SAN DIEGO — No one else had a chance to beat Justin Rose at Torrey Pines on Sunday, and so his final challenge was to take on Tiger Woods.
Rose won that battle, too.
In what Rose felt was his most complete tee-to-green performance, he sailed to a 2-under 70 for a seven-shot victory in the Farmers Insurance Open, breaking the 72-hole tournament record last set by Woods in 1999.
“Sorry, T-dub, if you’re watching,” Rose said in his CBS interview on the 18th green.
No apologies necessary. Rose knew the score. It’s one of the goals he set to keep him pushing forward, even when no one got closer than the six-shot lead he had going into the final round. He tapped in for par to finish at 23-under 265, one better than Woods and George Burns in 1987.
“I was keenly aware of it, actually,” Rose said with a smile. “It was the only thing I was focused on the last three holes.”
He also became the first wire-to-wire winner at Torrey Pines in 71 years. Rose probably wasn’t aware of Tommy Bolt doing that in 1955.
It all added to an astonishing performance by a 45-year-old from England who is playing some of the best golf in his career and still looking for more. He moved to No. 3 in the world — only Vijay Singh was older when ranked that high in September 2008.
Rose opened with a 62 on the North course at Torrey Pines and really never let up all week, playing even better on the South course that has hosted two U.S. Opens. He extended his lead after each round — by one shot, four shots, six shots and then a seven-shot margin, the largest of his career.
Rose hit his second shot to 10 feet on the par-5 sixth hole for a two-putt birdie, hit his tee shot to just inside 10 feet on the par-3 eighth and holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth for a 33 on the front nine. That turned the back nine — all day, really — into a peaceful walk on the public course along the Pacific Ocean.
The tournament had one of its best weeks of weather, even by San Diego standards. The only thing lacking was drama, which was just fine with Rose.
This was little more than a battle for second and that was a tie. Si Woo Kim (69), Ryo Hisatsune (69) and Pierceson Coody (66) shared runner-up honors, a consolation prize worth $726,400. For Coody, it also is likely to get him into a pair of $20 million signature events to end the West Coast Swing.
Brooks Koepka finished his return to the PGA Tour after defecting from LIV Golf with familiar cheers on the ninth green when he tapped in a birdie putt for a 70. There were some 300 people around the green, most of them shouting, “Welcome back, Brooks.”
He headed to Phoenix later Sunday for the loudest event in golf. “I love the chaos,” Koepka said.
Rose, who also won at Torrey Pines in 2019, now has 13 career titles on the PGA Tour. Even for all he has accomplished, from a U.S. Open to an Olympic gold medal to seven Ryder Cup appearances, he has not stopped putting in the work to stay among the elite in golf.
“I still believe there’s good stuff in front of me,” Rose said.
His 13 tour titles have been at Muirfield Village, Aronimink, Merion, Congressional, Pebble Beach, Colonial, all courses that have hosted majors or a Ryder Cup.
He thought back to his closing 66 at the Masters last year, his fourballs performance with Tommy Fleetwood on Saturday at the Ryder Cup, and the way he played this week. His age is just a number.
“Those days or those weeks or those rounds are definitely showing me that the gas is still in the tank,” Rose said. “Obviously, accessing it is the job now. How do I do that more often? That’s always the trick, but at least knowing it’s there is builds a lot of confidence.”
In a week in which LIV Golf was a big topic — the return of Koepka, another departure from LIV by Patrick Reed — Rose was reminded of the offer to take Saudi money to join the rival league. He chose to stay put, and his performance over the last year validates that decision.
He left Torrey Pines a year ago at No. 55 in the world. He remains among the elite.
“My career goals (majors) have always only been attainable by staying on the European tour and the PGA Tour because access to them is not possible the other way,” he said. “I want to play among the best players in the world. That obviously for me is what keeps me motivated, what keeps me hungry, what keeps me pushing.”
He thought his performance at Torrey Pines in 2019 was one of his best, this was better. It might have been more meaningful, too. His longtime caddie, Mark Fulcher, was hospitalized recovering from heart surgery in 2019.
“Now he’s got one for himself,” Rose said.
