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Jon Rahm runs away from the field – 2017 Farmers Open

The South Course in the final round action of PGA Golf during the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA on January 29, 2017. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)

San Diego, CA – From five groups ahead of the leaders Jon Rahm hawked down the field with a Birdie, eagle finish to win the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course on Sunday.

Going into the back nine there were at least eight to ten golfers who could try to stake claim in this year trophy but Rahm finished with a 30 on which was 6-under par for those holes.

He was the first timer since 1991 at Torrey Pines, which make this win even more remarkable. During the trophy presentation Rahm was excited that his dad was able to be here and see this win on tour.

” I didn’t expect it but it was one of my goals. ” said Jon Rahm, ” I tried to be really in control of my emotions and my thoughts and just make sure that I didn’t take anything for granted. ”

Rahm did just that he played his game and didn’t worry about the field and it paid off big winning $1,206,000.00.

Toni Finau did his work on Saturday by coming in strong to be able to play in final group with the leaders. He came up four strokes short but still managed $252,590.00 for this week hard work.

” I gave myself an opportunity to win going to the back nine on Sunday. ” said Tony Finau, ” It’s what you prepare for and what you play for. ”

With this win for Rahm he is now exempt for two years on the Tour and the rest of this year with opportunity to play in the majors.

“…it’s amazing!” Said Jon Rahm the season has just began for him now.

Tiger Woods misses the cut at the Farmers Open

The South Course in the second round action of PGA Golf during the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA on January 27, 2017. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)

La Jolla, CA – After day two at The Farmers Open only 79 golfers made the 36-hole cut at even par of 144 on Friday at Torrey Pines golf course.

Justin Rose was able to move to -8 under par and keep the lead for the second day in row going into the weekend. Rose was able to shot 1 under par on his round, making for consistent round with despite two bogeys on the 14 and 15.

” Yeah, obviously I gave a little fist pump on that last putt.  It’s always a poignant way to finish and to try and stay ahead of the field is obviously a nice thing to do. ” said Justin Rose

Defending Champion Brandt Snedeker made his move up leader board shooting 3-under par round to make the cut and be around for the weekend hunt.

Snedeker playing in same group alongside Rose made for great first two days of golf.

Home town favorite Phil Mickelson squeaked in the weekend by making the cut by one shot at 1 under par for first two day of play.

Mickelson played little inconsistent with 5 birdies that were neutralized by 5 bogeys on Friday.

” I’m only seven shots off the lead on a golf course you can make up a lot of ground,” said Phil Mickelson ” I think my game is very close to clicking.”

Jason Day making it look easy hitting out of the bunker on the North Course in the second round action of PGA Golf during the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA on January 27, 2017. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)

Some of the big names that missed the cut this week was Tiger Woods who missed the cut by four shots, Jason Day by three shots, and the young crowd favorite Rickie Fowler by three shots.

Tiger will be playing four of the next five weeks in golf tournaments so missing today’s cut will allow him to pace himself for upcoming test and headed to Dubai next.

“I just didn’t make enough birdies.” said Tiger Woods, “The only concern is that I’ve got a long flight ahead of me.”

As the weekend gets on it way the defending champ will have an opportunity to strike and place himself in good spot for Sunday.

Justin Rose takes 1st day title at Farmers

The South Course in the first round action of PGA Golf during the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, CA on January 26, 2017. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)

San Diego, CA – The Farmers Insurance Open kicked off with some great golf, great pro’s, great fans and the perfect storm for a sunny Thursday.

The leader board after one day has eight players out of 10 from the North Course, with only two from the harder South Course.

Justin Rose finished day one on top at seven under par for his first round, and a one shot lead. He started off his back nine extremely hot birding his 10th hole (hole 1).

Rose eagled two holes on his back nine taking advantage of the par 5’s (Hole 5, 9). Going into the locker room eagling your last hole is a great way to finish the day.

“Love those new greens out there on the North Course.” said Justin Rose, ” They’re rolling really, really pure. ”

The crowd today was here to see Tiger Woods, and the large galleries said all you need to know. This was Tiger first west coast appearance since 2015.

Tiger still has this magical pull from all walks of life, rather young or old and any color of the rainbow.

The South Course was not nice to Tiger blowing up on back nine finishing four over for the day with a 76.

“I had a round of which I let it slip away in the middle part of the back nine and unfortunately didn’t hit very good shots.” said Tiger Woods.

This leader board has five guys tied for third at 5 under par finishing the round with a 67. With Adam Hadwin sitting in second  place ahead of Gary Woodland, Brad Fitsch, Charles Howell III, Beau Hossler, and Trey Mullinax.

The hole field will flip course tomorrow so all the golfers will have a crack at the course they like the best.

USC put a thorn in UCLA

NCAA College Basketball second half game action basketball game between the UCLA Bruins vs USC Trojans at Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)

USC put a thorn in UCLA’s side and upset the nation’s No. 7 basketball team 84-76 in Pac-12 play to make it four wins in a row over the Bruins on Wednesday night at Galen Center.

Shaqquan Aaron spearheaded the Trojans (18-4 overall, 5-4 conference) with a career- and game-high 23 points, while Elijah Stewart scored four 3s and finished with 15 points. The two combined for eight of the Trojans’ 14 shots from distance. Three other Trojans racked up double-digit points.

Combined with USC’s hot shooting night, the Trojan defense forced 17 UCLA turnovers, 12 of which came off steals, and dropped nine threes in the first half.

“Once they went zone, we had a hard time fighting their backcourt on one-on-one matchups,” UCLA head coach Steve Alford said. “We knew they were going to go zone, and they did it very well and they created a lot of turnovers.”

“The turnovers really hurt us in the first half,” Alford continued. “We dug ourselves a hole being down 12 (points) in the first half and it disrupted our flow of how we wanted to sub in the second half.”

Isaac Hamilton led the Bruins (19-3, 6-3) with 20 points, while Lonzo Ball and Aaron Holiday finished with 15.

The Bruins grabbed control early with an 8-0 run before Stewart sank a three to put the Trojans on the board with 2:56 gone in the game.

The Bruins looked in total control until midway in the half when USC forward Chimezie Metu tied the game 26-26 from midrange, which sparked a 13-2 Trojan run and a 50-38 halftime Trojan lead. The Bruins went over three minutes without scoring before Holiday stumbled in a lay-up with 4:20 left in the half.

“Coach gave us a great game plan and we stuck to it,” Metu said. “(UCLA is) a really good team. They shoot a lot of threes and get on transition. We had to take care of the ball and get back in transition and we did that tonight.”

Stewart started the second half with a pair of threes, while the Trojans continued to disrupt UCLA’s rhythm for much of the frame.

USC went cold for three minutes midway into the half and allowed a UCLA 7-0 run to cut their once 13-point lead to 4 with 9:43 left. The Trojans held off the Bruins and added to their tally to hang on for the win.

USC holds off ASU by three

USC Trojans forward Chimezie Metu (4) dunking on Arizona State Sun Devils forward Obinna Oleka (5) in the second half of the game between the ASU Sun Devils vs USC Trojans at Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)
USC Trojans forward Chimezie Metu (4) dunking on Arizona State Sun Devils forward Obinna Oleka (5) in the second half of the game between the ASU Sun Devils vs USC Trojans at Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)

Los Angeles, CA – Arizona State ate up an eight point lead with 1:30 seconds to go in game, as USC holds on for a 82 – 79 victory at Galen Center.

USC held their largest lead of the game which was 14 points in 2nd half with 3:13 on the clock before it evaporated quickly.

The hot hand tonight was Elijah Stewart who hit seven three pointers on his was to a team high 29 points.

“It feels good (to score),” said Elijah Stewart, “but I like winning more.”

Par for the course USC guard Jordan McLaughlin had a solid performance with 18 points, 8 assists, and 4 three pointers.

Arizona State had lost its last three games coming into tonight’s contest at the Galen Center hungry for a win. ASU is ranked third in PAC-12 scoring an average of 81.5 points per game.

USC received a big push from freshman Jonah Mathews who scored 14 points in his first start of many to come.

“At first, I was nervous to start.” said Jonah Mathews, “Then as the game went on I felt good.”

Mathews almost let ASU back in the game in the closing seconds with a 5 second call, turn over, and a wasted time out while he inbounded the ball.

USC coach Andy Enfield put the freshman in a tough spot asking him to inbound the basketball in the closing minutes.

“It was a good win for us.” said coach Andy Enfield, ” Arizona State is a tough matchup for us because of their offensive explosiveness…”

Arizona State starting lineup all scored in double figures led by Torian Graham with 24 points.

In a four guard starting line lone forward Obinna Oleka filled up the basket with 17 points, and 14 rebounds in a losing effort.

Now USC won’t make the tournament with tonight’s win but it definitely won’t hurt them when the selection committee looks at their opponents RPI.

USC moved their record to 17-5 and will host the UCLA Bruins 19-2 Wednesday night at 8 p.m. PST at Galen Center.

 

National league dominates the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl

January 21, 2017 Carson, CA NFLPA Collegiate Bowl at Stubhub Center on January 21, 2017. (Photo by Jevone Moore / fi360 News)

2017 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl at StubHub Center

Carson, CA – The National Team beat the American Team, 27-7, in the sixth annual NFLPA Collegiate Bowl.

Trojans Late Game Push Not Enough Against Arizona

Los Angeles, CA – The Arizona Wildcats rolled into the Galen Center on Thursday night riding a 10 game winning streak taking down the USC Trojans 73-66 and holding the 14th spot in the latest NCAA Top 25 Rankings.

The last time these two teams met in Los Angeles it took four overtime periods to finally decide a winner. This time around it seemed people were expecting something similar. Although it is tinsel town, the stars don’t always come out to college basketball games, but tonight there was some basketball royalty in the house. Lakers star, former Trojan, Nick Young was in attendance, as was current Lakers coach, and former Arizona Wildcat Luke Walton. Also courtside was legendary University of Arizona coach Lute Olson.

Once the game got underway both teams got off to sluggish starts. USC opened the game in a loose 2-3 zone defense, almost daring the Wildcats to shoot from behind the arc. Arizona is a high percentage 3-point shooting team, but they are not a high volume shooting team. The strategy seemed to work for USC in the first half, as the Wildcats shot 5-14 from long range, and 44% from the field. Arizona was clearly frustrated with their inability to get to the basket due to the interior zone presence, being held to only 29 points in the first half was not what coach Miller was hoping for.

USC coach, Andy Enfield was very pleased with his teams’ defense in the first half, heaping high praise on his players during the postgame press conference. Enfield expressed his pleasure with the physical play and execution of the zone defense. He also, however, lamented the fact that his team was unable to hit many open shots during the first half. The Trojans were held to a season low 19 points in the opening half. It wasn’t until 17 minutes into the game before USC hit their first three-point shot of the game, after going 0-8 to start. When the teams entered their respective locker rooms at halftime, Arizona seemed to have control of the game. They didn’t shoot particularly well, but still managed to hold a 10 point lead with no signs of USC’s offense having much life.

Picking up where they had left off, the Wildcats began the second half on a 15-2 run, stretching their lead to 44-21, and at this point it appeared the route was on. However, with about eleven minutes remaining in the game, USC guard Elijah Stewart was called for a flagrant 1 foul after he swung violently for a block, nearly knocking an opposing players’ head off. In Elijah’s defense, he was upset over a missed call on the previous play, which became a theme throughout the night. After being tagged with a flagrant, Elijah seemed to be inspired. He scored 15 points in the second half, including back to back three-balls to help USC get back in the game. Stewart’s backcourt mate Jordan McLaughlin also stepped up late in the second half, hitting his own pair of three point shots to help USC get in a position to pull off the incredible comeback. After trailing by 23, the Trojans were within 10 with 3:35 remaining in the game when Stewart skied for an incredible put-back dunk, drawing a foul in the process.

As the game entered its final two minutes the fans were on their feet, the Trojans had clawed their way back, and were only down by 4 with 1:50 left in the game. Arizona found themselves scrabbling for a shot as the shot clocked whittled down to its final few seconds. That is when Arizona super-freshman Lauri Markkanen came to the rescue. Hitting what USC coach Montgomery called “the back breaker.” Markkanen pulled up from well behind the three point line and banked in what would ultimately be a dagger to the Trojans. Markkanen would finish the game with 23 points to lead all scorers, and add to his already impressive NBA resume.

With the win Arizona picks up its eleventh straight victory, improving their record to 16-2 on the season. With the loss USC drops to 16-4 this season. These two teams will meet again in Tucson on February 23.

Cal takes one in the paint on USC

NCAA College Basketball game action during the Cal Bears vs USC Trojans at Galen Center in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Michael Ewing /fi360 News)

Los Angeles, CA – California had one last shot with 14.1 on clock when the Bears went inside to the paint to Ivan Rabb who was fouled and sent to the free throw line trailing by one.

He went to the line and knocked them both down to take the game 74-73 over USC at the Galen Center Sunday night.

Rabb was Cal’s leading scorer with 17 points, 8 rebounds and a three pointer, with guard Charlie Moore with 16 points (3-4) 3-pt range.

USC coming into tonight’s game had started off the season 15-1  which was their best start since the 1971 season where they finished 24-2 after a 16-0 start.

Chimezie Metu played strong tonight for USC leading the team with 20 points in his battle with Rabb in the paint.

“[Metu] did surprise me with the shots he made.” said Cal coach Cuonzo Martin, ” He’s a very talented kid.”

The California Bears came into the Galen Center looking for at least a split on their road trip to Los Angeles after losing to UCLA Thursday. They split their first conference home swing to start 1-2 in PAC-12 and 10-5 overall.

Mid way through the first half Cal look faster to the ball leading 16-12 at 11:02 mark after USC Jordan McLaughlin was called for a charge in the lane.

“Cal did a good job in the first half getting offensive rebounds.” said USC coach Andy Enfield “We came out on the wrong end of it [game].”

The crowd was inspired by the USC football team who was honored for their the Rose Bowl Game victory over Penn State 52-49.

Cal lead most of the game but USC kept making runs to try and steal the game away.

McLaughlin had his numbered called with 37.3 seconds on clock down by one 72-71 when he got foul in the lane then he missed both free throws before getting a second chance where made a layup at 17 seconds.

“It was just one of those nights at the line.” said McLaughlin “That’s basically where we lost the game.”

USC will go on the road next week to face Utah (11-4, 2-1) on Thursday January 12, then Colorado (10-6, 0-3) on Sunday January 15.

The PGA Tour West Coast Stops

February 19, 2016: James Hahn second round action of PGA Golf during the Northern Trust Open at The Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)
February 19, 2016: James Hahn hitting out the bunker on 6th hole during second round action of PGA Golf during the Northern Trust Open at The Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Full Image 360)

Los Angeles, CA – It’s time for the start of a new year, and that means PGA Tour will be on the west coast for first few months of 2017.

The first two tour stops will be on the islands with fast greens, tropical sunshine weather at SBS Tournament of Champions (JAN 5-8) and Sony Open in Hawaii (JAN 12-15)

Last season at the Career Builder Challenge (JAN 19-22) we were treated with Jason Dufner winning in a playoff on the 18th with President Bill Clinton looking on in the background.

The Farmers Open at Torrey Pines (JAN 26-29) will be hoping for better weather this year that took out their reigning champion Jason Day who battled through being sick and the elements.

Their new champion Brandt Snedeker will be on hand this year to defend his crown.

The fan favorite in the state of Arizona Phil Mickelson is always cheered for loudly at the Waste Management Phoenix Open (FEB 2-5).  Mickelson who graduated from Arizona State feeds off the hometown love.

The last two in will be back in California with AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (FEB 9-12) and the Genesis Open (FEB 16-19).

Bubba Watson will have to be on his A game defending his Genesis Open title with Tiger Woods coming back to play at Riviera CC for first time in 15 plus years.

The is no other tour like it THE PGA “Golf is our favorite course”

 

USC wins Rose Bowl in dramatic fashion

January 2, 2017 Pasadena, CA 103rd Rose Bowl: USC Trojans vs Penn State Nittany Lions at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 2, 2017. (Photo by William Johnson / fi360 News)
USC Trojans at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 2, 2017. (Photo by William Johnson / fi360 News)

Matt Boermeester had already missed two field goals when his number was called with the game on the line. Boermeester nailed a 46-yard field goal as time expired to give USC a dramatic 52-49 victory over Penn State in the 103rd Rose Bowl on Monday.

 

“I wasn’t concerned about the distance,” Boermeester said. “I knew I was going to get an opportunity to kick that field goal, so wherever it was at, I was kicking it.”

 

USC redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Darnold had a game for the ages as he completed 33-of-53 passes for 453 yards while adding five touchdowns and an interception. Darnold has helped himself get into Heisman discussions with an incredible season.

 

Saquon Barkley gave Penn State a 49-35 lead with 1:55 left in the third quarter on a 7-yard reception. The fourth quarter was all USC as Ronald Jones scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit, 49-42.

 

USC tied the score at 49 on Darnold’s 27-yard touchdown pass to Deontay Burnett with 1:20 left in the fourth quarter.

 

“What Tay’s actually supposed to do is keep a straight line, not necessarily run a post like that,” Darnold said on the touchdown pass to Burnett. “But that’s just the player that he is, he made a play, and I saw him.”

 

Burnett finished with 13 receptions for 164 yards and three touchdowns while Juju Smith-Schuster added seven receptions for 133 yards and a touchdown.

 

Penn State got off to a rough start as Trace McSorley’s first two passes of the game were intercepted. The Nittany Lions answered to being down 13-0 in the first quarter by scoring on seven straight possessions.

 

“You can’t turn the ball over against good opponents and have a chance to win,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “You lose the turnover ratio, you’re going to have a hard time being successful.”

 

USC finishes the season 10-3 after a 1-3 start and early contenders for the National Championship in 2017.

 

“We’re so worthy of a Rose Bowl,” Helton said. “I think about this group of coaches and kids and what they’ve been able to accomplish over a season, and to put a stamp on it right here in The Granddaddy of Them All, it’s been an absolutely great week.”

Post Game Press Conference #fi360News