From Bubba to a 72-yard flagstick tend, Farmers had it all

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

The continuing emergence of Jhonattan Vegas was one of many storylines in a great weekend at Torrey Pines.

Sponsors who host golf tournaments can add money to their purses, give away nice perks to attract the best fields, find a killer venue and proudly display the heritage and tradition of their event.

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But there's one thing money, history and a respected course can't buy: A great event.

No matter how much millions you put up or how deep you grow the rough or how many years you've been staging the tournament, there is never a guarantee the end result will surpass the hype.

That's what happened Sunday in the Farmers Insurance Open, which Bubba Watson won by a shot with a final-hole birdie. Throughout the weekend, everybody was saying the same thing: "This is a great tournament."

Of course, there's not too many pedestrian events at Torrey Pines, which hosted the 2008 U.S. Open and is blessed with a gorgeous view that overlooks the Pacific Ocean just north of San Diego.

But when the tournament ends with a caddie tending a pin while his boss (Phil Mickelson) is trying to hole out from 72 yards away to force a sudden-death playoff -- and he almost does -- that's not a boring finish.

It's never a bad sign, either, when the top three finishers are all inside the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking -- Watson (No. 18), Mickelson (No. 4) and Dustin Johnson (No. 14).

This one got interesting early, when John Daly and Tiger Woods -- both former winners at Torrey Pines -- got on the leaderboard in the first round. Neither could stay there, however, although Woods' fade was more surprising.

Woods had won the last five times he had played at Torrey Pines and had shot over par just once in 45 previous rounds (not counting the U.S. Open). But that number shot to three after Woods closed with rounds of 74 and 75 to finish T44.

Woods' comeback remains a work in process.

Still, the Farmers Insurance Open was just gaining steam. Beyond the sheer beauty of Torrey Pines' South Course, the layout also is deeply respected by the players. The winning score of 16-under is a misleadingly low number because everyone plays the softer North Course one of the first two days. Watson, for instance, shot 7 under on the North, meaning he averaged 69 during his three rounds on the South.

It certainly helped to have local legend Mickelson move into the lead on Saturday. Mickelson has won the event three times, but not in the last 10 years. Lefty also hadn't won anywhere since last year's Masters.

Then there was a guy who everyone was struggling to pronounce his name -- Jhonattan Vegas; his friends call him Johnny -- who had a chance to duplicate David Duval's feat of winning his first two PGA TOUR events in successive weeks. (Duval actually won three in a row, back in 1997.) Vegas won last week's Bob Hope Classic and has the pure swing to lift a lot more trophies before he's done playing.

Vegas didn't go away quietly. He screamed at his ball three times to "Come on!" while it was in the air on the 72nd hole. The ball didn't listen, landing short of the green in the water to end Vegas' chances.

That left the stage for Watson, who hits a pink driver farther than any golfer in the world (he averaged more than 318 yards to lead the field). Watson was wobbling a little Saturday until a birdie at No. 17 and an eagle at No. 18 kept him in contention.

Watson, who learned the game playing with a Wiffle Ball in his back yard, used his ridiculous length to birdie all four par-5s Sunday and play the rest of the South Course in one-under. It netted the left-hander his second career victory.

It needs to be pointed out Watson's win is a reminder of how difficult it is to play this game left-handed. Watson became just the fifth lefty to win at least twice on the PGA TOUR, joining Mickelson (38), Mike Weir (eight), Bob Charles (six) and Steve Flesch (four).

There certainly haven't been many 1-2 finishes by left-handers in PGA TOUR history.

Mickelson milked the drama when he had his caddy, Jim "Bones" Mackay, tend the pin at the final hole. Of course, Mickelson simply saw it as using common sense.

"About 10, 12, 14 times a year, I end up hitting the pin with a wedge, and it ricochets all over the place and I didn't want that to happen," Mickelson said. "I also wanted to give it two chances. I wanted to fly it in, possibly, or I wanted it to skip past it and maybe bring it back and give it a second chance to go in and the pin would only get in the way of that.

"Obviously, you need to hit a great shot and you need to get some luck to hole one from the fairway. I'm not naive on that. I get it. But I also didn't want to have something in the way."

Common sense, sure. Just not a common week.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.