SAN DIEGO — The ghosts of the Farmers Insurance Open rattled their chains Saturday at Torrey Pines, spooky specters dotting the final-round fairways.
In one direction strode Jon Rahm, the man who bagged the most recent U.S. Open on the savage South Course and won the Farmers in 2017. In another, two-time winner Jason Day eagled No. 14 to join the knot at the top.
Charging up the leaderboard, 2019 winner Justin Rose.
This tournament on that course is where plucky thoughts of breakthroughs go to die slow, agonizing, back-nine deaths. This is nowhere close to a maiden race in front of half-popped railbirds at nearby Del Mar.
A final round on Torrey Pines South is reserved for the seasoned and hardened, a place owned by golf royalty Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
So, what in the name of Gene Littler was first-timer winner Luke List — No. 151 in the world, playing in his 206th tournament — doing in a playoff duel against young, winless PGA Tour pro Will Zalatoris as darkness descended?
What was he doing winning that playoff with a birdie that rocked course convention?
Shaking ghosts.
“I couldn’t control anything those guys were doing,” List reasoned. “I thought I did my part enough to hopefully get in a playoff.”
List became the first American since Jay Don Blake in 1991 to notch his initial Tour win at the Farmers, a tournament that has juggled names since 1952. He’s just the third in all, behind Rahm’s surfboard-grab in 2017.
In the last seven Farmers’ laps, the winners combined for 52 Tour victories with major winners summitting the leaderboard in five of those tournaments.
Proving ground? No way.
Yet, List and Zalatoris did just that.
List pocketed 15-under, then waited … and waited … and waited, nearly two hours in all.
Zalatoris missed a chance to win it on 18 in regulation by leaving a putt somewhere between a smidge and a sniff away. The pair scooted back to No. 18 tee for a resume-lacking playoff before the straining, final rays of sunlight called it a day.
The two hit tee shots in the same right-side, fairway bunker, a stunning four inches apart. List, a swizzle stick farther away, hit first and planted the ball safely in the heart of the fairway.
That’s when nearly everyone watching in person and on TV inched from the edge of seats to darn near off them. The caddie for Zalatoris began to rake the area precariously close to the ball as if it was an archeological dig in an Egyptian pyramid.
Then Zalatoris matched List’s tricky shot with uncommon calm.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Zalatoris, 25 — as in age, not weight. “I fought like hell all day.”
Packing that type of attitude into the bag becomes the first step in unseating all that proven winning. Instead of buckling under the weight of the course and careers in front, narrow the focus. Slash through all of it, with no regard for history or pedigree.
As everyone waited for the length, rough and nerves to thin the herd during an unprecedented Saturday finish, the interlopers kept right on interloping.
“I told that to my caddie, that I was really just pleased with the way I hung in there and to be able to make the playoff,” said List, 37. “And obviously the outcome is just, is what dreams are made of.”
Credit dreams, if you want. Torrey Pines South hardly gives a rip.
The only way to win on the track, a U.S. Open-level monster when June gains wings and the mowers remain idle, is a rare combination of skill and flat-out guts. Crossed fingers, shamrocks and lucky quarters are useless along San Diego’s stunning coastline.
You have to hit shots — again and again.
And when Rahm, Day, Rose and Thomas linger, factor in experienced sharks in experienced water.
“I’ve got no regrets today at all,” Zalatoris said. “Like I said, I thought I battled like hell all day and handled myself really well. I had my chances, for sure, but that’s just the nature of this game. It’s hard to win out here, there’s no question about that.”
There’s no doubt about how hard it is to win on Tour.
Double the toughness of the slog at Torrey.
“I love this golf course,” said List, differentiating himself from other blue-streaked descriptions of Torrey Pines South during a final round. “I always have from the moment I first played it. Something in my heart told me I could win out here, and I really believed that.”
No one in the Top 25 made a bigger move on Saturday than List, at 6-under. He sandwiched birdies around a potential tournament-busting bogey on 17. He survived any rust that formed during his long wait.
Ghosts, no more.
