Billy Casper and Mickey Wright were undeniable homegrown greats. Phil Mickelson is clearly San Diego’s most accomplished and beloved golfer of the modern era, and Tiger Woods has racked up a slew of memorable wins at Torrey Pines in his home state.
Jon Rahm is a Spaniard who lives in Arizona, yet he also occupies a prominent place in San Diego’s golf landscape — and he’s hoping to make it even bigger this week.
QUICK TURNAROUND
The tournament is starting on Wednesday and finishing on Saturday to avoid television conflict with the NFL’s two conference championship playoff games on Sunday. Such a brief gap between tournaments could be an annoyance to more routine-bound golfers — but the previous event was only 2 hours’ drive away in the Palm Springs area, which means the travel obstacles were minimal.
Rahm is among those who didn’t mind: “I drove over with my caddie Sunday night, and we did some practice (Monday), so (today) almost feels like a Wednesday.”
DRIVE TO SURVIVE, PUTT FOR DOUGH
The tournament marks the first week in which the players will be under the cameras of the reality-show producers whose Formula One documentary series on Netflix has contributed to a worldwide boom in the sport’s popularity. While several players — including Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau — declined to participate, Justin Thomas and several others will be under a slightly hotter spotlight with behind-the-scenes coverage of their lives and games.
Thomas sounds cautiously optimistic about the attention, saying he’ll pull out of the show if it becomes a distraction.
“I want it to be an opportunity,” Thomas said. “Just the fun, different things that people wouldn’t necessarily see. … There’s a lot of different aspects that I think will be great for not only myself, but guys that give people a little better understanding of who we are and grow our brand a little bit.”
CHAMP IS HERE
Patrick Reed is back to defend his title after scorching the field for a five-stroke victory last year. Reed created plenty of drama during his ninth career win when he picked up his ball after a third-round drive, believing it was embedded. Although replays showed the ball had bounced, officials didn’t penalize Reed, ultimately agreeing with his interpretation of events.
“It should be remembered as a victory,” Reed said of last year’s tournament. “At the end of the day, the rules officials said we did nothing wrong.”
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