James Hahn Salvages The 2015 NoTrust-A-Lead Open

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Riviera was tough. Major tough. The firm greens almost reached 13 feet on the Stimpmeter after morning mowings. The poa was turning grey. The old girl required intense precision like never before.

Granted, some of the 2015 Northern Trust Open difficulty came from contrived elements. The fairway widths were down to nothing, with a few laugh-out-loud-to the naked eye landing areas (1, 3, 5, 8, 12, 15, 17, 18), no doubt the club's desperate last attempt to compensate for not getting the U.S. Open it so wanted and won't get by presenting bacon strip fairways.

That said, the rough surrounding those fairways was entirely manageable and rarely the hack-out stuff we saw at Torrey Pines a few weeks ago. But with all sorts of elite and rising players fighting for the lead and a chance at history, the same story of late emerged: elite players unable to hold leads. Or even elite players unable to make 5 on par-5s from the fairway...with a wedge for their third shots.

There is no nice way to encapsulate the 2015 Northern Trust Open antics as anything but a mix of choking and punitive defensive golf wearing the lads down. After three days of defensive golf, names like Garcia, Goosen, Furyk, Singh, Cabrera, Spieth, etc... flirted with taking command but ultimately fell victim to the many perils of Riviera's setup. For lovers of last-car-standing golf it must have been gratifying. But knowing the history of many events at this storied event, the inability for anyone to take hold of Riviera and separate themselves will make James Hahn's win a peculiar one in L.A. Open NoTrust Open lore, salvaged by his clutch playoff birdies to edge Dustin Johnson and Paul Casey.

Mark Lamport-Stokes, writing for Reuters:

Best known for his "Gangnam Style" moves at the 2013 Phoenix Open, James Hahn announced himself to a much wider audience by winning his first PGA Tour title at the Northern Trust Open on Sunday.

Doug Ferguson of AP added an Academy Award component to his lede:

Too nervous to look, too stunned to dance, James Hahn won the Northern Trust Open for his first PGA Tour title Sunday by holing a 25-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole at Riviera.

In a wild finish off Sunset Boulevard just as the Academy Awards was getting started, Hahn wound up with the trophy against a field of far bigger names to earn his first trip to the Masters.

Jason Sobel tries to answer the inevitable question: who is James Hahn?

Hahn was the tournament’s low-budget indie answer to those blockbuster hits. He’s never won a major, isn’t romantically linked to any starlets and didn’t jump straight to the PGA Tour from college.

No, less than a decade ago, this dude was a shoe salesman.

True story.

He was 24 years old and waiting for his golf career to take off. Before it did, he took a job working in the salon shoe section at two Nordstrom’s stores – one in Walnut Creek, the other in Pleasanton.

“I sold a lot of shoes,” he says now with a smile. “I was pretty good at it.”

It won't mean much to non-Angelenos, but back nine leader Sergio Garcia hit quite possibly one of the worst drives I've seen a professional strike in some time, leaving himself 10 paces behind Dave Stockton's infamous drop-kick hit in 1974 with a tiny persimmon driver. Stockton roped a three-wood in to the green and made birdie to beat Sam Snead. (Sergio did see the plaque but as you might surmise, did not stop to read what it said.)

The video highlights...starting with Golf Central's report.

Hahn's gutsy wedge shot and birdie on the second playoff hole that reminded us these guys are good.

And the clutch winning putt from the third playoff hole.