Apologies for the late article to everyone but, here it is. We stay in California for the Farmers Insurance Open. The tournament actually starts on Wednesday (tomorrow) instead of Thursday to avoid scheduling conflicts with the NFL.
The Farmers Insurance Open will take place at Torrey Pines and features a multicourse set up just like last week. The field for this week is extremely loaded with some of the worlds top golfers competing against each other.
I breakdown the tournament format, field, and my picks below so lets get into it.
General Tournament Information:
- Dates: January 26th, 2022- January 29th, 2022
- Location: La Jolla, California, United States
- Course: Torrey Pines (North & South Courses)
- Format: 72 hole stroke play
- Thursday/ Friday: North Course & South Course
- Saturday & Sunday: South Course
- Field/ Cut: 156 Pros | Top 65 and Ties
- Purse: $8,400,000 / Winner $1.512 Million
- FedEx Cup Points: 500
Torrey Pines South Course (3 Rounds)
- Course Architect: William Bell (1957)
- Course Redesign: Rees Jones (2019)
- Comparable Courses: Muirfield Village, Riviera, Augusta National
- Course Type: Coastal/ Parkland
- Par: 72 (4x 3’s / 10x 4’s / 4x 5’s)
- Length: 7,765 yards
- Greens: Poa Annua
- Fairways: Ryegrass/ Bermudagrass (overseeded)
- Rough: Ryegrass/ Kikuyu 3″ (overseeded)
- Stimpmeter: 11.5 feet
- Bunkers: 82
- Water Hazards: 1 (In-Play on 1 Holes)
- Average Green Size: 5,000 sq. ft.
- Scoring Average (2021): 73.34 (+1.34)
- Shot Tracker: Yes
Torrey Pines North Course (1 Round)
- Course Architect: William Bell (1957)
- Course Redesign: Tom Weiskopf (2016)
- Comparable Courses: Riviera, TPC Scottsdale, Silverado
- Course Type: Coastal/ Parkland
- Par: 72 (4x 3’s / 10x 4’s / 4x 5’s)
- Length: 7,358 yards
- Greens: Bentgrass
- Fairways: Ryegrass/ Bermudagrass (overseeded)
- Rough: Ryegrass/ Kikuyu 3″ (overseeded)
- Stimpmeter: 10.5 feet
- Bunkers: 42
- Water Hazards: 0 (In-Play on 0 Holes)
- Average Green Size: 6,000 sq. ft.
- Scoring Average (2021): 70.13 (-1.87)
- Shot Tracker: No
Course/ Tournament Overview:
For the first time ever the Farmers Insurance Open will take place Wednesday to Saturday. This change was made to avoid competing with the NFL Conference Championship games that will take place on Sunday.
The Farmers Insurance Open originated as the San Diego Open back in 1952. That name would last until 1958 when it was changed to the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open. In 1992 Buick took over the sponsorship of the tournament and the name was changed to the Buick Invitational until 2009. In 2010 the name was switched to the Farmers Insurance Open and has remained that since then.
During the first few years of the event, the tournament bounced around different courses. However, in 1968 the tournament moved to Torrey Pines where it is currently played.
Course Guides/ Scorecard:
For the second week in a row we have an event that utilizes multiple courses. On Wednesday and Thursday all players will complete one round on the North and South course. Any one who has made the cut after that will then play the final two rounds on the South course.
Lets start with the North course since only one round will be played there this week. It’s by far the easier course for the weekend playing roughly 500 yards shorter in terms of distance. There’s also no water hazards on the course and has almost half as many bunkers as the South Course. The North Course also features pure bentgrass greens which is different from the South course that has Poa Annua greens. The North course provides some more opportunities for birdies which players will need to capitalize on in order to compete this week.
The South Course at Torrey Pines is the longest course on the PGA Tour. Due to its length and complex green designs, it plays as one of the toughest courses. The redesign in 2019 only added to the difficulty of the course with additional bunkers being added. As previously mentioned, the South course features Poa Annua greens which are notoriously difficult to score on.
The Field/ Odds:
The Farmers Insurance Open has one of the strongest fields outside any major tournament. Six of the Top 10 Players in the World, are competing in this event.
Jon Rahm headlines the event and is the current favorite sitting at 7-1 (+700). Rahm won this event back in 2017 and the 2021 U.S. Open which was held here at Torrey Pines.
Behind Rahm sits Justin Thomas at 14-1 (+1400), who’s coming off a T5 finish at the Sentry ToC earlier this month. He hasn’t played in this tournament since 2015 where he missed the cut.
Dustin Johnson at 25-1 (+2500) will make his 2022 Season debut. He struggled in 2021 failing to win any event with his best finish coming late in the season at the BMW Championship. The last time he played in this tournament was back in 2017 where he missed the cut.
Other “horses for the course” this week will most likely be Tony Finau (25-1), Patrick Reed (50-1), Ryan Palmer (66-1), and Marc Leishman (33-1).
Notable Withdraws Include: Charley Hoffman, Lucas Herbert, K.H. Lee, Nate Lashley, Ryan Moore, Kelly Kraft, Chris Stroud
Click the link, to see the most up to date odds.
Click the link, to find out how everyone in the field has qualified.
TV Information:
- Round 1: Wednesday, January 26th, 2022
- Golf Channel – 12:30 PM – 4:30 PM ET
- Round 2: Thursday, January 27th, 2022
- Golf Channel – 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM ET
- Round 3: Friday, January 28th, 2022
- Golf Channel – 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET
- CBS – 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET
- Round 4: Saturday, January 29th, 2022
- Golf Channel – 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM ET
- CBS – 4:30 PM – 8:00 PM ET
- Wednesday: Mostly Sunny 55 F, 8 mp/h W, 52% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Thursday: Sunny 57 F, 9 mp/h NNW, 50% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Friday: Partly Cloudy 61 F, 7 mp/h NNE, 33% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
- Saturday: Partly Cloudy 57 F, 9 mp/h W, 41% Humidity, 0% Chance of Rain
Key Statistics:
- Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
- Stroked Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Putting (Poa Annua)
- Driving Distance
- Par 4 Scoring: 450-500 Yards
- Par 3 Scoring: 200-225 Yards
- Bogey Avoidance
Previous Winners Scores & Prices:
- 2021: Patrick Reed (-14)
- Price: 25-1
- 2020: Marc Leishman (-15)
- Price: 55-1
- 2019:Justin Rose (-21)
- Price: 14-1
- 2018: Jason Day (-9)
- Price: 22-1
- 2017: Jon Rahm (-13)
- Price: 55-1
Picks (Outright):
- Sam Burns (+2400) – FanDuel
- Risk: 0.34 to win 8.16 Units
- Daniel Berger (+2400) – FanDuel
- Risk: 0.34 to win 8.16 Units
- Sungjae Im (+3200) – FanDuel
- Risk 0.25 to win 8.00 Units
Total Risk on Outrights: 0.93 Units
Picks (Top 20):
- Tony Finau (+138) – Caesars
- Risk: 1.00 to win 1.38 Units
Since 2015, Tony Finau has competed in the Farmers Insurance Open every year and has finished inside the Top 20 every time but once. The lone finish outside the Top 20 was actually when he made his tournament debut in 2015 where he finished 24th.
Last week Tony struggled a bit the first two rounds at the American Express before finding his groove a bit on Saturday and Sunday. He would end up finishing T40 for the Tournament shooting 67-69 in those final two rounds. Prior to last week he competed in the Sentry Tournament of Champions where he finished T19.
While Tony Finau is what we would consider to be a “bomber” by any means ranking 95th in Driving Distance, he does rank 24th in Strokes Gained Off The Tee. In addition to that he ranks 39th in Strokes Gained Approach. Both of these categories are crucial this week in order to do well and combine that with his tournament history, he should snag another Top 20 finish.
Total Risk on Top 20: 1.00 Units
Picks (Top 40):
- Luke List (+100) – DraftKings
- Risk: 1.00 to win 1.00 Units
Luke List sets up very nicely for Torrey Pines. He’s one of the longest hitters on Tour ranking 5th in Driving Distance which should give him a slight leg up on the field. He’s 5th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, 16th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, and 33rd in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green. List has finished inside the Top 40 every year at this tournament since 2018 with his best finish coming last year when he finished 10th.
He’s in great form as of late finishing T22-T10-T11 in his last three events. The one concern for List will be his putting which he struggles with a bit. He’s currently 208th in terms of Strokes Gained: Putting. One encouraging sign is that he did actually gain strokes putting in his final round of last week. Hopefully he can continue that into this week, and if he does, he definitely has a shot to be in the mix on Sunday.
- Francesco Molinari (+120) – DraftKings
- Risk: 1.00 to win 1.20 Units
Francesco Molinari is coming off a T6 finish at the American Express last week. Last year at the Farmers Insurance Open he finished 10th and T13 at the 2021 U.S. Open that Torrey Pines hosted. While he isn’t long off the tee’s he is very accurate which is big for this week as the rough can be extremely penalizing. While Molinari hasn’t been a great putter historically he did gain strokes putting last week. He seems to play well at this course despite not being the ideal fit so let’s hope that trend continues this week.
Total Risk on Top 40: 2.00 Units
Total Risk on the Farmers Insurance Open : 3.93 Units
Best of luck, and as always you can find me on Twitter @GatorBetting and Instagram @Gator_Sports_Betting.
