One for the family: Luke List ends winless streak in playoff victory against Will Zalatoris

SAN DIEGO, Cali. – Luke List is no longer on the winless list.

In his 207^th PGA Tour start, List won for the first time in dramatic fashion as he defeated Will Zalatoris on the first playoff hole Saturday in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. The 37-year-old, who polished off his stellar 6-under-par 66 nearly two hours before the last group finished, knocked his third shot on the par-5 18th on the South Course to less than a foot for a career-changing tap-in.

Zalatoris, tied for the lead entering the final round, had an 8-footer on the final hole in regulation to win but missed by a hair. His chance to extend the playoff from 13 feet was just left of the cup.

List and Zalatoris (who shot 71) finished regulation at 15 under.

List was quickly joined on the 18^th green by his wife, Chloe, daughter, Ryann, 3, and son, Harrison, 7 months.

“This is what it’s all about,” List said as he had his arms around his family. “I’m so pumped that they were here to experience that with me. It means the world to me to have them. I always wanted that first win to happen with them here, with my wife. She’s amazing. To have them all here is going to be a special memory to have forever.

“It’s a whirlwind. Still a lot of emotions going through my head, but to get that first win is definitely a relief. Just really happy with how positive I stayed.”

List, who started the day five shots out of the lead, made his presence felt with four consecutive birdies on the front nine. He added birdies at 12 and 16 and then birdied the 18^th in regulation from 13 feet. And then he hit a wedge to tap-in range for the win.

And he finally got a trophy for Ryann.

“She’s been talking about it for a while. I don’t know when it first started, but I would leave for the morning whenever I was at a tournament and she’d say, ‘Go win a trophy,’ and then when I was home or she was home watching on TV or whatever, my wife would say, ‘Oh, Daddy’s going to try to win a trophy.’

“I think she saw a trophy at RSM at Sea Island. They drove down and saw the trophy and thought there was candy in it, so it just became a funny joke that we used to say I’d go win a trophy.”

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List was one of four players who at least held a share of the lead in the final round on a wild day on another windless day by the Pacific Ocean. At one time, nine players were within a shot of the lead.

Zalatoris, 25, is the reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year and finished one shot shy of Hideki Matsuyama in last year’s Masters. His peers have said he’s destined to win, and soon, but he’ll have to continue to wait for his day to come.

It could come next week in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where Zalatoris will make his 41^st start on the PGA Tour.

“It was a lot of fun. I fought like hell all day,” said Zalatoris, who parred his final 13 holes on the day. “I was kind of more disappointed with what I left out there on the second and third round. I thought today I battled really well. I thought the putt I hit on the 72nd hole, I thought I made it, I just needed a hair more speed.

“I want to go get next week, it’s pretty simple. I’ve got no regrets today at all. Like I said, I thought I battled like hell all day and handled myself really well. I had my chances, for sure, but that’s just the nature of this game.

“It’s hard to win out here, there’s no question about that.”

World No. 1 Jon Rahm, who won his first PGA Tour title in the 2017 Farmers, was sporting the same color scheme he donned for the final round in his victory in the 2021 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines – salmon shirt, gray slacks. He birdied the 17th to get within one but his bid to tie for the lead on the 18th from 17 feet was a tad wide and he shot 71 to finish at 14 under.

“Played good golf without feeling my best, so hopefully learn from a couple things here and I’ll get them next time,” Rahm said.

Joining Rahm at 14 under were Cameron Tringale (70) and Jason Day (72). Tringale made birdie on the last but now has gone 318 starts on the PGA Tour without a win and at about $15.8 million, will remain as the all-time money leader on the PGA Tour among those who have not won. Day, the former world No. 1 and a two-time winner at the Farmers, holed out from 118 yards for eagle on the 14th to tie for the lead. But Day, winless since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship, made bogeys on his next two holes.

SATURDAY NIGHT FIREWORKS! 🎇@JDayGolf holes out for eagle to tie the lead @FarmersInsOpen. pic.twitter.com/nd9ttHwuYA

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 29, 2022

“I know that I’m heading in the right direction and I know that the work I’ve been putting into my game is starting to pay off,” said Day, who has changed his swing in an effort to help his back that has troubled him on and off for years.

Justin Rose, the 2019 Farmers champion, was one shot out of the lead when he dumped his second shot into the pond guarding the green at the par-5 18th and made bogey to finish with a 68 and at 13 under.

Also at 13 under were Joaquin Niemann (67); Aaron Rai (72); Pat Perez (68), whose father, Tony, is the first tee starter; and Sungjae Im (71), who won earlier this season in Las Vegas. Im had a 50-footer for eagle on the 18th to tie for the lead but three-putted.

Luke List plays his shot from the 16th tee during the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course – South Course. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

List spent time with his family, putted, and hit shots onto the North Course as he readied for a possible playoff.

“You wonder if it’s going to be your turn, but I truly believe I found something this last six, eight months of golf,” he said. “I’ve worked so hard with my coach, Jamie Mulligan, and I’ve done all the right things.

“I hired a new putting coach in the offseason, Stephen Sweeney. We got together in December and he was pretty much expecting me to have the worst stroke ever and yips. He got down there, he’s like, ‘Listen, you’re doing what you’re trying to do really well, it’s just not what you should be doing.’ He opened up my eyes to the proper technique and I worked my butt off. I think I was strokes gained No. 1 on Thursday, which I hadn’t ever been No. 1 in strokes gained putting in a single round. It just snowballed from there and my confidence grew.”

List has lived in Augusta, Ga., the past four years and will play in the Masters for the first time since 2005, when he earned a spot in the first major of the year by finishing runner-up to Ryan Moore in the U.S. Amateur.

“Living in Augusta now the last four years, driving past there, I can’t tell you how much this means to me. That is a special place and I might get emotional,” List said. “That’s why you work hard, that’s why you do these things every day, that’s why you travel away from your family at times. To tee it up in April in Augusta will be a lot of hard work, but just really special to have my family there.

“I’m just over the moon.”