2015 Farmers Insurance Open results: 3 things we learned from Jason Day’s win

It was another week on the PGA Tour when we lost both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson before the weekend. Tiger’s short game stayed an embarrassing mess, and now he’s got another back issue to deal with at the top of a second straight season. Phil’s putting is awful right now and the 44-year-old has nothing to show early on for allegedly being in the “best shape of his life” after the worst season of his career. Tiger’s exit will be what everyone remembers from this edition of the Farmers Insurance Open, but looking forward to this year on the PGA Tour, here are some things we learned on Sunday at Torrey Pines.

Everyone has known for four or five years now that Jason Day is one of the best players in the world, regardless of wherever he slotted in the world rankings. After this win at Torrey Pines, he’s now No. 4 and at the start of a year where he could be the No. 1 competitor for No. 1 Rory McIlroy. Day finally got his second career win on last year’s West Coast swing, beating out a loaded 64-man bracket to take the WGC-Match Play. Given his multiple near-misses at the majors and repeated finishes inside the top 5 at the game’s biggest events, it was astounding that Day had not won more on the PGA Tour.

That WGC title had everyone predicting a monster year from Day. He finally had that PGA Tour victory drought off his back, and now he’d roll into Augusta as the favorite. But that was really the last week he’d be fully healthy in 2014. Day injured his thumb at the end of the Match Play, and then spent much of the summer bothered by hand, wrist, and elbow problems. He even changed his grip on Sunday at the PGA Championship to compensate for a wrist injury -- this as he stood just three shots back going into the final round and in prime contention in one of the day’s final groups. He was injured, and often noticeably so, at every major last year.

Day competing at the majors is nothing new. We know he can and will be there. But getting another win, this one his first stroke play title in five years, will only improve his chances at closing one of those career-definiing events. He had a little luck on Sunday just to get to the playoff, somehow getting his chip from the thickest rough in back of the green to stop on the front side of the bank at Torrey’s infamous 18th hole pond.

Day’s gamble to gun for the green in two ended up paying off thanks to that break and a par would be good enough to get in the playoff with Harris English, Scott Stallings, and J.B. Holmes. Steady tee-to-green work in two playoff holes was enough to outlast three other strong competitors and set Day up with his third career PGA Tour win. If his health holds up, the major is next.

The final round started Sunday morning with a few bombers having the best chance to win. English, Holmes, Jimmy Walker, and Day were some of the top names in contention on a clustered leaderboard, and they’re all renowned for poking the ball off the tee. A week after Brooks Koepka, an up-and-coming 24-year-old who absolutely hammers it, got his first win by overpowering the Phoenix Open, all four players this week who went to extra holes finished in the top-10 in driving distance.

Torrey Pines is a course that accentuates a player’s length advantage. Crushing it out there as far as you can, even into some of the thick rough that grew up at the South Course this week, is a huge edge. As some of the advanced stats in golf become more refined and better understood, one of the key insights is just how important driving the ball is in today’s game. That’s really been on display for a few years now but it has seemed especially important here early in 2015.

The Welshman and Ryder Cup hero has started 2015 with a couple early appearances stateside, first at TPC Scottsdale and again this week at Torrey Pines. He established himself as one of the best in the world last year, whether it was on the Euro Tour, contentions at WGCs and majors, or as an auto-qualifier for a loaded and deep European Ryder Cup team (which resulted in several days of Donaldson drunkeness). But this club toss may be his most impressive moment so far this year

The Tour is now off to Pebble Beach for the annual Clambake and Pro-Am, so prepare yourself for Bill Murray shenanigans. Here are the final results from Torrey: