Harris English calmly collects one-stroke victory in Farmers Insurance Open

Harris English takes home his 5th PGA Tour victory at age 35 winning the Farmers Insurance Open by one-stroke over Sam Stevens at Torrey Pines January 25.

“Wining Ugly” pretty much sums up the final round of the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open played under cold and windy conditions on the notorious South Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course.

Harris English (73) managed to hold off Sam Stevens (68), and several others, to claim his fifth PGA Tour victory by one shot, after waiting 1,308 days. He fired a 1-over par 73 to finish at 8-under 280.

“Doesn’t have to look pretty,” English said after tapping in a short putt for par on No. 18 green. “But I just had to get the job done.”

Keeping one eye on the scoreboard and the other eye on his playing partner Andrew Novak (74), English managed to maintain his slim lead by one stroke throughout the entire back nine.

English somehow managed to stay focused when he found his driver leaving him with some interesting and difficult 2nd shots. He finished his final round with 12 consecutive pars, keeping Stevens and Novak from ever seeing the top of the leaderboard.

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Harris English acknowledges the crowd after winning the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines South Course on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 in San Diego, CA.

“I knew it was going to be a tough day today, but I love that,” English said. “I love this golf course when it plays really tough. I knew with the wind, you’re probably not going to get somebody … coming up and throwing a 65, 66 out here today. So, as a leader coming into the final round, you kind of like that. It’s going to be a grind, and you’re going to miss fairways, miss greens, but you’ve got to miss them in the right spot.”

English stayed focused from start to finish. He put his tee shot on the 18th into the rough behind trees keeping him from reaching the green but got back into the fairway before reaching the green with his 115-yard approach shot. He two-putted for the victory, finessing a 25-footer to 7 inches for a tap-in.

“It’s hard to win,” English said. “I might have looked calm out there on the course, but inside your emotions are going crazy. I just know how hard it is to win. It’s just so much fun. You’ve got to soak it in when you do it

Sam Stevens began the day 6 shots off the lead but managed to stay close enough with a 68 final round. His desperate attempt to secure an eagle on the par 5 18th hole came up short when his 2nd shot found the water in front of the green. He finished with a par.

When asked about his 2nd shot on 18, Stevens responded, “Yeah, so I had 207 and like 200 to cover. Normally I had hit my 6 iron, fly my 6 iron about 200 yards, but it was straight downwind, but a little adrenaline I figured, so I thought I would be honestly a perfect seven iron if I hit it good. Didn’t make a terrible swing, but just kind of made the swing that you can’t make there and leave it out to the right kind of hit that soft right shot.

He continued, “When it was in the air, I was hopeful, but I was pretty sure that it was going to land about right where it did. They didn’t shave that bank this year like they have in past, but it still goes in the water. But I was able to save par. That was big, post a number and make those guys at least earn it coming down the stretch. If they play good and finish at better than 7 under there’s nothing, I can do about it, but glad I got up and down there.”

Andrew Novak was third at 6 under, missing out on his first tour victory with a disappointing 74 after briefly taking the lead.

Harris English earns $1.67 million, while Sam Stevens banks $1,013,700.00 and Andrew Novak $641,700.00 from the purse of $9.3 million.

https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard

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Bill Sangster, a life-long golf aficionado and former Sergeant in Marines, moved to Cape Cod in 1974 where he raised his family while working as educator with the Sandwich School System for 23 years. With his Falmouth home adjacent to Paul Harney’s Golf Course, Bill spent many days learning and playing the game of golf. He was a member of White Cliffs Country Club and Sandwich Hollows Country on Cape Cod. In 2018 he continued his love for the game of golf by moving to “The Villages” in Florida. He now will admit to anyone who asks that he is addicted to the game of golf! Bill can be reached at sangsterbill33@gmail.com.

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