![\"Service](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Farmers.Swann_.Balla_.jpeg\")
Service member Joseph Swann (left) enjoys the Patriots\u2019 Outpost alongside Joe Balla, president of the Harbaugh Foundation that sponsors the 13th hole venue. (Kirk Kenney \/ San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\nJust off the 13th green at Torrey Pines South is a VIP pavilion designated as the Patriots\u2019 Outpost.<\/p>\n
The Harbaugh Foundation sponsors the tent there each year during the Farmers Insurance Open, inviting 3,000 active-duty and retired military members to enjoy the tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a family,\u201d Harbaugh Foundation president Joe Balla said. \u201cSome have been out here six, seven years in a row, and they love it. It\u2019s one of the best venues on the course. They get to see the green. And it\u2019s just a terrific event. There\u2019s not enough being done for our military in this country, in my opinion. It\u2019s just a blessing for our foundation to be able to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Solana Beach organization is the legacy of the late\u00a0George Harbaugh, an Air Force pilot and golf enthusiast.<\/p>\n
Service member Joseph Swann (left) enjoys the Patriots\u2019 Outpost alongside Joe Balla, president of the Harbaugh Foundation that sponsors the 13th hole venue. (Kirk Kenney \/ San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis means a lot, especially for being an avid golfer,\u201d said Joseph Swann, a Houston native stationed in San Diego. \u201cIt\u2019s not every day we can go to a PGA event. \u2026 It\u2019s good to see people out here enjoying themselves and enjoying the game. The military can be stressful. Everybody has an array of different jobs, but just to be able to come out here and to bring a loved one or kids to enjoy this is special.\u201c<\/p>\n
The 13th hole also is the stage for military appreciation, with the flagstick topped by an American flag and tended by a military member. The service branch changes each day. Saturday was Navy Day, with a uniformed serviceman standing at attention with the flagstick as the players putted out.<\/p>\n
One of the servicemen who had an opportunity to participate was Ricardo Lopez, a Florida native stationed in San Diego.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a wonderful experience being up front with the players,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cI really enjoyed it. It was quite an honor. (The players) all shook my hand and thanked me for being here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Virtually all the players, and often their caddies, make a point of coming over and shaking hands with the servicemen.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t always like that when the Patriots\u2019 Outpost debuted here 11 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of my considerations over the years has been the golfers don\u2019t acknowledge our military as they come off the green,\u201d Balla said. \u201cI was thinking, throw (the flag holder) a ball or give him a high-five.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2017, Balla mentioned it to a tournament official, who lined up a young golfer named Jon Rahm to come visit the outpost after his opening round.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo Jon comes in, and he\u2019s just delightful,\u201d Balla said. \u201cHe\u2019s signing hats and taking selfies with the guys. He takes me aside and says, \u2018I\u2019m a Spaniard. I grew up in Spain, played golf at Arizona State, but I\u2019m so grateful to the military. Grateful to those who fought for my freedom to play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rahm picked up plenty of new fans that day, Balla said. And three days later, the Spaniard thrilled his growing gallery with a 60-foot putt on the 18th hole to win the 2017 Farmers for his first PGA tournament victory.<\/p>\n
Can you hear me now?<\/p>\n
A cool feature on the CBS broadcast is the walk-and-talk they do with a player on the 13th hole.<\/p>\n
Joel Dahmen was chosen to chat on Saturday, but he had a problem hearing broadcasters Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman through his earbud after his tee shot. They got it fixed before Dahmen hit his second shot, then had problems again and gave up on trying to reconnect.<\/p>\n
Immelman joked that Dahmen didn\u2019t want to talk with Nantz.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t need any turndown service at the hotel,\u201d Nantz quipped. \u201cI\u2019ve already been turned down twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Play it as it lies<\/p>\n
Dahmen tried to reach the 619-yard 13th hole in two shots, but was a yard or two shy of the green on his second swing and the ball slid down into the valley that fronts the hole. To make matters worse, the ball came to rest in a divot. It was a terrible lie that prevented Dahmen from reaching the green on his third shot, even though he was only 105 yards away. He ended up needing six shots to complete the hole.<\/p>\n
Golf\u2019s premise is \u201cplaying the ball as it lies\u201d and \u201cplaying the course as you find it,\u201d and divots are considered normal circumstances, as opposed to sprinkler heads, ground under repair and gopher holes, where you get relief.<\/p>\n
Dahmen, in second place entering the final round, carded his only bogey at the 13th. All because of the divot.<\/p>\n
Dahmen called it \u201ckind of a bad break.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a word for not getting relief: bogus.<\/p>\n
Did you know?<\/p>\n
Justin Rose, who has a six-shot lead coming into the final round, had an eight-shot advantage after 10 holes, threatening to match the eight-shot lead Tiger Woods had through 54 holes in 2008; Woods won by eight strokes over Ryuji Imada.<\/p>\n
Rose, at 45 years, 6 months and 1 day of age, is the first player 45 or older to lead a tournament by five shots or more since such records started being kept by the PGA Tour in 1983.<\/p>\n
Parting thought<\/p>\n
Always a day late and a dollar short. \u2026 With the bottom dropping out of the silver market (down 25%) and taking a hit in gold (down 8%) on Friday, it would have been wise to move into parking lot futures.<\/p>\n
Valet parking at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines went from $75 on Thursday to $115 for the weekend.<\/p>\n
The car should come back washed and waxed for that price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just off the 13th green at Torrey Pines South is a VIP pavilion designated as the Patriots\u2019 Outpost.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[32496,181,74,76,75,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-158655","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}