SAN DIEGO: Without showing any effect due to the rules controversy a day earlier, Patrick Reed retired to get a 5-shot win on Sunday at the Open Farmers Insurance.
Reed closed with a 4 to 68 player at Torrey Pines, making an eagle in the sixth par-5 and finishing his ninth PGA Tour title with a birdie on the 18th.
The former Masters champions finished at age 14 after four steady days in the municipal blufftop fields overlooking the Pacific Ocean. He shared the lead in the first round with Alex Noren, was in a group in the second round and then shared the lead in the third round with Carlos Ortiz.
The controversy arose on Saturday the par-4 10th when Reed threw a 190-yard shot from a bunker. A television replay showed the ball bouncing once before settling raw. Without waiting for an officer, Reed picked up the ball to see if it was embedded. Reed told the official that no one in his group but a close volunteer saw him bounce. He was awarded a free descent and saved the couple in a round of 70.
On Sunday, Reed began his round with a 45-foot eagle placed at number 6 to reach 12 below and followed with a bird in the seventh par-4. His only bogey was in the eighth par-3 and he bounced with a bird in the ninth par-5. He played the rest of the way until he sank an 8-foot putt at number 18.
Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Ryan Palmer, Henrik Norlander and Viktor Hovland tied for second place.
Hovland had been closest to the search with four birds in the new front, including the ninth to reach 12 under. But the little birds dried up and attracted the numbers 14, 15 and 17 – missing a 2 foot on the 17th – in a round of 1 under 71.
Ortiz stumbled severely with a round of 6 out of 78. He hurt himself with three bogeys on the nine forwards who left him even on the bend. He had even more problems in the back again, where he stopped at number 11 and then had trouble getting out of a bunker in the green zone at number 12, catching a double bogey 6. He stopped at 15, 16 and 18.