Northern Ireland’s Justin Parsons played a key role in Harris English’s first PGA Tour win for three and a half years in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on Saturday.
The Co Down coach (48), who has helped the likes of Seamus Power and Major winners Gary Woodland and Brian Harman unlock their potential, told English (35) he had to go back to what made him a winner in the first place and focus on grinding out scores.
“I need you to grind out competitive scores,” Parsons told English on the driving range at The American Express.
“When he was at his best, whatever was working or wasn’t, he always found a way to shoot a better score than he should’ve shot.”
English hadn’t won since claiming the Travelers Championship after an eight-hole Play-Off with Kramer Hickok in 2021.
He had hip surgery in February 2022 and struggled to get fit before slowly getting back to form over the previous two years.
He took a one-stroke lead into the final round and overcame hitting just four fairways and only nine greens in regulation to card a one-over 73 to hold off a final-round challenge from Sam Stevens and win his fifth PGA Tour title by a shot on eight-under-par.
“When you kind of get in those ruts, you kind of lose your competitiveness, you lose the fun in shaping shots and hitting different shots,” English said of his drought.
While he had racked up eight top-10s and 19 top-25s over the previous two seasons, Parsons encouraged English to pay less attention to technique and Trackman numbers and get back to scoring.
“The things that make you special are untrainable, the competitiveness, the focus,” Parsons told English. “You also have to be yourself, I need you to stop being like everybody else.”
After winning to claim a spot in the Masters and provisionally move to 34th in the world and fifth in the US Ryder Cup standings, English said: “It doesn’t have to look pretty, you’ve just got to get the job done.
Harris English poses with the trophy after winning the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines
“It’s hard to win. I might have looked calm out there on the course, but inside, your emotions are going crazy.
“I just know how hard it is to win. It’s just so much fun. You’ve got to soak it in when you do it.”
Stevens shot 68 to finish second on seven-under with Andrew Novak third, a shot further back, after a 74.
Halfway leader Ludvig Aberg battled illness over the final two rounds, finishing 11 strokes behind English on three-over after failing to make a birdie in a final-round 79.
English is skipping the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am where world No.1 Scottie Scheffler will make his first start of 2025 after suffering a hand injury at home on Christmas Day.
Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Power are also in the field.
Elsewhere, Alejandro del Rey led from the front as he claimed his first DP World Tour title with a four-shot victory at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship.
The Spaniard said: “I got to a point last year where I just felt like I wasn’t having that much fun on the golf course because for me, playing for 20th, 30th place wasn’t that meaningful at that point.”