The La Jolla, Calif., property hosted the Farmers Insurance Open over the weekend, and had to suspend the final round of play on Sunday, and keep spectators off the golf course due to conditions. Overnight, 60 mph winds knocked over as many as 20 trees, including two Torrey pines and a 75-foot eucalyptus.
The Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif., suffered significant damage in the January 31 storm that blew through San Diego County during the Farmers Insurance Open, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
City golf manager Mark Marney estimated on Monday that there were as many as 20 trees felled on the North and South courses, most of them eucalyptus, though Marney said at least two prized Torrey pines also came down, the Union-Tribune reported.
PGA Tour meteorologist Stewart Williams said 60 mph winds hit the coast overnight. The final round of the Farmers Insurance Open, suspended on Sunday afternoon because of high winds and rain, was scheduled to resume at 8 a.m., then was pushed back to 9 and then 10. Tournament officials announced on Sunday evening that no spectators would be allowed on the course on Monday, the Union-Tribune reported.
The reason for the delays was not wind or rain, which had subsided on Monday morning, but the cleanup required for the trees that were down. The most troublesome was a 75-foot tall eucalyptus that fell into the fairway at the par-4 15th. At first light, more than a dozen men began working with chain saws to cut up the tree, the Union-Tribune reported.
“It’s devastating,” Marney said as he stood and watched the dismantling.
The tree on 15 was a signature on the hole because it obstructed a shot to the green if a golfer drove too far to the left. The hole will almost certainly look and play differently now, the Union-Tribune reported.
“It’s never going to be the same,” Farmers Open winner Brandt Snedeker said. “That tree on 15 was an integral part of the golf course. They lost some other trees that are an integral part of the golf course. You realize golf takes a very back stage to what happened last night and today.”
Players were allowed to take relief from the fallen trees and Freddie Jacobson had to do so at 15. “That tree has given us plenty of struggles through the years,” Jacobson said. “This time the tree was struggling a bit.”
There was one massive tree down to the left of the 18th fairway, near the fairway bunkers. Large branches from several other trees were sheared off and laying on the ground on that hole. Large trees were down to the side of the ninth and 12th fairways, and a tree that fell next to the 16th tee crushed a small maintenance shed, the Union-Tribune reported.
This was the first time in four years the course was closed to spectators at a PGA Tour event. The last time was at the 2012 Quicken Loans National, the Union-Tribune reported.
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