on the back nine proved fatal for him. Scores over four rounds: 69, 71, 68, 77 (285).
