The patience of those who find Torrey Pines to be restrictive and monotonous will be pushed beyond breaking point over the next few weeks, with the PGA Tour's most famous municipal also set to host the Genesis Invitational following the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
To me, this seems a sensible choice among limited options. With less than a month to prepare, the stand-in course had to be tournament-ready and rather than spend successive weeks in Phoenix, where we're used to seeing the world's best on Super Bowl Sunday, returning to Torrey Pines next month will at least mean a high turnover from this week's Farmers Insurance Open.
Perhaps this explains why both Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa have withdrawn. Is it possible that the thought of seven rounds at the South Course (three this week, with one round at the North) was too much for both these Californians to stomach? There does seem to be some speculation that this really is the reason, which seems curious to me. Why not gain an advantage with a warm-up in this far less valuable tournament?
Whatever their respective reasons – and – the Farmers field is a barren. There were always going to be victims of a remodelled PGA Tour, those events which no longer hold the appeal they once did purely on the basis of purse size. This one is just made that bit more jarring because of the place Torrey Pines holds in the game, and the fact that it was one of Tiger Woods' strongholds.
If you were to profile the Farmers of the post-Woods age, perhaps its international nature would form part of it. Last year brought us a Frenchman and a Dane with a German in third and this time around it's a Japanese, Hideki Matsuyama, and Sweden's LUDVIG ABERG, who share favouritism at 10/1.
Of the two, Matsuyama has three wins since Aberg's PGA Tour breakthrough but I'd prefer the latter, particularly after such an eye-catching debut last year. Ninth in the end, he holed nothing during the final round before going on to finish second at Pebble Beach. It'll be a bit of a surprise if he's not in the mix again over the coming weeks and it could begin here.
As many will no doubt know, owing to that familiarity we all have with Torrey Pines, the South Course is close to 7,800 yards in length and rewards those who've extra in the locker off the tee, like Aberg. From there, hitting the ball high to small, firm, poa annua greens is challenging and with narrow fairways, so often this is done from the rough – another reason powerhouses are at an advantage.
Matthieu Pavon might not qualify as one of those, but runner-up Nicolai Hojgaard certainly does and third-placed Stephan Jaeger was later rewarded for his work to increase his swing speed with victory on another long municipal in Texas. Alongside him here was Jake Knapp, who went on to win at the wide-open, bomber-friendly resort course in Mexico.
A winner here in 2023, and at Riviera and Silverado before that, Homa has a fabulous record in his home state and on the strength of it, he went off at shorter odds than these for the US Open won by Wyndham Clark a year and a half ago.
There's been a bit of everything since then, his first major top-10 and a good go at winning the Masters some of the best of it alongside two excellent performances in USA colours. On the other side of the coin, last summer was undeniably poor and, in August, he split with longtime coach Mark Blackburn as a consequence.
Hoey shot 68-77 on his debut in the event, caught out as so many have been by the South Course, but his long-game was strong and he was let down by his chipping and putting at a time when confidence was low and experience was lacking.
Hopefully that confidence didn't take too much of a hit with a poor weekend in the AmEx, as he's certainly built up plenty over the past few months. In fact over his last 15 starts Hoey has made 15 cuts, with four top-10s, and I won't have to remind regular readers that he really should've won the ISCO Championship during this run.
Third here last year thanks to an exceptional ball-striking display, it's worth noting that this came after he'd been 70th in the Sony and then missed the cut in the AmEx. This year, he was 56th in The Sentry, then missed the cut narrowly last week despite a third-round 65.
Looking closer at his scorecards, Knapp's only real mistakes over the final 36 holes came with one wild drive and one very poor wedge from the fairway around the Stadium Course, which combined cost him four shots. He missed the weekend by two in the end but, as mentioned, ended firmly on the front foot, especially with the putter.
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