Area professionals take on Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines

JP Raineri

Sports Editor

In the opening round all eyes were on Jon Rahm, last week’s American Express winner, who struggled to a 1-over 73 at Torrey Pines South, which has become one of his favorite courses. Sam Ryder, Aaron Rai and Brent Grant all shot 8-under 64 on the more forgiving North Course Wednesday, Jan. 25, to tie for the first-round lead at the Farmers Insurance Open.

A handful of local professional golfers are representing the area at the Farmers Insurance Open, which is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour, played in the San Diego area in the early part of the season known as the “West Coast Swing.” To not compete with the NFL Divisional Championship games, it was decided last year to hold the tournament on Wednesday through Saturday.

Rahm, ranked No. 3 in the world, earned his first PGA TOUR victory in 2017 at the municipal courses on a bluff above the Pacific Ocean and then won the U.S. Open on the South Course in 2021. At this year’s tournament he will be trying for his 10th career TOUR win, but after first round action he was tied for 116th with 11 others, including playing partners Tony Finau and Justin Rose.

Ryder, Rai and Grant have never won on TOUR. Ryder is coming off three straight missed cuts. Grant, a Hawaii native who has ties to the Temecula Valley, and is a familiar face at the Dynamic Fitness HPK training facility in Murrieta, has not shot better than a 74 in his last four rounds. Those stats are not holding him back at all.

“This round of golf is not something that I would look at and say – obviously it’s a good round of golf and I may be in the lead with a couple other guys, but again, it’s just day one,” Grant said after his opening round Wednesday.

Grant’s promising round on the first day at this year’s Farmers comes after a difficult time at last week’s The American Express where the 26-year-old finished at the very bottom of the leaderboard in La Quinta.

“Well, finishing dead last is never a great thing, but again, I haven’t changed much,” he said when describing his experience last week.

Including Grant, the three took a one-shot lead over Brendan Steele, who was at 7-under 65, with seven players bunched another shot back at 6-under 66. Defending champion Luke List and Collin Morikawa, ranked No. 8 in the world, were in a group of seven at 5-under 67. The top six finishers and 13 of the top 18 played the North Course. Players will switch courses Thursday, with stronger wind in the forecast, and play the final two rounds on the South Course.

Of course, there are plenty of other local golfers to be noted, including Murrieta’s standout, Rickie Fowler, and playing in his first-ever PGA event is Murrieta native, Harrison Kingsley. Both also train with the staff at Dynamic Fitness HPK when in town, along with their golf coach, Tony Greco, who was on hand at the event to provide support.

Fowler hit 11 of 18 greens in regulation during his first round at the Farmers Insurance Open, finishing at even, and Kingsley, a senior at the University of San Diego, finished at +2 on the day. Kingsley made it through the PreQualifier at Twin Oak Golf Course Tuesday, Jan. 17, shooting a -5 (66 for T1), and then was 1 of 4 golfers to shoot under par -1 (71) at Bear Creek to qualify for the Farmers Insurance Open last weekend. For more updates on the Farmers Insurance Open, as well as other PGA events, visit http://www. pgatour.com.

JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia. com

Soboba family enjoys the demanding sport of rugby

rugby team has another group as well, the backs or back line.

Karnes’s son Brandon Karnes donned his first pair of rugby cleats as a high school freshman. Now a senior at Iowa State University, majoring in business administration, Brandon Karnes lives in Austin, Texas, during the summer to train for rugby.

Soboba Band of Luiseño

Indians

Special to the Valley News

For those that are unfamiliar with the intense sport of rugby, it can best be described as a game of passion that’s full of action, excitement and beauty, as well as unpredictable moments and dramatic resolutions on the field. Rugby is governed by laws, not rules. The laws of the game are designed to produce an entertaining and free-flowing contest for possession in an attempt to score the most points.

Rugby is a close-contact team sport that originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. The game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch.

Dustin Karnes started playing rugby about seven years ago. While coaching soccer, the men’s rugby team Siouxland Swine out of Nebraska were practicing on the field across from his team.

“I knew a few of the players and they kept asking me to come try it out. I was soon on the team,” Karnes of South Dakota said.

“Rugby is not a very popular sport here in the Midwest but you can always find a team to play on.”

Karnes, 43, currently plays the position of prop for the Indigenous Warriors Rugby Club.

Props are part of the group that is collectively referred to as the pack, or the forwards. This group’s main goal is to win possession of the ball. These players are usually the heavyweights of the team, using their bulk and strength to try to overpower their opponents. A

“I have not found it difficult to find a team to play on since I revolve my life around it, but I have noticed how much it has grown at the youth and college level,” Brandon Karnes, 21, said.

Playing tighthead and loosehead prop for the Iowa State University rugby team, he said being fit is an attribute that is necessary to be good in the sport.

“I played football and soccer my entire life and found that rugby is the most physically demanding. You should be able to tackle, pass and communicate on the field –those are the biggest three for the sport,” Brandon Karnes said. “I love the culture the most. I have played many sports growing up but the culture in rugby is by far the best.” see RUGBY, page C-4