Reed surges clear to comfortably triumph at Torrey Pines

PATRICK Reed shrugged off his involvement in another controversy to claim a five-stroke win and his ninth PGA Tour title at the Farmers Insurance Open in California.

The American was awarded a free drop and saved par on Saturday after what he described as a “textbook” call to handle a ball he believed did not bounce before settling in the rough on the par-four tenth.

The Ryder Cup star, who was penalised two strokes for appearing to deliberately improve his lie in a bunker at the Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in December 2019, pushed ahead undaunted on Sunday to close with a four-under 68 at Torrey Pines.

The 30-year-old eagled with a 45-foot putt on the par-five sixth before coming home strongly with a birdie on the final hole that saw him finish with a 14-under 274 through the tournament.

Fellow Americans Tony Finau,

Ryan Palmer and Xander Schauffele were five strokes back, tied for second with Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Henrik Norlander of Sweden.

Rory McIlroy was the best of the British after he dropped eight spots from the previous day to finish tied for 16th. The Northern Irishman started poorly with bogeys on the tenth and 13th before he doublebogeyed on the par-four 15th, while England’s Tom Lewis emulated Reed with a birdie on the 18th to finish tied for 42nd on one under.