LA JOLLA (CNS) - American Brandt Snedeker won the $6.5 million Farmers Insurance Open as K.J. Choi missed a putt for birdie on the final hole Monday that would have forced a sudden-death playoff.
Snedeker completed his final round at Torrey Pines Golf Course's South Course in La Jolla at three-under-par Sunday before heavy rains and wind
gusting to over 45 mph prompted three suspensions of play and kept 49 players, including Choi, from finishing their rounds.
Play was expected to begin at 8 a.m today but debris clean-up caused a two-hour delay. Around 20 trees fell on the course, prompting tournament
officials to keep spectators off the course for safety reasons.
The last time a course was closed to spectators due to weather issues on the PGA Tour was the 2012 AT&T National at Congressional Country Club in
Bethesda, Maryland.
Choi and Snedeker trailed American Jimmy Walker by one shot when play resumed.
On a day with sustained northwest winds of 15-30 mph, gusting to 35 mph, Walker bogeyed his first hole of the day, the par-3 11th. Choi, playing in
the same group, parred the hole, moving into a three-way tie for the lead with Walker and Snedeker.
Snedeker took a one-shot lead when Choi and Walker both bogeyed the par-4 15th.
Walker dropped two shots off the lead with a bogey on the par-4 15th. He also bogeyed the par-4 17th, completing the round at five-over-par 77, tying
Freddie Jacobson of Sweden for fourth at three-under-par 285, three shots behind Snedeker.
Choi parred each of his final four holes, completing the round at four-over-par 76. His four-round total of five-under-par 283 put him one shot behind Snedeker.
Choi finished in a five-way tie for second in the 2014 tournament, one shot behind Scott Stallings.
Choi and American Scott Brown shared a one-shot lead through three rounds. Choi had won each of the previous five times he had been leading or shared the lead after 54 holes on the PGA Tour.
The 45-year-old Choi was seeking his ninth PGA Tour victory and first since the 2011 Players Championship.
Brown shot a final-round 15-over-par 87 with 11 bogeys and two double-bogeys. Brown tied for 49th with eight other golfers, including Andrew Loupe, who he had shared the first-round lead with, at six-over-par 294, 12 shots off the lead.
The 35-year-old Snedeker received $1.17 million for his eighth PGA Tour victory and first since last year's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Snedeker also won
the 2012 Farmers Insurance Open.
"This has probably been the most nerve-wracking four hours I've had on tour just because of the lack of control I had over everything that's going to happen today," said Snedeker, who began the final round in an eight-way tie for 27th, six shots off the lead. "I had no idea what to expect."
"I went from thinking that I had no chance of winning to feeling pretty good about it to thinking that having no control probably (made) me the worst
armchair Monday morning quarterback, so it was a long night, a long morning."
Snedeker said "obviously a lot of good fortune happened today -- just because of the way the weather blew in."
"The way the wind blew ... made those last five holes play so tough on those guys," Snedeker said. "I feel bad for them. They got the raw end of the
stick this morning.
"But (that's) just the way golf goes. Luckily enough, I played good enough yesterday to get the job done, so it's a special feeling to say the least."
Storm impacts Farmer's Insurance Open
American Brandt Snedeker won the $6.5 million Farmers Insurance Open as K.J. Choi missed a putt for birdie on the final hole Monday that would have forced a sudden-death playoff.
