Farmers Insurance Open: Marc Leishman wins dramatically
Marc Leishman was able to hold off a late-charging Jon Rahm, finishing out the Farmers Insurance Open with his 4th career PGA Tour win.
What a week for the Australians. January 26th was Australia Day, and they took it to heart. Not only did Lucas Herbert win the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour, but we had an Australian win on the PGA Tour as well. Marc Leishman put together the best round of Sunday, and it was enough to get him a one-shot win at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Halfway through Sunday’s round, it looked like Leishman was going to run away with the tournament. He opened up with a 31 on the front nine, and made the turn at -13. After the 11th hole, he momentarily had a four-shot lead, sitting at -14.
Jon Rahm, the 3rd round leader, had fallen apart on the front nine. A 39 had dropped him back to -9, and he was six strokes behind Leishman as he made his way to the 13th hole.
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Marc Leishman was playing ahead of Rahm, and this ended up making all the difference. Leishman was likely only partially aware of how Rahm was doing, catching his name on leaderboards or by listening to the crowd and inferring what had happened. Leishman would bogey 17, and then make birdie on 18 to finish -15 for the week.
That last birdie meant more than he could’ve known, as Jon Rahm nearly completed one of the most incredible comebacks we have seen in a while.
Here is how he finished out the Farmers Insurance Open, starting with the 13th hole.
Eagle-Birdie-Bogey-Birdie-Birdie-Birdie.
If he could’ve shot par on the par-four 15th hole, Rahm would’ve been six under over the last six holes, and forced a playoff with Marc Leishman.
It was an incredible and disappointing finish for Rahm. The tournament was his to lose heading into Sunday. He did just that, but an incredible round by Leishman is not to be overlooked.
Rahm wasn’t the only one to ruin his chances with a poor start Sunday. Rory McIlroy came into the final round at -9. He would start bogey-bogey-par-bogey to fall to -6. He would instantly turn it around, reminding everyone why he is a top-five player in the world. Rory then shot birdie-eagle-par-birdie-birdie to close the front nine with a 34. An up-and-down back nine 35 would see him finish T-3rd.
In case you missed it, some guy named Tiger Woods did something that few people have ever seen happen on a course. It was jaw-dropping, but not in a good sense.
https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1221495824233922560
Never in my life have I seen anything like that happen before. The announcers felt the same way, and when they have seen more golf than you can imagine and still come across a first, you know it is something dumbfounding that just happened.
Tiger had a rollercoaster of a week but still managed to get into the top-ten. He would finish at -9, good for T-9th.
Getting back to the winner of the tournament, Marc Leishman gets some nice swag from winning the Farmers Insurance Open. Along with the standard 500 FedEx Cup points, he earns $1.35 million as well.
Not a bad way to finish up Australia Day if you ask me.