At one point, after every group had made the turn at Torrey Pines, there were 18 players within two shots of the lead of the Farmers Insurance Open.
That group included the reigning Rookie of the Year (Will Zalatoris), PGA Tour winners (Pat Perez, Billy Horschel, Sungjae Im), and Major champions (Jason Day, Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Jon Rahm).
None of them could outlast a 37-year-old who'd never finished atop the leaderboard.
Luke List, an 80-to-1 betting underdog at the start of the week, got his first career victory in his 206th career start with a fabulous final round on the longest non-Major course on the PGA Tour.
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While most of the established stars had trouble finding traction on the South Course, List was nearly flawless. He made birdies on 2, 3, 4, and 5 to put himself into contention. He followed that up with three more birdies on the back-9, including a slippery putt on 18 to finish with a 6-under 66 and 15-under par for the tournament.
When he finished up the final group still had about seven holes to play so he sat back and watched the tournament unfold.
Nobody pulled away.
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Day holed out for eagle on 14 to tie for the lead at 15-under but bogeyed 16 and 17 and finished one shot back. Rahm's putter was just a shade off most of the day, relegating him to a 14-under finish and a shot back.
Zalatoris had plenty of chances to win his first tournament. Back-to-back birdies on 5 and 6 put him 15-under ... then he made 12 straight pars. Zalatoris had a makeable birdie putt on 18 that turned left at the last second, forcing a playoff with List.
With the sun fading fast into the Pacific Ocean they had time for just one extra hole. Both men found the fairway bunker and safely hit out onto the fairway. That's when List hit the wedge of his life, pulling it back to within a foot for a tap-in birdie.
Zalatoris had a chance to match that with an almost identical putt to the one he had in regulation. Once again, he missed it left, giving List a win he's been waiting 15 years for.
List gets a $1.5 million check for this victory. That's more than he's made in six different seasons on the PGA Tour. Perseverance and belief most definitely pay off.
