Expert Picks: Sanderson Farms Championship

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SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods took the headlines for most of the week but Sunday at Torrey Pines it was an epic show from four others that had us enthralled. And there is still more to come in the narrative as after five extra holes Jason Day and Alex Noren could not be separated, and the pair will return Monday morning to continue in sudden death at the Farmers Insurance Open. As the leaders made the turn in high winds on Sunday at the South Course, it was clearly a race in four. Australian Day, Swede Noren and Americans Ryan Palmer and J.B. Holmes separated themselves at the top and provided an epic grind to the end. Day was playing ahead of the other three who were paired together in the final group. And the Aussie flinched first with a three-putt bogey on 11 and then another bogey on the 15th, dropping him one back of the others. They all flinched right back. Almost immediately Noren, Palmer and Holmes all made errors on the 14th hole, making bogey to restore a four-way tie. Noren steadied but Palmer – who was chasing a fourth PGA TOUR win and first since January 2010 – dropped another shot on the next hole. Holmes joined him with the bogey-bogey effort. And then Holmes added a third for good measure, effectively knocking him out of the mix. Day and Noren couldn’t find another birdie in the closing three holes of regulation, but Palmer made it happen on 18 to make it three players going extras. The Swede was unlucky. Sitting in the fairway waiting to hit his approach on the 72nd hole, Noren was forced to wait an exorbitant amount of time as Holmes contemplated his play. The five-time winner, who lost a playoff to Day at the 2015 Farmers Insurance Open, needed an eagle to have any hope of playing on. After backing off numerous times, Holmes decided to lay-up. And did so in the rough. A birdie left him one shy. He was unapologetic when talking with the Golf Channel saying he was still trying to win. After the long wait, Noren nuked his 3-wood through the green and under a grandstand. The resulting drop left him with a very tough up-and-down to win. He failed. He didn’t lay blame at Holmes but did say the extra time made him change clubs. He was originally contemplating a hybrid that would not have gone over the green. Noren did concede it could have brought the water in front of the green into play. Palmer was knocked out in the first extra holes after failing to match birdies from Day and Noren. Noren nearly holed a wedge for eagle. Day slid in a 7-footer he knew he needed. Another trip down 18 left both men with eagle putts. Noren’s from a mile didn’t fall. Day couldn’t win it from 17-feet. The Australian had chances from 11 and 27 feet on the next two playoff holes to ice it but missed by inches both times. Clutch 5-foot birdies by both men on the fifth playoff hole in near darkness ensured Monday golf. “Alex is playing some tremendous golf. To be able to go through and go shot for shot there was pretty special,â€� Day said afterwards. “I’m just going to try and get some rest tonight and I’ll play all day tomorrow if I need to get the win.â€� Day is aiming for an 11th PGA TOUR title, his last coming at the 2016 PLAYERS Championship. Noren is in just his second PGA TOUR event as a member (35 total) but has nine wins on the European Tour. “I could barely see the last putt, but it’s very enjoyable, this is what I play for, so I’m excited,â€� he said. “It’s like match play coming down the stretch. It’s so important over every shot. Here you need to play aggressive to finish it out.â€� The playoff continues at 11am Eastern, 8am local and is slated to begin on the 18th hole before going to the 16th, 17th and 18th again if needed.  OBSERVATIONS Ryan Palmer was looking to end an eight-year win drought, but ended up just shy as he pushed his third shot well right at the par-5 18th hole and failed to birdie it, falling out of the playoff. He secured his PGA TOUR card on a major medical extension at the CareerBuilder Challenge last week, and his finish this week might have him heading all the way to the FedExCup Playoffs. Since 2011, he has the most top-five finishes on TOUR without a win (19). He was hoping to win on his son Mason’s birthday. “It would have been a fun present,â€� Palmer said, “but I’m ecstatic where my game’s at now, especially on the greens from where I was the last year-and-a-half.â€� Rose makes Rahm putt: Justin Rose was struggling. With the wind swirling, he found himself between clubs and made pretty much nothing on the greens. Then he came to the par-5 18th hole, where he birdied from 59 feet, 9 inches, a shot that technically didn’t count as a putt because it was from the back fringe. It was also a mirror image of the eagle putt Jon Rahm made to win the Farmers last year. The result was Rose’s ninth straight top-10 finish worldwide, dating to his T10 at THE NORTHERN TRUST to open the FedExCup Playoffs.   Phil Mickelson struggled on the weekend, shooting scores of 76-74 to finish T45 after getting himself into contention with scores of 70-68 in the first two rounds. Still, he made the cut and was characteristically optimistic. “It’s actually a good start to the year,â€� Mickelson said. “I think that the game is closer than it looks. This course will penalize you. It’s very difficult, and it only gets easier from here, and hopefully I’ll start to play a little better.â€� Wind was certainly a huge factor on Sunday. Just ask C.T. Pan. Starting with a legitimate shot at the tournament Pan birdied the first hole to be just two off the lead. But at the par-3 3rd, the Santa Ana winds beefed up and Pan sent his ball over the cliff edge off the tee twice. After a third re-tee and a chip onto the green he was laying six, and still away in the group. A quintuple bogey eight was made feel even worse when Jason Day made birdie on top of it. Pan shot 79 to finish T35. NOTABLES Tiger Woods – The 79-time PGA TOUR winner shot a final-round 72 to finish 3-under and T23. Read about his week here. J.B. Holmes – Had an excellent chance until three-straight bogeys on holes 14-16. Birdie on 18 gave him even-par 72 and solo fourth. Tony Finau – Was well in the mix to win after three-straight birdies on the front, but bogeyed three of his first four holes on the back and shot 73 (T6).  Keegan Bradley – Comeback continues for the New England sports fan after a final-round 70 gave him a solo fifth. QUOTABLES We just need a few cars on the fairways to show us where we’re going.   I had a good first couple of days, but the weekend was tough.I wish I had that wedge back, obviously, but I hung in there all day.  I fought hard for these scores. These weren’t yawners, down the middle, on the green, two-putt and one-hand your second putts in the hole.   SUPERLATIVES Low round: 69, by Charles Howell III (T6) and Hideki Matsuyama (T12) Longest drive: 394 yards, by John Huh at the first hole Longest putt: 46 feet, 5 inches, by Roberto Diaz at the 12th hole. He birdied it but shot 79. Easiest hole: The par-5 18th played to a 4.792 stroke average. Hardest hole: The par-4 fourth and par-4 14th holes each played to a 4.481 stroke average. SHOT OF THE DAY

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AUGUSTA, Ga. - Justin Thomas vividly remembers his first round at Augusta National. He recalls what else was happening in his golfing life, that he was a freshman at Alabama, and that he played with Jeff Knox, the best golfer amongst Augusta National members. Rounding out the foursome: Thomas’ Alabama teammates Lee Knox (Jeff's son) and Bobby Wyatt. "It was straight after I think our first event in Puerto Rico, and we were so excited," said Thomas, who shot a second-round 69 to reach 9 under par, tied atop the Masters leaderboard with Dustin Johnson (70), Abraham Ancer (67) and Cameron Smith (68). "... It felt like a tournament round you’re getting ready for, you’re nervous on the first tee. We had a great day." RELATED: Leaderboard | Nine things to know: Augusta National Golf Club Johnson (world No. 1) and Thomas (world No. 3) will never be mistaken for one another, even if their first names are separated by only one letter. But they have this in common: Each has one major to his name, and each initially struggled to find his A game for the Masters. That's not uncommon; learning the nuances of the course is a rite of passage for almost everyone not named Fuzzy Zoeller, who remains the only first-timer to win (1979). "I think it’s taken me a little bit to get over, not - I guess maybe the fear of Augusta National," said Thomas, whose T12 finish last year was the first he'd begun to play to his potential. "... I kind of go back to that (first) round, like, dude, remember you made six birdies when you were a freshman in college. I would hope you’d be able to handle it your fifth appearance now." While this weekend will present a different kind of nerves for Thomas, there may be similarities to his first time here. It was February 2012 - not far from November on the golf calendar - and it was wet and scoreable, and Thomas really, really wanted to play well. In the end he threw in some mistakes with his six birdies and shot even. He was low man in the group and was especially excited to beat Knox, whom he calls Mr. Jeff, because "he tears this place up." Still, that first flush of success didn't immediately translate once he'd earned a coveted Masters invite. He scheduled practice rounds with players like Tiger Woods and Fred Couples, soaking up as much knowledge as possible, but finished T39 as a rookie in 2016, then T22 and T17 the next two years. He was improving, but not exactly by leaps and bounds. Today, Thomas says he just needed to learn where to miss, where to be aggressive, and that he didn't need to do anything superhuman. He also had to shed that fear factor. His Ryder and Presidents Cup teammate Johnson got off to an even slower start here. He was T30 in his rookie year in 2009, then got worse with a pair of T38s in 2010 and 2011. Not until Johnson committed to a new level of precision with his wedges, and improved his putting, did he begin to figure out how to play what is often referred to as a second-shot course. Today, the world No. 1, expects to contend for the green jacket. His T2 finish last year, one behind Tiger Woods, was one of four top-10 finishes in the last five years. He might have had another top-10 in 2017 but slipped on some stairs and hurt himself, leading to a WD. Many experts had pegged Johnson as the clear pre-tournament favorite that year. He had just won three times on TOUR, including two WGCs, and climbed to No. 1 in the world. In that respect what's happening this week, or what could happen, has been a long time coming. As with the roughly half the field that didn't finish the first round Thursday, Johnson began his Friday early, with a 4:05 wakeup call. Then it was straight back out to the back nine. He hasn't been great on the greens, with 32 putts in the second round, and bogeyed the par-5 15th. But otherwise, he said, he's been mostly pleased, especially with his two 2s at the testy 12th hole. "It’s been a long day," he said, when asked to name his best shot so far this week. "I mean, both the shots I hit on 12 today, I like. I made birdie both times. So I take that any day of the week." Now the top two Americans in the world have a chance to take a quantum career leap even if it's taken a little extra perseverance to get here. They'll take that any day of the week, too.

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