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It sounded too good to be true.
Two $450 tickets offered for $100 apiece to the Canyon Club, with all-inclusive food and full bar, overlooking the 17th and 18th greens on the South Course at Torrey Pines for Saturday’s final round of the Farmers Insurance Open.
Solana Beach’s Weston Walker was compelled to take a chance. A couple of years ago, he said he bought $225 Ultra Pass tickets (with all-inclusive drinks) for $100 apiece on the secondary market.
“I have gotten tickets through trusting the person,” Walker said. “It was legit. It was a good deal. That’s kind of why I went for this.”
Walker said he texted on and off with a guy named John beginning Tuesday, responding to a Craiglist ad for tickets to the final round.
Walker said he was asked to send an initial $50 through Apple Pay. Then the tickets were to be sent to him. Then, he said, he was to send the remaining $150.
When he hit send, Walker said he was thinking: “I probably shouldn’t have done this.”
“I’m not one to get scammed,” he said, thinking, “this is probably a scam, but let’s see what happens.
“Then he’s like, ‘OK, I’m going to transfer the tickets.’ I’m like, sweet. Go to TicketMaster. Wait 10 minutes, then text him, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ He says, ‘I’m still trying to transfer them. I’m having trouble.’
“Then I try to call him, and it just goes straight to voicemail because he probably blocked my phone number.”
Walker said he warned the seller ahead of time that if it turned out to be a scam, Walker was going to post his name and phone number on Craigslist. Walker followed through on his promise.
The Union-Tribune reached out to the seller asking if he had tickets for Saturday.
He texted back: “Yes, 5 tickets available. How many tickets are you looking for?”
U-T: “Two. Can I meet you at the entrance tomorrow?”
John: “E transfer. Do you have TicketMaster account? Can’t meet. I’m out of town.”
U-T: “Can you send the tickets first, then receive payment?”
John: “No.”
U-T: “I only ask because I spoke with someone else who said he sent you $50 and you never sent him the tickets and then ghosted him.”
John: “All legitimate.”
U-T: “So you are scamming people?”
The seller didn’t respond.
As always, buyer beware.
“The last three years that I’ve gone I met the (seller) in person at the tournament,” Walker said. “That’s probably the safest way.”
Walker is still looking for two tickets for the final round. Anyone out with a pair they can’t use?
“That would be cool,” Walker said.
Locals watch
San Diegan Charley Hoffman shot a 1-under 71, which got him even for the tournament (tied for 41st). Hoffman made the final field on the cutline at 1 over after finishing his second round with a 75.
Fellow San Diegan Norman Xiong slipped to a tie for 52nd after five bogeys led to a 75. He had made the cut with a 74 in the second round.
San Diego State alum J.J. Spaun and USD graduate Charlie Reiter returned early Friday to finish their second rounds. Spaun was on the cutline after carding a second-round 72 after playing his last two holes. Reiter missed the cut by two strokes when he finished with a 74.
Spaun shot 71 in the third round, is even for the tournament and among 11 players tied for 41st place.
Cavin McCall, an assistant pro at The Santaliuz Club in North County, returned to play the last four holes on the South and finished with an 80 for the second straight round.
Making history
Florida State’s Luke Clanton and Auburn’s Jackson Koivun are part of the final field, marking first time in 55 years that two amateurs made the cut in the same year at the Farmers. The last amateur to play the final two rounds in the tournament was USC’s Anthony Paolucci in 2011.
Both players carded 72s in the third round. That left Clanton at 2 under (T25th) and Koivun even (T41st) for the tournament.
Northern exposure
Thursday’s wind sent scores on the North to near-record levels. At 75.2 strokes, it was the second-highest single-round average ever on the North, behind only the 77.4 average in the opening round of the 1993 tournament.
APGA tournament
The Advocates Professional Golf Association plays a two-round event at Torrey Pines, beginning Saturday on the North Course. The second round will be played Sunday on the South and televised live by Golf Channel from 1:30-4 p.m.
The winner in the 18-man field will receive $30,000 of the $100,000 purse.
The AGPA was founded in 2010 to provide minorities with greater opportunities in golf.
Signage
A pair of planes dodged the Goodyear blimp as they circled high above the course trailing advertising banners.
One plane touted Moon Valley Nurseries, with the slogan “You buy it. We plant it.”
The other plane advertised Cheetahs Gentlemen’s Club. A guy in the gallery off the South’s seventh fairway turned to his 20something buddies and said: “At some point, Cheetahs advertising is going to work on me.”
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