Torrey Pines Golf Course is a 36-hole municipal golf facility in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. The course sits on the coastal cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, just south of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. Opened in 1957, it was built on the site of Camp Callan, a U.S. Army installation during World War II.[6] Torrey Pines has two 18-hole courses, North and South, designed by William Francis Bell. The course is named for the Torrey pine, a rare tree that grows in the area.
Since the late 1960s, Torrey Pines has hosted the PGA Tour's Farmers Insurance Open, originally known as the San Diego Open. Held annually in January or February, the tournament uses both courses for the first two rounds and the South Course for the final two rounds. The South Course has hosted two U.S. Open championships: Tiger Woods won in sudden-death in 2008 after an 18-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate, and Jon Rahm won in 2021.[7]
2008 U.S. Open
Tiger Woods won the 2008 U.S. Open over Rocco Mediate in a 19-hole Monday playoff. After completing the 18-hole playoff on the South Course tied at even par 71, they went to sudden-death on the 91st hole, played on the par-4 7th hole. Mediate had trouble off of the tee and made bogey, while Woods made par to gain his third U.S. Open and fourteenth career major title, which put him just four behind Jack Nicklaus. He birdied the final hole on Sunday to force the playoff and again on Monday to extend it. Woods, age 32, won while playing with a stress fracture and torn ACL;[8] this was his last major title until 2019.[9]