While the field was futilely chasing Justin Rose in Sunday’s final round of the Farmers Insurance Open, Rose was chasing history.

With an all but insurmountable six-stroke lead coming into the final 18 holes, the only drama for spectators on another spectacular day at Torrey Pines Golf Course was whether Rose could set tournament records for scoring and margin of victory.

Rose shot a final-round 70, giving him a seven-shot victory over Pierceson Coody (65), Si Woo Kim (69) and Ryo Hisatsune (69) for the tournament’s first wire-to-wire win in 71 years. Rose’s four-day total 265 was 23 under par, breaking the record of 22 under shared by Tiger Woods (1999) and George Burns (1987).

The margin of victory was one shy of the eight-stroke win Tiger Woods had over Ryuji Imada in the 2008 tournament.

Rose was all smiles as he approached the 18th green to cheers. He waved to the crowd and pumped his fist after putting out for a par on the final hole.

The 45-year-old Englishman became the oldest player ever to win the Farmers. He is the oldest player to win by at least six shots since Sam Snead in 1961. Rose was the only player in his 40s to win on tour last season, a distinction he may claim again this year after his 13th tour victory. He wins a check for $1,728,000, a trophy featuring a Torrey pine and a surfboard he can put alongside the one he received for winning the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open.

Rose has had a notable pro career, though it took him more than a decade to start making his mark. He picked up a major by winning the 2013 U.S. Open and picked up a medal (gold) by winning the 2016 Olympics. He was No. 1 in the world rankings for a time in 2018.

Rose said there was no chance of him getting “complacent” with a six-stroke lead entering the final round, knowing only too well that it can be overcome because he has done it himself.

Rose came from seven strokes back in the final round of last year’s Masters to tie Rory McIlroy before losing in a playoff. Rose rallied from eight back in the final round of the 2017 HSBC Champions to beat Dustin Johnson.

No such drama was in store Sunday at Torrey Pines, where a week of spectacular weather was matched by Rose’s spectacular performance.

Not that guys weren’t trying to make a move in what Joel Dahmen termed “the B group.”

Dahmen, at six back, was the closest competitor to Rose when the day began. One PGA Tour radio broadcaster suggested that three birdies by Dahmen combined with three bogeys by Rose was all it would take to knot this thing up.

Sure, sure.

But Dahmen fell 10 shots off the lead after three bogeys and two birdies on the front nine. Dahmen (73) finished nine strokes back in a tie for seventh place.

Hisatsune, the third member of the final group, busted a move with four birdies on the front, but that merely moved him from eight to seven shots behind Rose.

Others going low included Sahith Theegala and Andrew Novak, who both shot 66. That simply moved them into a tie for sixth after starting the day 11 shots off the lead.

Coody had the low round of the day, with a 7-under 65 that included nine birdies. But Coody started 12 shots behind Rose.

Rose was content to bide his time early in the round, parring the first five holes.

He turned it on with three birdies over the next four holes, including one at the par-3 eighth hole that got him to 23-under and another at the par-5 ninth hole that enabled him to make the turn at 24-under.

Incredibly, Rose is the tournament’s first wire-to-wire winner since Tommy Bolt won the 1955 event, back when it was called the San Diego Open and played at Mission Valley Country Club. Bolt actually won the event wire-to-wire twice in three years, also earning a victory in 1953.

There could not be a bigger contrast between the two golfers.

Bolt’s nickname was “Terrible Tommy,” and he was known for throwing and breaking clubs as much as he was for hitting memorable shots with them.

Newspaper stories noted after Bolt’s 1955 win that “Tommy’s explosive temperament was in complete control. Not once did he throw a club or indicate in any way that he was irked — except for a few words with some overzealous cameramen the first day.”

About the most demonstrative Rose has been was when he kicked his bag at TPC Sawgrass and when he hit it with a club at the Genesis Scottish Open. The incidents were separated by a decade.