A tumultuous day filled with big leads, sweaty moments and momentum swing after momentum swing resulted in Stephan Jaeger taking a one-stroke lead at 11 under over Matthieu Pavon and Nicolai Hojgaard into the final round of the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open. The 36-hole leader's round featured just about everything as the German shot out the gates and looked in full control of his game in the early stages.
Jaeger was at ease in possession of his first 36-hole lead as he made a pair of early birdies to fend off a sizzling Thomas Detry. The back-and-forth of the first four holes was only the beginning as Jaeger stood over a 7-foot birdie chance on the par-4 7th with a chance to extend his edge to three. He missed, and from there, 11 holes of chaos among the final group ensued.
Jaeger made bogey on his following hole before doing well to save par on the par-5 9th to close out his outward half. Taking to the most difficult stretch at Torrey Pines, Jaeger made bogeys on Nos. 11-12, but he still owned a one-stroke lead. Despite a flurry of birdies and bogeys from Detry and Hojgaard alongside him, Jaeger maintained this edge up until the Belgian struck a blow on the par-3 16th.
Making his third birdie of the back nine, Detry finally caught up to Jaeger. When his European counterpart slipped up on 17, he went to the 18th tee with the solo lead at 11 under. After splitting the fairway, Detry made the head-scratching decision to lay up. It proved to be an incorrect choice as his wedge shot landed well past the pin, zipping across the green and into the water protecting the front of the surface.
"I hit an amazing drive, I drove it great on 18," said Detry. "I was just in between 3-wood, hybrid. It's been a very long day. I think we played in 5 hours 45 [minutes], I had a little bit of mud on the ball, the lie wasn't perfect, light was starting to be -- it was starting to be dark. There was a couple of different factors that were not in favor. Obviously short is a no-go. So, we decided to be smart and there we go, I got punched in the face."
Detry was unable to save bogey and walked off the green with a double-bogey and a bloody nose. Meanwhile, Jaeger made his fifth birdie of the day to offset a half dozen blemishes and sign for a 1-over 73 matching the scores of Detry and Hojgaard. The three made up the theatrics on Friday, but they are joined by a laundry list of characters in the final round.
Xander Schauffele, Will Zalatoris, Tony Finau and Ludvig Åberg all find themselves at 7 under and in with a chance to win. A total of 25 players are within five strokes of Jaeger — the same deficit both Max Homa and Luke List overcame in 2023 and 2022 en route to their respective titles. If Friday was precursor to anything, it's that anything can — and probably will — happen at Torrey Pines.
1. Stephan Jaeger (-11)
Jaeger walks away from the third round with a confused look on his face wondering how he came out of the day with the lead. After maneuvering through Torrey Pines effectively early, he lost his game for the vast majority of the round, making five bogeys across his final 10 holes. This was chalked up to some inaccuracy off the tee and some poor strokes on the greens, but if Jaeger got it out of his system, then he should return to his reliable self on Saturday.
T2. Matthieu Pavon, Nicolai Hojgaard (-10)
4. Thomas Detry (-9)
T5. Taylor Pendrith, Trace Crowe, Jake Knapp, Taylor Montgomery, Joe Highsmith (-8)
T10. Robby Shelton, Parker Coody, Maverick McNealy, Ludvig Åberg, Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Ryan Brehm, Emiliano Grillo (-7)
A jolt of energy ran through the contenders as the final threesome made bogey after bogey in the middle portion of their rounds. The benefactors of their struggles, this group has a real claim on Saturday's grand prize with someone like Åberg licking his chops. The young Swede has been dreadful on the greens at Torrey Pines South with a four-putt bogey on the par-5 13th on Friday among many other short misses. Despite this, the 24-year-old is right in the thick of things at 7 under and with a chance to win his second PGA Tour title.
It may not seem like a drastic uptick in scoring average compared to the last two days, but Torrey Pines South played a stroke more difficult Friday at an average of 73.5. Considering the field has been cut and half and those not playing well were sent home, the golf course is slowly showing its teeth following the showers earlier in the week. Breaks like this from Detry on the par-3 11th did not help the cause either.
The second signature event of the 2024 season is set for next week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and spots in the field are still open. Essentially everyone on the first page of the leaderboard outside Finau is not yet qualified for next week's event, so second place may not sting as much as usual. At the beginning of the week, the Aon Swing 5 featured Grayson Murray, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Justin Thomas, Kevin Yu and Carl Yuan. That will certainly change come the conclusion of this tournament.
There are a lot of unknown quantities at the top of the leaderboard in terms of PGA Tour experience, and this could give way for a come-from-behind winner. Of the last 10 winners, only Patrick Reed converted his 54-hole lead, while players such as Homa, List and Marc Leishman all came back from four strokes or more. With this in mind, Schauffele looks to be in ideal position at 7 under to break his winless drought. He pounded the ball Friday ranking third in strokes gained tee to green and first in strokes gained off the tee. The Cali kid was unable to find his feel with the putter, but if he does, then it will put him over the top and allow him to enter the winner's circle.
Jaeger has been riddled with short misses on this back side and Thomas Detry has walked through the door. A birdie on 16 and a par on 17 have the Belgian one ahead at 11 under heading into the par-5 18th. He would love one more birdie as the crew at 7 under is fierce with Schauffele, Finau, Aberg and Zalatoris.
Uh oh, a big name appears and it is a local one. Xander Schauffele birdies his last to get in the house at 7 under and only four off the pace. He could be a dangerous name for the leaders to track tomorrow as he searches for his first win since 2022. I love this spot for Xander who has struggled at points in final groups.
Both Michael Kim and Tony Finau are back tracking after being within striking distance for most of the day. Kim has had the uglier inward half of the two as he missed a short birdie on No. 10 and followed it up with a bogey, double bogey, par, bogey stretch to push him to 5 under and a touchdown back. After a birdie on 13, Finau has gone bogey-bogey to leak some oil. He's still in it, but his room for error has shrunk at 7 under.
The final threesome are all at 11 under following the par-5 13th. Detry and Hojgaard tack on birdies while Jaeger is unable to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker for his. I like 11 or 12 under to be the overnight lead as someone should be able to steady the ship over the last five holes.
Both Jaeger and Detry drops shots on the difficult 12th to drop to 11 under and 10 under respectively. This last hour or two has let a lot of people back in this tournament including those already in the clubhouse. Taylor Pendrith has his feet up at 8 under as does Trace Crowe and Jake Knapp. They may be even closer to the lead come day's end.
Well, that is going to bring a lot more players back into this. Jaeger has now dropped shots on his last two par 3s and is even par on his round. He was facing a 7 footer for birdie on No. 7 to reach 3 under for his day and has back tracked since that moment. The lead is now 12 under.
Matthieu Pavon connects from distance on No. 10 for his second straight birdie to jump into a share of second. He now sits at 11 under and two behind Stephan Jaeger who struggled for par on the par-5 9th. The final group is on the back nine where the first three holes will be a challenge before some scoring chances with the two par 5s on 13 and 18.
The coverage is on CBS now (booyah) and Stephan Jaeger drops a shot to tighten the affairs up top. He stands at 13 under over Thomas Detry and three over Nicolai Hojgaard. He will have a scoring chance on the par-4 9th before a brutal start to the back nine.
It is another birdie for our leader who returns to 14 under after a bounce back. He leads by two over Thomas Detry who was unable to make a par breaker on the easiest hole on the course. Matthieu Pavon, a PGA Tour rookie, finds himself in solo third at 10 under. Jaeger could be sitting on the winning score with 30 holes to go if the difficult conditions persist.
The lead is trimmed to one as Stephan Jaeger drops a shot on the par-4 5th. He stands at 13 under and one clear of Thomas Detry and four clear of three others. Jaeger's accuracy off the tee should continue to be monitored as it has gotten him in trouble a couple times already.
