Taylor Montgomery’s high-level play continues, Max Homa earns new title among takeaways from Thursday at Farmers Insurance Open

Tano Goya hits his tee shot on the 12th hole during the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course – North Course. Mandatory Credit: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports

The Argentine rookie golfer fired a 5-under 67 at the North Course on Thursday, tied for the low round of the day on either course. He was looking dapper as usual along with his caddie Facundo Delapenna. The pair wear matching outfits, although the cool weather had their colorful polos covered by windbreakers.

“We started working with Full Wedge company last year on the Korn Ferry and they’re great shirts. Funky, sometimes they’re quirky shirts. At the beginning, started thinking about which one we were going to wear and just not to match, but at some point we were like, why don’t we just match and we can make something out of it,” said Goya, who is seeking his first top-25 finish this season. “Then we started doing it consistently. Obviously this week it was tough because we’re wearing jumpers so it’s not standing out. Then whenever we don’t match, people start asking, so it’s kind of a thing now.”

“Some make jokes,” he added, “but we like it, it’s a thing for us. We’re really good friends and we’ve been pretty much staying every week together and we bond really well. For us, it’s a thing we’re going to keep going.”

Taylor Montgomery hits his tee shot on the 10th hole during the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course – North Course. Mandatory Credit: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports

Taylor Montgomery is becoming a model of consistency. The rookie has recorded eight top-15 finishes in nine starts this season and looks poised for another strong showing this week at Torrey. Montgomery followed up a first-round 67 with a 71 on Thursday and is part of a logjam tied for fourth. It’s brought a lot of new-found attention his way.

“I mean, the phone’s going crazy, I just want to throw it in the ocean sometimes,” he said, noting he’s doing his best to respond to all the texts but shuts it down during the tournament. “I feel like golf is so mentally exhausting. Then to go home, you kind of just want to sit back and watch a movie or TV show.”

Montgomery was in the trophy hunt late on Sunday at the American Express when he shanked his tee shot into the water at “Alcatraz,” the famed island green at 17 at PGA West. For the first time, he addressed whether his nerves got the better of him.

“I had just had a bad swing thought,” he said. “I felt completely comfortable, but it was the right pin, I knew I kind of needed to make a birdie. Instead of having my normal swing thoughts of like what I need to do, all I was thinking was oh, let’s squeeze it in there, let’s squeeze it in there, and I ended up squeezing it right in the middle of the lake. It was definitely a lesson learned.”

Max Homa lines up a putt on the 17th hole during the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course – South Course. Mandatory Credit: Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports

Golfweek’s own Riley Hamel labeled Max Homa the Twitter Goat in a post on Wednesday and after the second round a reporter asked him if he believed that to be the case.

“I don’t know if that’s true, but I will take it,” Homa said. “I don’t know. I guess trying to embrace it a little bit. You know, be a – I’m an observant-type guy, so kind of soaking in the craziness that is the fans, and today it was the golf with all the wind. But having, you know, an understanding that just because I tweet here and there doesn’t mean I can’t hit some good 6-irons.

“When I go to practice or when I go to play a tournament, I would imagine I have a different mind frame than when I’m sitting on my couch thinking of dumb stuff to write.”

Homa, who carded a 2-under 70 on the South Course, improved to 6-under 138 and T-4 at a course he first came to as a teenager growing up in Valencia, California.

“My teammates from Valencia High, we drove down and watched some golf on the Saturday,” he said. “If I say Friday, you’ll know I skipped school, so I think it was a Saturday.”

After making the cut at the Korn Ferry Tour’s The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, Scott Brown (T54/E) learned he got into the Farmers Insurance Open when John Huh withdrew on Monday; Brown withdrew from the Korn Ferry Tour and made the cut on the number at Torrey Pines with rounds of 69-75.

With rounds of 73-67, 2017 champion Jon Rahm extends the longest active cuts-made streak to 22.

Three of the last four winners of the Farmers Insurance Open began the tournament on the North Course; every winner from 2011-2018 started on the South Course.

The South Course again played more than three strokes harder than the North Course: Second-round scoring average at South Course: 75.895 after 72.218 in round one; North Course: R2/73.179, R1/69.731.

On Australia Day, Australian Jason Day (T10/-5), a two-time winner of this event, posted his seventh consecutive round of par-or-better at this event 72-70-65-67-72-68-71.