The toughest courses on the PGA Tour in 2023 were three major venues, then Torrey Pines South

Torrey Pines South is no joke.

It’s no secret but the stats do bear out that Torrey Pines South is no joke.

One of two golf courses – along with the North – that hosts the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open, the South is proving once again to be one of the toughest tests in golf.

So far in 2024, the Farmers field was 3 under during the first round Wednesday. In Thursday’s second round, the field of 156 was a combined 18 over, according to the PGA Tour’s ShotLink.

The South is the lone course in play for the final two rounds of the Farmers, so whoever reaches the finish line first there has earned his stripes.

Looking at the entire course stats from last season, Torrey Pines South was the highest non-major venue on the most difficult courses list.

First-time winners lead, Will Zalatoris finds his form and more from moving day at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open

Someone forgot to tell the players moving day came early this week at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open.

SAN DIEGO — Someone forgot to tell the players moving day came early this week at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open.

Just 18 of the 79 players who made the cut were under par on Friday on the South Course at Torrey Pines, and the low rounds of the day were a pair of 4-under 68s from Ryan Brehm and Will Zalatoris.

The third round featured the return of the CBS walk-and-talk with a San Diego native, a new swing analysis tool, the return of a rising PGA Tour star and a gritty golf course fit for a testy Saturday finale. Here’s what you missed from the third round of the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Farmers Insurance Open: Photos

Longest active cut streak extends, Europeans invade leaderboard and more from Thursday at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open

Get caught up on what you missed from the second round in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO — After a cloudy and soggy start to the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open the sun came out Thursday and the winds picked up along the southern California coast. The scores picked up, too.

The South Course at Torrey Pines was even more challenging during the second round of the PGA Tour’s annual stop in San Diego, but on the flip side, the often gettable North Course played a little bit easier.

From a European invasion at the top of the leaderboard to a first-ever ace and the extension of the longest active cut streak on Tour, here’s what you may have missed – including notables who missed the cut – from Thursday’s second round of the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open.

FARMERS: Friday third round tee times | Photos

Hideki Matsuyama makes first PGA Tour hole-in-one at 2024 Farmers Insurance Open

After he made the ace, Matsuyama threw his ball into the gallery to a lucky fan.

SAN DIEGO — Hideki Matsuyama has accomplished a lot in his golf career.

The 31-year-old from Japan reached No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before he turned professional and has since gone on to win eight times on both the PGA Tour and Japan Golf Tour. In 2021 he became the first-ever Japanese player to win a men’s major at the Masters. He’s also represented the International Team at the Presidents Cup five times.

During Thursday’s second round of the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, Matsuyama crossed a major feat off his PGA Tour to-do list: make a hole-in-one. Matsuyama aced the par-3 8th hole on the South Course Torrey Pines for his first-ever hole-in-one on the PGA Tour in his 247th start.

It’s the 26th hole-in-one in the event’s history – each has come at Torrey Pines – and first at No. 8 on the South Course since Richy Werenski in the final round in 2020.

Making his third start of the season this week, Matsuyama has made the cut in his first two events at The Sentry (58) and Sony Open in Hawaii (T-30).

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Photos: $85 hats, baby onesies highlight the best (and worst) 2024 Farmers Insurance Open merch at Torrey Pines

The merch at Torrey Pines in the pro shop and fan village offers a little something for everyone.

SAN DIEGO — The coastal theme is spread far and wide around both the merchandise tent in the fan village and the Torrey Pines pro shop at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open.

Surfboards and palm trees are plastered all over the hats, polos, t-shirts and quarter zips for sale. There’s also an impressive amount of headcover designs that feature beach themes, California landmarks or a mix of both. Some of the items, such as a mesh-back hat with a magnet on the brim for a ball mark, will cost you as much as $85. Welcome to California, right?

Check out some of the best (and worst) gear and accessories for sale at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Max Homa’s title defense, low scores and the return of Michael Block lead 2024 Farmers Insurance Open Wednesday highlights

Calm conditions made Torrey Pines ripe for the picking Wednesday, especially the North Course.

SAN DIEGO — Record rainfall caused flooding and power outages across the county in the days leading up to the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, which made for a soggy start to the PGA Tour’s annual trip to Torrey Pines.

A whopping 107 of the 156 players in the field were even par or better on a calm Wednesday at the 36-hole muni gem along the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean (No. 39 in Golfweek’s Best public courses list). And yes, the often gettable North Course produced significantly more birdies than the tricky South Course.

Kevin Yu leads the way after a bogey-free, 8-under 64, but the 25-year-old’s birdie fest wasn’t the only notable story from the first round. From a title defense in the making to signature event bubble watch and another sponsor exemption in the mix, here’s what you need to know about Wednesday at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open.

Max Homa explains why he wants to be Mr. Consistency in 2024 ahead of Farmers Insurance Open title defense

Homa is looking to become the first player to defend his title at Torrey Pines since Tiger Woods won from 2005-08.

SAN DIEGO — Max Homa grew up watching the Farmers Insurance Open and even skipped class to sneak down to Torrey Pines to watch Tiger Woods play the South Course one year.

“One hole, 15, another bear of a hole, I remember he hit a massive drive and it looked like he hit a 9-iron and spun it back to like two feet. That’s the hole that I just remember sticks out so much to me,” he said Tuesday. “It’s graceful and it’s powerful, something you have to almost see up close.”

“Even when I got out here as a professional, just the vibe around him,” Homa continued. “One year there was a fog delay and we were all stuck on the putting green and he’s playing with two very popular and amazing golfers, Billy Horschel and (Rickie Fowler). The first day there was a thousand people on the putting green and the next day he had withdrawn that afternoon, the next day there was the same fog delay and there were like 22 people around us. It was like ‘Dang, this guy really controls the world.’ Just stuff like that I always thought was fascinating about him.”

Making his eighth Farmers Insurance Open appearance this week, Homa has returned to the 36-hole municipal gem along the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean with a lofty goal: become the first player to defend his title at Torrey Pines since Woods won four consecutive years from 2005-2008. A title defense wouldn’t be anything new for Homa, who went back-to-back up the coast in Napa in 2021 and 2022 at the Fortinet Championship for two of his six PGA Tour wins.

MORE: How a round with Max Homa brought Michael Kim out of his social media shell

In fact, four of the Burbank native’s victories have come in his home Golden State, but don’t just chalk up his California success to good vibes. Homa noted a similarity between Torrey Pines and Riviera – where he won the 2021 Genesis Invitational – and how both courses demand elite ball striking, which happens to be one the best parts of his fine-tuned game. Not to mention his comfort with putting on those pesky poa annua greens.

“A lot of guys seem to struggle on poa annua. I know a lot of guys complain about it. I don’t know, I’ve just had a lot of success putting on poa annua,” Homa explained while also noting his struggles at last year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. “I grew up putting on it. It’s just one of those things I probably have a bit more comfort in it around the whole state.”

Homa’s title defense isn’t the only reason he’s in the headlines this week. On Tuesday Capital One’s “The Match” announced Homa would compete against Rory McIlroy, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang in the next version of the made-for-TV series. Usually one to never shy away from having a little fun, Homa declined to start the trash talk with his three opponents.

“I need to save my bullets because they’re all phenomenal golfers and I have a feeling if things get going sideways, I’m only going to have one bit of value left and it will be my mouth,” he quipped. “I’m going to save those for when I need them.”

FARMERS: Tee times | Odds, picks to win

Admirable as his humility may be, Homa is riding the best wave of form of his career these days. Homa followed his 2022 campaign that featured two wins and five top-10 finishes with two more wins and a whopping 13 top-10s in 2023. He also had a runner-up and a third-place showing as well as a win in November in South Africa on the DP World Tour.

“Wins, you leave a legacy with wins so I’m never going to discount them or discredit them,” said Homa, “but when you’re talking about the best players, they’re around the lead a lot.”

“I was incredibly proud of last season not as much because of two wins, but I was really pumped about the top-10s,” he added. “I just want to put myself in position as much as possible. I know there’s going to be weeks that I get it done and weeks that I don’t, but being around it I think shows the, I guess, skill and talent of a golfer.”

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Players in the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open field tell their favorite Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines stories

They just can’t help but talk about Tiger.

Tiger Woods made Torrey Pines his personal ATM for a 14-year stretch of his PGA Tour career.

Seven of his 82 victories on Tour came at the famed southern California muni, the first in 1999 and the last in 2013. And don’t forget his 2008 U.S. Open win over Rocco Mediate.

Woods isn’t in the field for this week’s 2024 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, but a handful of the players who are competing just couldn’t help but talk about Tiger in their pre-tournament press conferences. Check out what Max Homa, Xander Schauffele and more had to say about Tiger Woods and his history at Torrey Pines.

Farmers: Photos | First round tee times

How a round with Max Homa brought Michael Kim out of his social media shell

Despite his growing social media following, Kim got an ego check from the PGA Tour this week.

SAN DIEGO – Michael Kim has carved out his own piece of the internet pie due to his elevated presence on social media over the last couple of years.

As a one-time winner on the PGA Tour back at the 2018 John Deere Classic, the 30-year-old isn’t used to being recognized by fans off the course, let alone on it. Despite boasting a following that continues to grow week after week, he still gets brought back down to earth. This week it was the PGA Tour who checked his ego. Kim, who went to Torrey Pines High School, was left off the list of San Diego natives in the field for the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines (South Course).

“I’m kind of looking at the list and I see Charley Hoffman, yeah, I get that. I see Xander Schauffele, yeah, I get that. I see J.J. Spaun, I’m like, ‘Hmm … I don’t know, if you remember J.J. you probably should remember me,’” he joked. “And I see Cameron Sisk and I’m like, ‘Who the hell is Cameron Sisk?’ Funny enough, I actually ran into him on the range just earlier and he had a picture. He caddied for me like 10 years ago when I was playing this event as like a First Tee like walk up 18 and he sent me the picture. It was kind of funny, it was kind of one of my first old veteran guy moments, I guess. I still feel I’m one of the younger guys out here, but seeing that was kind of funny.”

Kim doesn’t know the exact moment when he decided to ramp up his game online, but he did credit former Cal teammate and social media star Max Homa – the Farmers defending champion – for opening his eyes to the good that can come from an active internet presence.

“I guess if there was one moment, I played with (Homa) at the Safeway not this last one but the one before that and for whatever reason Max and my career, we never really matched up. When I was playing well, he was playing bad and when he was playing well, I was playing bad,” Kim explained. “So I hadn’t really seen his following grow as much. I think that week was a big eye opener in seeing the following that he had, seeing the crowd that he drew.

“Certainly that was a bit of a catalyst for make thinking maybe I can use Twitter or X as something to grow, quote unquote, my brand,” he continued. “That was probably the biggest start point of it all.”

Farmers: First round tee times, how to watch

Most fans these days know Kim for his humorous and knowledgeable online posts and are quick to forget his on-course accolades. As a member of Cal’s golf team, Kim won the 2013 Haskins Award as the men’s college player of the year. That same year he represented the United States in both the Palmer Cup and Walker Cup. He graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour in 2015 and earned his first PGA Tour win three years later.

Then came the spiral. From the 2019-2021 seasons, Kim made 71 starts, missed 51 cuts and never finished inside the top 25 en route to losing his Tour card. He was forced to return to the Korn Ferry Tour for the 2021–22 season, but immediately regained his Tour card for the 2022–23 season, where he missed just two cuts over 32 starts and earned four top-10 finishes.

“It has been a pretty big rollercoaster ride. When you show up to — when you grow up hoping to someday play in the event, you don’t really — you only think about the good things that might happen, you don’t necessarily think about all the bad things that might happen,” said Kim. “During those ups and downs I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a person and as a golfer. Surely much more knowledgeable about my mental game, my full swing and all that. Hopefully I can use those ups and downs to further my career starting now.”

This week Kim will make his eighth start at the Farmers, where he has a best finish of T-23 back in 2018. Even though he has plenty of fond memories of Torrey Pines, he rarely thinks of his own game when he returns to the William Bell design along the Pacific Ocean.

“Whenever I come back I remember mostly (Tiger Woods) shots, some of his most famous shots out here and me trying those shots, mostly the putt on 18 when he won the U.S. Open, or to get into the playoff in the U.S. Open,” said Kim, who played Torrey Pines two weeks later and tried to recreate the putt. “The cup wasn’t exactly there, so I put a tee down … I took a couple tries at it and I probably imitated Tiger’s fist pump and then looked around to see if anyone was watching. I probably wasn’t the only person trying that putt after that.”

Much like Homa was desperate to win his hometown event at the Genesis Invitational, Kim is hoping to follow suit here in San Diego.

“Yeah, this tournament is obviously really special for me. Torrey Pines is where I grew up playing, went to Torrey Pines High School. So I’m always excited to come back to this event and it’s almost a dream come true,” he said. “Dream is to actually win the thing, so we’ll see.”

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Conversations with Champions: Max Homa says ‘everybody else calls me the social media guy. I still think I’m a pretty darn good golfer’

Conversations with Champions is presented by Sentry.

Max Homa stole the show on Friday at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open, when he agreed to wear a mic and conduct a live talk-back during CBS’s coverage of the third round.

Homa was all business Saturday, shooting a final-round 66 to rally from six shots down to earn his sixth PGA Tour victory. The California kid also won for the fourth time (on three different courses) in his home state.

Homa moved up three spots to No. 13 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 7 in the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking. He also moved up four sports in the U.S. Ryder Cup team standings to No. 5, making him one of the six current automatic qualifiers.

The biggest thrill for Homa, though, might be that his infant son Cameron was greenside in the arms of his wife Lacey as he grinded out a come-from-behind win on the difficult South Course.

Here’s everything Homa said on Saturday at Torrey Pines.

Question: What was that progression for you to get more comfortable here at Torrey?

Max Homa: Joe [Homa’s caddie] did say exactly that. I think that Sunday I had shot 5 under in the final round and kind of finally figured out how to play the South Course. I’ve always played the North all right. But yeah, I think really what changed, part my golf game. I drive the ball really well now, that’s a big advantage out here. You don’t need to be in the short grass all the time, but you do need to be in it if you want to make birdies. The good news about this place is you’re going to make so many pars and bogeys, you can get away with some loose ones, but in general I started getting more comfortable on certain tees. My iron game has always kind of been my staple, I guess, of what I’m most proud of in my game and it lends itself to that at this golf course. But yeah, getting comfy on South knowing that I don’t need to ball out on North to have a chance here. As Joe said, once we get to the weekend or I guess Friday, the third round here, you know, it really does become a who’s who at the top it seems like. You need to play very, very good golf two days in a row on a very hard golf course. So I thought that just what Joe said, that final round, that T-9 I think gave me some confidence, all right, I can play this golf course. I think I came in here, got a little psyched out just because of how difficult it could be and I started to realize that you don’t need to hit every fairway. If I play my game, it actually does kind of suit me pretty well.

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Q: What has changed mentally in the last two or three years about your belief in  yourself going from the social media guy to now one of the top players in the world?

MH: Everybody else calls me the social media guy. I still think I’m a pretty darn good golfer. Obviously results helped me kind of build that foundation. I do like to say dumb things and make dumb jokes and observe weird stuff and Tweet about it like, you know, a kid, I guess. But when I work, when I practice, when I play tournaments, I — this is what I love. I love what today was, it was incredible. So I don’t think anything’s changed too much. The confidence is becoming more steady. I’ve been working with a sports psychologist, Julie [Elion], who has,  I mean the last two months have opened my eyes to a lot of things. Having a plan each day mentally. I didn’t go into a single round this week thinking about a technical goal or a statistical goal, it was I’m going to learn something today, I’m going to put in place what I’ve been working on, and today that’s what I did. I did a great job of it. I told her last night, she asked if I wanted to talk, I said I’m all good because I thought our game plan yesterday was fantastic. I didn’t play the greatest round of golf in the world, but I did everything that I wanted to do and put myself in a position to win a golf tournament.

2023 Farmers Insurance Open
Max Homa reacts after clinching victory at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Photo: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports)

Q: L.A. guy, winning in San Diego, that hasn’t happened a lot lately. Were you hearing anything from Padres fans while you were out there in the gallery?

MH: Only for the six days I’ve been here. (Laughs.) Yeah, I mean, it’s all in good fun. They talk a very big game, which is just wild to me. They have all the pressure in the world on them this year. They’ve spent all the money that we had been spending, so if they don’t win, then they can hear the same stuff they chirp back at us as Dodger fans. Yeah, it’s nice, it’s nice to win up and down the state of California and carry that L.A. logo both on my head and in my heart, me and Joe. It’s nice. I don’t talk back to anybody in the crowd about the Dodger-Padres thing but Joe does, so I enjoy listening to him talk his trash back to them.

Q: More serious golf question, the fact that you had experience now in coming back on the final day from deficits, what is there about your attitude, your thought process, what have you, that enables you to do that, that enables you to just let that roll off of you?

MH: I think I do a good job when I’m behind of “one shot at a time” and knowing that it’s a marathon. Unfortunately I’ve been in the position, succeeded a couple times both through on the, well, when it was the Web.com, now the Korn Ferry Tour. I think I was 7 behind and I won one in Chicago. I just remembered that experience of just go play golf, see what happens, I’m going to need help, but it’s hard to win golf tournaments I think what kind of always helps me. Sam [Ryder] is a phenomenal golfer, I’m sure he’ll win a bunch out here, but he hadn’t won yet. And it’s hard to win, I know that. I’ve done it fortunately and I think when the old guys say experience is key, that’s what they’re talking about. I was lucky, Jon [Rahm] is probably just exhausted, he’s made so many birdies and won so many golf tournaments. There’s just so much going on that you can’t really get ahead of yourself and I struggle with that at times, but when it’s something like today or when you are behind chasing, it almost eases you into just one at a time and make everybody beat you and just play a good round of golf and see what happens. You can’t force yourself to a 66 out here, you can’t force yourself to 64. I’m sure Tony shooting 64 yesterday, Jon shot 66, I’m sure they would say the same thing. It was a round earlier, but they just played good golf and the ball went in the hole. Trust your game. Yesterday was a bigger day towards the end goal than today really was because I had it, I had my game, I played awesome, swung it great, just did not make anything. Held it together and shot 1 under and gave myself a chance today to go play the same round of golf and let the ball go in the hole. I think just that patience has been something I’ve leaned on when I’m behind and knowing just how darn hard it is to win out here. There’s just a lot of great players and the golf courses are very hard. These final rounds are marathons, they seem to take forever.

Q: Does anything feel different about winning now that you have a child?

MH: A little bit. I mean, I’ve joked about it all afternoon, but I really, I want to win when he remembers it. However, when you have a kid as a professional athlete, you hear so many times the noise, oh, it’s, you’re not going to have the same time, this, that or whatever. But I’ve been so fortunate that my wife just seems to handle everything so easily. She had a horrendous birth, it did not go well. It was the scariest. … hard to say because it was an amazing day, get a new son, Cam. It was the worst day ever at the same time. I thought. …whatever. So she’s just made everything so easy. And I still go practice, but I think I just manage my time a bit better.

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I guess to your question, it’s a little different because I feel like I’ve almost worked harder for this because I want to spend as much time as I possibly can helping her and being with Cam and doing all the cool things, catching some smiles here and there and getting screamed at. But I also want to be the best golfer on the planet and she knows that and she just does an amazing job letting me do both, especially when she’s here on the road and when I’m home. So yeah, I work hard at two things now, so it feels a little bit more difficult but it’s a million times more rewarding. To see them behind the 18th green knowing I was probably about to win a golf tournament was cool. Like I say, he has no idea what I did, but I will tell him this story ad nauseam and he will probably think I’m the worst for it, but this will be my corny dad story that I will tell every Thanksgiving or something.

Q: With you being in the moment, have you changed a diaper since walking off the course and now or is that a predicted thing for later?

MH: It will happen. The sun will come up tomorrow and my son will need a diaper change many times before that. So I will be changing diapers, I will enjoy every second of it as I always do. It’s going to feel even better than normal. If he screams at me, I will just be smiling ear to ear. These tournaments are hard, man, but it puts you in the best mood ever when you come out on top. He can poop away and I’ll just be here for him.

Q: Compared to other six wins, lost your card twice and earned your card back on the Korn Ferry Tour. Are there anyways you feel like that has been unique to your advantage or perspective to kind of compete at this level?

MH: Yeah, I think I have a great perspective towards my love for this game. I’ve seen kind of all of it. I remind myself most days too when I’m getting nervous coming down the stretch or things are getting wobbly, like today 12, or 13, 14, 15. I just kind of always remind myself you’ve seen the darkness of this game, enjoy this, enjoy the beauty of it. People chanting my name, things I could never have imagined. So I do think so. I think that it’s calming. And I’ve always had a bit of a chip on my shoulder, just grew up a huge Kobe fan. He just seemed to play basketball like that and I’ve always loved trying to play golf like that and work at it like that. So when I get in these moments, I feel like all of it combined eases me a bit. I remember when I won my first golf tournament on the PGA Tour, the Wells Fargo in ’19, I was going to play golf with Rory McIlroy on Saturday and I just told myself he’s never seen what I’ve seen, he does not know the same kind of pressure I know, I guess. I could be making this up, but either way it helped me beat him. But yeah, it’s the little things like that. I think everybody out here’s got their own chip, everyone out here’s got their own story, everyone out here has their own struggles. They look a little bit different. We all handle it how we handle it. But yeah, I can only tell you what’s going on in my head and that’s how I’ve kind of tried to use it.

2023 Farmers Insurance Open
Max Homa hits his tee shot on the 16th hole during the final round of the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego. (Photo: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports)

Q: Those four straight birdies in Portland, do those still live on? Are they still something that comes up in your head?

MH: It’s funny, I think about it less and less, but I should probably think about it more and more. Yeah, that’s kind of what I mean about pressure. Like sitting there on the 15th hole and I didn’t know I needed to but I figured I needed to birdie the last four just to have a chance to go into the playoff. I believe I would be out here anyways, I believe I’d have six wins anyways, I believe that I would have figured it out, but I’m glad — I’m glad I made those four birdies, I’ll say that.

Q: This week it was a silly thing for Groundhog Day, but it was a fun clip where we asked you if there was a day you’d like to re-live over and over. … and you also made the point to mention you want to have more of those memories, want to create more days you would like to live over and over. What’s your reaction with that mentality that you have?

MH: Oh, man, that’s a great question. I guess I feel very thankful that I’m not really sure which day. I’ve had a lot of great days both on the golf course and off. I’m glad to say I do not know how to answer that question today.

Q: What do you think it is that kind of allowed you at that point have that response in terms of not wanting to really dwell on a date too much in the past?

MH: Yeah, I guess everyone, you know, you’re just hopeful. I hope that I haven’t seen my best day yet, my favorite day yet. I’m sure there will be many other great, great days. Today feels like the best day ever. I’m hoping that tomorrow feels better. I’ll say that maybe I’ll be looking forward to the first time my son thinks he’s going to beat me and I drop a putt on 18 to beat him and show him what’s up. That will probably be a day I’m looking forward to. But I guess it’s just hope. I think all of us kind of have that, you just hope for the best and stay the course.

Q: Have you always had that, just that natural hope?

MH: I think all of us kind of do. There’s some grumpy people, but if you’re playing golf, you better be an eternal optimist.

Q: I know you’re a big Kobe fan, so when you make that putt on 16 for the birdie, is there a little Kobe in you that says let’s go get it. Has anything changed mentally for you or do you stay even keeled at that moment?

MH: I actually thought about it, him a little bit throughout the day. This is the golf tournament where we found out he had passed away tragically, so this place has a weird, I have a weird feeling towards it. I love it and it has like a weird sadness to it. I mean, I think about Kobe Bryant a lot, I think a lot of athletes do. But yeah, little moments. It’s not the putt on 16 really, it was the putt on 13, the second one, and the second one on 15. That just tenacity that everyone around you might be oohing and ahhing and you know what’s about to happen and you kind of just stand up there and say I’m going to show you what guts are right now and I’m going to show you that I trust what I’ve been doing. What I learned from Kobe Bryant’s teachings and watching him, you know, work at his craft back in the day is he puts in all these hours behind the scenes so that when he’s on camera doing his thing, he can just let it happen. So I try to take that with me and I try to embrace the craziness and the pressure and all of that because that’s what I saw him do and I was enamored by that.

Q: All the success you’ve had in California, how much have you circled the U.S. Open in L.A. this year?

MH: A lot less than other people have for me. I’ve circled the Masters as the next major. But yeah, it will be great. I have great memories there, won the Pac-12s there. But I think I’m going to let a lot of people decide that that’s going to be a big opportunity for me. I’d like to just keep playing great golf and I would hope that all of them could be a good opportunity for me. But it will be fun just like today was to play in front of my friends and family. I’ll hear more Dodgers fans up there than Padres, so that will be a nice change from this week. But yeah, it’s so hard to look ahead. Right now if you told me to go start the U.S. Open tomorrow in L.A., I’d feel really, really good, but you never know what swing stuff you’re going to be going through. I’d like to say I’m going to feel just like I do right now, but I’m just going to keep working at it and when I get there I’ll be able to kind of look around and appreciate that I have great history there.

Q: Is there a hole that you made birdie when your son was there?

MH: The first one was, was it yesterday? Yesterday I birdied 18 and Joe said, “About time you birdied one for Cam.” I think I birdied 6 a couple days ago, but it didn’t feel like it counted to Joe, so we’ll let 18 yesterday be the one that counts.

Q: Just before we let you go, you wore the earpiece yesterday for one hole during the CBS broadcast. Sounds like it was successful, everybody seemed to have a good time, you included. Do you think or have you had any feedback from other players? Do you think now that you’ve gone on to win the tournament that there will be, that it will encourage others to perhaps experiment with that, try it?

MH: Hopefully. We’ve been working on this with [Andy] Pazder and CBS and everybody for like two months. I’m very excited about the idea. I’m sure if we could Tweet things how other people want to do it, how other players want to do it. If they don’t want to do it I’ll keep doing it, it didn’t bother me. I thought it was great for the fans to look into, push that envelope for the fans. Not just myself, but the Tour seems to be, CBS, NBC, all these broadcasting streams seem to be wanting to add something to the viewing experience. But it was great. It was cool to win after doing it. You always hear people say, oh, Tiger would never do this, Rahm would never do this, all they care about is winning. I get that, but you can do both. That was definitely nice to win doing that yesterday. It was 20 minutes, it was not invasive. I even thought if you don’t want to do the interview with the people in the booth, they could just be in your ear or in your caddie’s ear so they could hear us really clearly. So there’s definitely little things we could do here or there. I’m hoping other players would want to do it. I haven’t heard yet. We were coming off the third round into the fourth, we don’t really talk about too much of that stuff yet. But hopefully other players want to do it. I’m sure there’s some interest in this whether I won or didn’t. Hopefully we can kind of keep pushing that or tweak it, just anything to help golf kind of gain some attraction to all the viewers hopefully a little bit younger than our typical audience, I think that’s what the goal is.

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