After Farmers runner-up, Sam Stevens leads Aon Swing 5 into AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Sam Stevens was standing in the final fairway, thinking he needed eagle to win his first PGA TOUR title. He was 204 yards from the hole, a distance that normally calls for a 6-iron, but the wind was at his back and the adrenaline was flowing.

He pulled 7-iron instead. The hole was located just a few paces behind the famous pond that fronts Torrey Pines’ 18th green, but the risk of taking the higher-lofted club was worthwhile. It was only way to get his ball close and make the requisite 3. Stevens just picked a poor time for a mishit.

His ball sailed toward the right side of the green but it failed to carry far enough, landing just a few feet short of safety. The steep bank that sits between water and green wasn’t shaved as tight as in previous years, but his ball still rolled down it and into the body of water nicknamed “Devlin’s Billabong.”

“I hit it pretty dang close to center of the face,” Stevens said afterward. “I just didn't quite compress it how I needed to.”

After taking his drop, Stevens still saved par after an incredible pitch shot that bounced off the flagstick and stopped 4 feet from the hole. He signed for a 4-under 68 that was the best round during a difficult day at Torrey Pines’ South Course. The field averaged 74.8 strokes Saturday and only one other player (Will Gordon, 69) broke 70.

After signing his scorecard, all Stevens could do was wait. He teed off more than an hour before the leaders in the day’s seventh-to-last group. The final group included Harris English, the 54-hole leader who held a one-stroke lead over Stevens as Stevens played the 18th hole.

Stevens knew there were several birdie opportunities over the final holes, which is why he played the aggressive approach to the 72nd hole, but it turned out a 4 could have been enough to catch English. English parred the final 12 holes for a one-stroke victory over Stevens.

Stevens started the final round in 15th place, but birdied Nos. 2 and 3 before holing a 43-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole. When he looked at a leaderboard on the eighth green and noted English’s slow start, Stevens thought: “All right, now we’re in this thing.”

He was until the end, but the 28-year-old Oklahoma State alum out of Wichita, Kansas, fell just short of his first PGA TOUR title. It was his second runner-up in 70 career PGA TOUR starts. The other was a runner-up in the 2023 Valero Texas Open in his rookie season.

This latest second-place showing earned him his first start in a Signature Event. Stevens finished atop the Aon Swing 5 for next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The Aon Swing 5 rewards the top performers in the weeks before a Signature Event. The top five FedExCup points earners in the Sony Open in Hawaii, The American Express and Farmers Insurance Open who were not yet exempt into Pebble Beach were rewarded with spots in the field. J.J. Spaun, Andrew Novak, Justin Lower and Lee Hodges were the next four names in the Aon Swing 5.

Spaun finished second on the strength of his performance at the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he finished T3, followed by top-30 finishes at The American Express (T29) and Farmers Insurance Open (T15). Novak finished third Saturday after playing alongside English in the final group. He made five bogeys and four birdies over his first 10 holes before making seven pars on the next eight to shoot 74.

Lower finished T3 at The American Express, while Hodges was rewarded for his two top 10s in the three counting events. He finished T10 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and then T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open after a final-round 70 that vaulted him 32 spots on the leaderboard. He made a 12-foot birdie putt on his final hole Saturday, the par-5 ninth, to edge Charley Hoffman by fewer than 10 FedExCup points.

Those five players will have the edge in earning spots for The Genesis Invitational, as well. The TOUR will return to Torrey Pines’ South Course Feb. 13-16 after this year’s Genesis was moved from Riviera Country Club because of the catastrophic wildfires that hit Los Angeles. The Aon Swing 5 for The Genesis Invitational will incorporate FedExCup points earned in the year’s first three Full-Field Events, as well as the WM Phoenix Open.