Jason Day and Alex Noren had to return to Torrey Pines at 8.04am on Monday to complete their play-off for the Farmers Insurance Open title. The previous evening, darkness had descended as they walked off the green of their fifth sudden-death hole, forcing play to be suspended until the next morning – which also meant the weekly world rankings update was delayed for 24 hours.
When the 30-year-old Australian quickly settled matters with a birdie on the sixth extra hole he was able to celebrate his 11th PGA Tour victory and first since the 2016 Players Championship, a significant step in his stated determination to return to the top echelons after an annus horribilis in 2017 when his mother was recovering from lung cancer and his wife suffered a miscarriage.
A former world number one (for the first time, back in 2015), Day rose four places to 10th in the current rankings, as the top seven remained unchanged – including second-placed Jon Rahm, who was well on target to successfully defend his title in San Diego before falling back over the weekend to a share of 29th, eight shots behind the winner.
Meanwhile, for the benefit of those who have been on a mid-ocean tropical island with no internet connection this past month, we should mention that Tiger Woods made his long-awaited return to competition at Torrey Pines – with mixed results. His play was fairly erratic, saved by an excellent short game, but he still managed to finish the week three-under in joint 23rd place. That vaulted him from 647th to 539th in the rankings, the highest position in two years for someone who had been number one for a record 683 weeks during his prime, before injury and other issues derailed his progress.
