[PHOTO: Sean M. Haffey]
The answer: this Georgia Bulldog won the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open. The question: who is Harris English?
It’s a fitting way to start talking about English, a self-professed “Jeopardy” fanatic. Especially given that the outcome was very much in question for the entire back nine of this rare Saturday finish, US time.
English won the event – his first since the 2021 Travelers Championship – with an impressive array of iron play, short-game shots and steady putting. Despite not driving the ball overly well, English ranked seventh in strokes gained/approach the green with his Ping Blueprint T irons, a model that suits English’s approach to iron play in recent years.
“I don’t need a big cavity-back to help me get the ball up in the air,” English told Golf Digest last year. “We have a lot of tight pins out here on tour that we try to get at and the ability to work the ball both ways with your irons helps, especially in the short irons.”
Of note is that English changed all the grips on his full-swing grips on Monday. A longtime user of Golf Pride’s ribbed Align grip, English went with the company’s not-yet-released Align Max with a more pronounced rib. According to Golf Pride’s tour rep, English made the switch because he liked the feel in his left hand, as well as how his pointer finger felt on his right hand.
On the greens, English ranked third in strokes gained/putting, picking up more than six shots on the field with his venerable Ping Scottsdale Hohum mallet putter. He used the club to knock in par save after par save and two-putt from 47 feet at the penultimate hole to keep his one-shot margin. The Hohum has been in the bag since 2011, and English has used it for all five of his PGA Tour wins.
“I started putting with this my senior year of college in 2011,” English said. “It was meant to be for my teammate, Keith Mitchell, but he didn’t want it. For me familiarity with the putter is important which is why I don’t change. I know how it comes off. I know how it feels when I get under pressure. I know I spent many, many hours putting with this thing doing drills. I have four of them, but I rarely switch it out. If I’m not putting well, I know it’s my fundamentals or alignment and not the putter.”
This week it was none of the above. No question about it.
The clubs Harris English had in the bag at the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: Ping G430 LST (Fujikura Venture TR-Blue 6X), 10.5 degrees
3-wood: Ping G400, 14.5 degrees
Irons (3): Ping G410 Crossover; (4-9): Ping Blueprint T
Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 (46, 52, 56 degrees); (Ping Glide Forged (60 degrees)
Putter: Ping Scottsdale Hohum
