Luke List has worked long and hard to get to this point and finally this evening 7:30 PM central time, his hard work and dedication came to fruition as our 37 year old from Seattle and Baylor School in Chattanooga, and, of course, VU, won the Farmers Insurance Open at famed Torrey Pines Golf Club in San Diego. The 2007 VU graduate has made his school proud.
Luke shot 66 today in tough conditions and sank what was a critical 8 footer for birdie on 18 to get to -15 and had to wait 2 hours for the rest of the field to finish, surviving players of the caliber of Jon Rahm and Jason Day and young stallion, Will Zalatoris. Rahm couldn’t reach -15 and Day bogeyed 17 to fall back to 14 and parred 18, so Zalatoris, the 25 year old San Francisco native, by way of Wake Forest, faced a 9 footer for birdie which he barely missed to send the tourney into extra holes.
Both Luke and Zalatoris drove it into the bunker on the par 5 18th. Luke had what they call a fried egg, his ball was kind of in a buried lie in the sand and Zalatoris’s ball was right next to his. Luke blasted out to 133 yards and Zalatoris hit his to 124. Luke hit a pitching wedge that caught the slope behind the hole and rolled back down to a foot away. It was electric. Zalatoris hit a good shot as well, landing his ball 10 feet below the hole. Luke went ahead and tapped in. Zalatoris stroked his but pulled it left. Luke was a winner. His wife, Chloe, his 3 year old daughter, Ryann, along with his young son, 6 month old Harrison, were there to meet him in a terrific winning celebration. It was spectacular. So proud of the man. He’s worked so hard for this moment. Maybe this is the start of something special for Lucas. Brandt will be playing next weekend at Pebble Beach. Brandt has won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am twice, in 2013 and 2015.
But this is Luke’s moment. Luke deserves this as much as any player on tour. Very proud of him.
Our basketball team won at home over Georgia, 85-77, but made it hard on themselves by missing at least 5 free throws in the last minute. We survived though and any win is a pretty win as Lovie Smith used to say. Scotty had 23, Jordan Wright added 15, Rodney Chatman, back in the lineup from injury, chipped in 12, and Myles Stute added 11. We were on fire from trifecta, sinking 12 of 23, 52%. Myles was 3 of 5, Scotty was 2 of 3, Jordan was 2 of 3, Rodney was 2 of 5, Trey Thomas was 1 of 2 and Tyrin Lawrence his a big one right at the buzzer before halftime. He was 1 of 2 as well. We gotta do better at the line though. We were 12-of-23, 52%, and missed several at the end of the game. I’m sure Stack will be emphasizing that with the team this week. Myles and Jordan led us in rebounding with 5 apiece. The Bulldogs got 32 boards and we pulled down 28. It was a super effort, except for the free throw shooting at the end.
We sure will take it though. It’s a lot better to get instruction after a victory. So great stuff from the guys. They’re still learning how to respond in big moments. They’ll get it soon.
There’s a chance we’ll get 7 footer Liam Robbins back Wednesday Night when we’re at Kentucky. Robbins has been out all season with a foot injury. Will keep you posted on our Minnesota transfer, whom I know Stack, the staff and the players would be thrilled to get back. He will really help us and give Quintin Millora-Brown a ton of help down low. Q’s doing an excellent job for us, but Robbins would really give our inside game a lift. Rodney Chatman really gives us superb leadership and excellent toughness, stuff our young guys need to see and have it rub off on them.
We moved to 11-9 overall and 3-5 in the SEC. This team keeps growing and the addition of Chatman and ultimately Robbins will be game changing for this team. Georgia fell to 6-15 and 1-7 in the SEC. They did defeat Alabama at home on Tuesday Night, 82-76, and the Crimson Tide turned around and defeated No.4 Baylor today, 87-78, as part of the 10 game SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
We now play at No.12 Kentucky on Wednesday at 6 PM CT on the SEC Network. The Wildcats just blasted Kansas at Phog Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, KS., 80-62.
Tough assignment, but not out of the question. Would love to have Liam back Wednesday. So stellar stuff from all our Commodores. Anchor Down and have a super rest of your weekend.