The twin gifts of peak-beauty Torrey Pines Golf Course and ideal San Diego weather added needed zip to an annual PGA event here the past four days.
Justin Rose was simply too good for anyone else in the Farmers Insurance Open.
Imitating Secretariat as well as a golfer can on the PGA Tour, the 45-year-old Englishman went wire to wire en route to a 23 under par and a 72-hole record for a tournament that began in 1952
Fortunately for visitors and telecast viewers, Rose’s dominance didn’t make for a four-day snoozefest.
Being alive in a coastal paradise went a long way toward rewarding everyone present, and cameras provided a worldwide TV audience with spectacular views of the cliffs, the ocean and the greensward.
“Can you believe we get to live here?” spectators were heard to say as gentle ocean breezes swept in.
Off the coast, fans spotted dolphins and whales. Bicyclists strained up North Torrey Pines Road. White foam streaked the dark-blue waters south of Torrey’s cliffs.
Amid his runaway win, Rose made sure to breathe in his surroundings.
“You do look around and go, ‘This place is special,’” he said.
The state of the Torrey Pines’ fairways drew never-been-better praise from players and longtime visitors. Even Torrey’s poa annua greens, which can’t help but be vexing — as Brooks Koepka rediscovered this week in his return to the PGA Tour — earned high grades.
Drenched by winter rains that began the month, bathed in sunshine the past week, pampered by the grounds crew, the twin public tracks snapped into full definition come Thursday’s first round.
“The golf course stands up to any golf course we play on the tour,” said Rose, 45.
The reason to go to a sporting event is for a good time.
Rose’s cruise notwithstanding, the past four days were a good time at Torrey Pines.
Now, let’s go big picture.
With Farmers Insurance ceding its tournament sponsorship, San Diego’s crown jewel golfing event heads into an uncertain era.
The insurance company and Torrey Pines formed an effective partnership dating to 2010.
Whichever new sponsor surfaces, whatever assistance the PGA may lend, matching Farmers’ peak era — from 2005 through 2008 — should not be expected.
That’s not nostalgia talking. Consider the foremost dynamic that lit up those mornings and afternoons.
Here was Tiger Woods, the most renowned golfer in the world and the rare golfer who could move the needle regardless of the event, winning five consecutive Torrey Pines tournaments capped by the U.S. Open in June 2008.
What’s more, Woods loved Torrey Pines. As a boy, he fell in love with the place, his parents driving him the 90 minutes from their home in north Orange County.
There’s still reason to believe Torrey Pines’ next golf era can be very good.
Here’s one possible scenario: the PGA decides to kick off its annual season in Torrey Pines as it shifts from Hawaii to stateside.
Ideally, a new sponsor will increase the event’s purse and finagle a PGA Tour Signature Event. Torrey thus would land one of the elite, limited-field tournaments that feature top performers.
International competition has cut into the star power at most PGA Tour events.
One large factor: Saudi leaders are outspending PGA events to attract top golfers.
Absent the LIV Golf tour, perhaps another standout would’ve signed up for the final Farmers event. And maybe that golfer would’ve engaged Rose in a memorable duel down the South Course’s back nine on Sunday.
Rose himself, though, bodes well for the next iteration of San Diego’s PGA showcase. He said he’s smitten with San Diego, citing even the coffee shops he visits every January.
Pencil in the amiable, precise Brit for future tournaments here. And given how he’s obliterating the PGA Tour’s aging curve, even driving the ball farther than in his younger days, that may not be a small victory.