A decade after falling in a playoff at the Farmers Insurance Open, Harris English has found his way into the winner’s circle on the coast of California. Converting a one-stroke lead at the 54-hole mark into a one-stroke victory, English settled at 8 under for the tournament to raise the trophy after fending off a challenge from a surging Sam Stevens at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
The win represents English’s first since the 2021 Travelers Championship where he won in a memorable 8-hole playoff over Kramer Hickok. It also marks his fifth career title, and it could not have come at a better time given the upcoming PGA Tour schedule.
With the victory, English will be in the field for the rest of the signature events on the PGA Tour calendar this season. Thanks to the Aon Next 10, English had already played himself into next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational, which will return to Torrey Pines in a couple weeks as the tournament was forced to relocate due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.
English will not only be in the biggest events on the PGA Tour, but in golf’s biggest events as well. The win earns English his third straight invitation into the Masters and locks up his spots at the PGA Championship and next year’s Sentry, where he won to kick off his 2021 season.
On a cold, blustery day in San Diego, English got his day underway in uneasy fashion. Dropping a shot on his opening hole, the American immediately saw his lead disappear as 20-year-old Aldrich Potgieter joined him at the top of the leaderboard. The South African’s sizzling start turned into a slow decline, but English held steady as another man made a charge.
After starting with two straight bogeys, Novak found his groove and rattled off three straight birdies to grab the lead all by himself. The up-and-down nature of Novak’s round persisted throughout his front nine where he carded just one par and allowed English to regain the lead all to himself at 8 under by the two made the turn.
Just as the final group was settling into the round, Stevens surged ahead. The 28-year-old played his front nine in 4 under and quickly became a part of the equation. Stevens simmered over the back nine and offset a bogey on the par-5 13th with a clutch birdie on the par-4 17th to reach 7 under.
Splitting the fairway on the last, Stevens eyed matching English’s score on the golf course and posting the clubhouse lead. Wielding a 7 iron, the right hander’s approach fell short of the putting surface and bounced back into the water protecting the front of the green. He was able to save par, but a birdie was ultimately required.
English still had work to do left on the golf course, however. Scrambling his way around the back nine at Torrey Pines, the wily veteran leaned on his short game and course management to fend off the chasers. Carding 12 straight pars to end his round, he put the field to sleep and brought life to a career deserving of another trophy. Grade: A+
Here are the other notables on the leaderboard at the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open
3. Andrew Novak (-6): After missing the first two cuts of the season, Novak nabbed his second podium finish in his last five tournaments dating back to the fall. Going bogey-free on Friday, Novak experienced a rollercoaster final round where he carded just one par in his first 10 holes. Making enough birdies to offset the dropped shots and remain within reach of English, Novak met his end when he pulled a wedge shot on the par-4 15th leading to another dropped shot. Like the Bermuda Championship, the Farmers Insurance Open serves as a great learning opportunity for Novak and will make his first trip to the winner’s circle all that much sweeter. Grade: A
T4. Sungjae Im (-5): Im looked down for the count multiple times, but he continued to scratch and claw. After making an inexcusable bogey from the fairway on the par-5 9th, the two-time PGA Tour winner chipped in for birdie on No. 10 and then rolled in a putt from off the green on No. 11 to get within two strokes of the lead. That was as close as he would get as he missed a few chances coming in namely on Nos. 12-13 where he faced 15 feet to get within one. The finish represents his second top five in his three starts this season, but he still remains winless ever since claiming the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open. Grade: A-
T15. Luke Clanton (a) (-1): One of two amateurs with a chance to secure full-time PGA Tour status coming into the week, Clanton came close, but ultimately fell short of the required top-five finish. Perhaps playing too aggressive into some tucked pins and leaving himself short sided instead of taking his medicine, Clanton will learn from this experience and be out on tour sooner rather than later. He grabbed his 18th point in the PGA Tour accelerated program by making the cut and will only need a top-10 finish next time he plays to earn his card. Grade: A
T42. Ludvig Åberg (+3): After commanding the first first-round lead of his career, Åberg slowly began to drift down the leaderboard. He held a share of the top spot after the second round, but illness set in over the set half of the weekend and impacted his play greatly. With his body a bit slower than usual, Åberg was never able to get in sync over the final 36 holes. He stood at 9 under after Wednesday’s round – one stroke ahead of the eventual winning score. Grade: C
WD. Max Homa (–): Homa was one of 14 withdrawals from the tournament, but his early exit had nothing to do with health. Well outside the cutline by the time Thursday’s action wrapped up, Homa decided to call it quits instead of returning the next morning when a made cut was statistically impossible. A former tournament winner and dominant in his home state of California, Homa got off to a brutal start and never recovered. He’s battling seemingly every aspect of his game at the moment. Grade: F
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