Andrew Novak on Friday on the 18th hole at Torrey Pines' South Course.
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Junior golf? Andrew Novak said he started slowly. Lost to players he felt he was better than. But, eventually, he turned things around.
College? At first, nothing too crazy, Novak said. Then he settled in. Then he played well.
And the pros? No wins in year one on the Korn Ferry Tour, no wins in year two. Then a win in year three. He moved to the PGA Tour. During the 2021-22 PGA Tour season, he missed more cuts than he made. During the 2022-23 season, he posted two top-10s. Last year, he had five, including a runner-up finish.
See the pattern? Novak does. Start out, get comfortable, succeed. Start out, get comfortable, succeed. Start out, get comfortable, succeed. Knowing he’s taken step three before gives him hope he can do it again, perhaps as soon as Saturday, where he’ll start the final round of the Farmers Insurance Open a stroke out of the lead.
“It’s just always for me it’s been a little bit of a process to get comfortable at the level I’m at,” Novak said. “I really am feeling a little bit more comfortable out here. I know these golf courses now and I think that’s helped.”
With that, here is the complete listing of round four tee times. Saturday’s TV coverage from Torrey Pines starts at 2 p.m. ET on Golf Channel, then moves over to CBS starting at 4 p.m.
Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to him about any of these topics — his stories, his game or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.