Harris English Gets Revenge At Torrey, Dottie Pepper Calls Out Slow Play In Awesome Fashion, Stars At Pebble

The field for this past week's Farmers Insurance Open may have been the weakest the event has ever seen, certainly from a star power perspective. However, it did deliver a bit of carnage early on, which is always a welcome scenario when we talk about a tournament played in January. It was ultimately Harris English who found the winner's circle at Torrey Pines, battling some scar tissue not only physically, but also mentally.

This weekend's coverage was CBS' debut for the new PGA Tour season, and the always great Dottie Pepper came out of the gates firing by criticizing the pace of play during Saturday's final round. Pace of play, or the lack thereof, is always a topic of conversation, but it feels like we're starting that conversation way earlier than we typically do, which ultimately has to be a good thing.

Speaking of pace, there won't be much of it during this upcoming week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, thanks to the amateur side of things. But hey, cool golf courses, and the best player in the world is making his season debut after butchering his hand making ravioli, so we have that going for us.

It's a new edition of Par Talk on a Sunday, instead of the typical Monday. As always, any thoughts, concerns, criticisms, or shop talk, feel free to shoot over an email to mark.harris@outkick.com or follow me on X @itismarkharris.

Harris English Gets Revenge At Torrey Pines A Decade Later

Harris English is a wily veteran out on Tour nowadays, and as his name pops up on leaderboards on a consistent basis, it's hard to imagine the 35-year-old entered the week with four wins in 339 starts on Tour.

It's a nice reminder that winning golf tournaments is insanely difficult.

English's first win on Tour since he won the Travelers in June 2021 is fitting. It's funny how things always come back around.

In 2015 and with two Tour wins already under his belt, English birdied the 72nd hole to get into a four-man playoff, but it was Jason Day who took home that year's Farmers Insurance Open. Fast forward to the 2021 U.S. Open played at Torrey Pines South, and English was the clubhouse leader before Jon Rahm put together an all-time back nine to shoot a final round 67 to win his first major championship.

A loss in a playoff in the Farmers and a third-place finish in a U.S. Open at the same golf course may not qualify as bad memories, but it's fair to say Torrey Pines occupies a unique spot in Engish's mind. 

Just months after his close call in the U.S. Open, English underwent hip surgery in early 2022, and has been relatively quiet until undoubtedly finding his form over the last year and a half or so, with more than a handful of Top 10 finishes over the last couple of seasons.

English getting back in the winner's circle after two spells of heartbreak on the property, and the scar tissue a hip surgery left behind, is a neat next chapter in his story.

As for how he got it done, he can thank his putter as he finished third in the field in strokes gained: putting, but his 73 during nasty second round conditions backed by a 66 in the third round put him in the driver's seat entering Saturday, and his final round 73 was one shot good enough to pick up win No. 5 on Tour.

Dottie Pepper Calls It Like She Sees It

Torrey Pines South is by no means an easy golf course. Not only is it a difficult track to play, it's not the easiest of walks, and while those are built-in excuses for the glacial pace of play we saw during Saturday's final round, CBS on-course analyst Dottie Pepper doesn't want to hear them.

After walking with the final group for just nine holes, Pepper brought up on air just how slow things were moving as they made their way to the 10th hole. 

"You know, Frank, I think we're starting to need a new word to talk about this pace of play issue, and it's respect," Pepper told CBS teammate Frank Nobilo. "For your fellow competitors, for the fans, for broadcasts, for all of it. It's just gotta get better."

Pepper isn't the first analyst or media member to bring up the pace of play issue out on Tour, but it was noteworthy that she brought up the respect factor of it all, which is more than fair.

Outside of her being a legitimate legend when it comes to talking about the game, Pepper is a two-time major champion and former LPGA Tour Player of the Year. In other words: she gets it.

Not only was her note about ‘respect’ a refreshing one, but so too was the the fact that she brought up the slow pace during her first assignment. There is no beating around the bush on this subject, because fans, broadcasts, and plenty of players have had enough.

The Tour has said that some sort of change(s) could be coming to combat slow place next year, but that's a ‘we’ll believe it when we see it' situation, for sure.

Pebble Beach: The Perfect Debut Venue

For some golf fans, Pebble Beach week is the ‘start’ of the new year in golf, and that's exactly the case for plenty of the top players of the game.

Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Tommy Fleetwood headline a decent-sized group of players making their PGA Tour season debut at this week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Scheffler's start to the season was delayed after an unfortunate ravioli-related incident on Christmas, while Fleetwood and McIlroy have made starts on the DP World Tour, but will be making their first start States-side this week.

While Scheffler has nothing to prove and a middle-of-the-pack finish this week would be just fine, he does have this unique opportunity to send a stern warning to the rest of the world.

If he were to contend on Sunday, or win, with a likely bandaged hand after undergoing surgery to remove glass just a month ago, it would just add to his lure that it's him and then everyone else. World No. 2 Xander Schauffele isn't playing, but eight of the Top 10-ranked players in the world are.