Ludvig Åberg scored four birdies just in time to beat Maverick McNealy by one, securing his first victory on the PGA Tour since 2023.
On Thursday, gloomy weather conditions at the Torrey Pines South Course made an already tough golf course even tougher. Denny McCarthy, seeking his first PGA tour win, sat at the top of the leaderboard after round one. He clinched a 4-under 68 with birdie-eagle on the last two holes, giving McCarthy a one-stroke lead over Patrick Rodgers and Seamus Power. Scottie Scheffler, Davis Thompson and Wyndham Clark all sat two strokes behind the lead. Scheffler made four birdies on the front nine, but his putter turned cold on the back, leading him to shoot a 1-over 37 to close out the day.
First-round leader McCarthy shot a two-under round of 70 to fall to third place. Meanwhile, Thompson and Åberg both scored 66 and moved up the leaderboard. Thompson was the leader after two rounds, thanks to a 100-yard wedge shot on the 18th hole to a foot for a tap-in birdie. Scheffler sat one shot back of the leader after his second round of 67, and Rory McIlroy made seven birdies during the second round for a 67 that vaulted him into the top five, sitting three shots behind the leader.
Thompson, the leader heading into round three, made only one birdie and five bogeys, giving Rodgers the opportunity to claim the 54-hole lead after shooting a 4-under 68, edging out McCarthy by one. Tony Finau shot the round of the day with a 5-under 67, complete with three chip-in birdies and a 48-foot putt for birdie. On the par-3 third, Åberg had the shot of the tournament, making a hole-in-one from 140 yards.
For most of the afternoon on the final day, it looked like McNealy was on his way to his second career victory. Starting five shots back of the leader Rodgers, McNealy birdied five holes in a row en route to a front nine score of 30. He birdied three more holes on the back nine to give himself a share of the lead. That’s also when Åberg made his move, birdieing holes 13 through 15 to tie the lead. He went on to just miss his six-foot birdie putt on hole 17, so going into the par-5 18th hole, all the Swedish Olympian needed was a birdie. He hit two beautiful shots to give himself an eagle look from just under 70 feet. After lagging his first putt to six feet, Åberg calmly made the birdie putt for the win.
In response to the California wildfires, Genesis donated $8 million in tournament vehicles and cash to wildfire relief funds. The PGA Tour, TGR Live and Genesis also introduced the “Birdies for Good” initiative. $300 for each birdie and $10,000 for each hole-in-one made throughout the week was donated to the California Rises initiative. Local firefighters also got to participate in the pro-am Wednesday.
With the West Coast section of the schedule now done, the PGA Tour heads south for the Mexico Open next week, where Jake Knapp will look to defend his first PGA Tour title.
