Tour heads to Torrey Pines
By Sportsbook.ag
Tournament: Farmers Insurance Open
Date: Feb. 5 - Feb. 8
Venue: Torrey Pines GC
Location: San Diego, CA
The PGA continues its west coast swing when they head to historic Torrey Pines Golf Course for the Farmers Insurance Open this week. They’ve been playing this tourney at Torrey Pines for the past 46 years and the duo of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have combined for 10 victories in this event since 1993. Woods has owned this course, winning five times in the past 11 years as he also took down the 2008 U.S. Open when it was held here.
His recent struggles should open the door for plenty of other top golfers to fight for the top spot come Sunday as 13 players from the top-25 head to San Diego, with Justin Rose (5th in OWGR) being the top ranked. Last season, Scott Stallings won with a score of nine-under, just ousting five other golfers by a single stroke; including Aussies Jason Day and Marc Leishman. Stallings’ score was the worst for a winner here since the 1979 event as each of the previous four victors before Stallings had a score of 13-under or better.
Let’s take a look through the field and highlight a few players who have a great chance at hoisting a trophy come the end of the weekend.
Golfers to Watch
Jason Day (12/1): Day doesn’t always play a ton of events in the states, but is almost a guarantee to make the cut when he does, getting to the weekend in 34-of-35 tournaments since the start of the 2013 campaign as he’s earned seven top-three finishes over that period. With Torrey Pines being one of the longer courses on tour (7,659 yards), Day’s ability to crush the ball (300.3 yards per, 28th on tour) will get him into position to stick some greens, which he has done so with efficiency (77.1%, best on tour) over two U.S. events this year. Day should be near the top of the leaderboard once again and go for his third straight top-10 finish in this tourney.
Brandt Snedeker (23/1): Snedeker has had no issues navigating this course in the past, and besides a missed cut in last year’s installment, he has placed in the top-10 in each of the last four tries; including being the winner or runner-up three times. He also seems to be getting his stroke back after a down year, by his standards, in 2014 after placing 10th in three of the past four events behind his tremendous putting (.532 strokes-gained putting, 37th on tour) which has allowed him to one-putt 46.5% of the time (3rd on tour).
Shane Lowry (130/1): Lowry does not get across the pond much with just 13 events played in the U.S. since the beginning of the 2013 season. He has two top-10 finishes in those tourneys and has been tearing up the European tour in the meantime with a top-16 placing in eight of his last 11 outings as he’s jumped to 45th in the World Golf Rankings. Look for the Irishmen to really start turning heads on the PGA tour this week.
Pat Perez (110/1): Perez is a risky pick as he can go off any week, but also can string together poor performances and miss plenty of cuts. He’s been on his game of late, though, with five straight made cuts and placed 30th or better in his last three tourneys. His love of this course is evident as he has done no worse than 22nd since 2011 and was one of the five players to come in with an eight-under, second-place finish last year.
Farmers Insurance Open Betting Odds
Jordan Spieth 11/1
Jason Day 12/1
Jimmy Walker 13/1
Hideki Matsuyama 18/1
Justin Rose 22/1
Brandt Snedeker 23/1
Rickie Fowler 23/1
Brooks Koepka 24/1
Phil Mickelson 28/1
Bill Haas 30/1
Dustin Johnson 30/1
Justin Thomas 30/1
Gary Woodland 35/1
Marc Leishman 35/1
Chris Kirk 40/1
Billy Horschel 45/1
Keegan Bradley 45/1
Tiger Woods 45/1
Charley Hoffman 50/1
Harris English 50/1
Martin Laird 60/1
Brendan Steele 65/1
K.J. Choi 65/1
Nick Watney 70/1
Paul Casey 75/1
Seung-Yul Noh 75/1
Jamie Donaldson 80/1
Kevin Chappell 80/1
Luke Donald 80/1
Russell Knox 80/1
Scott Piercy 80/1
Charles Howell III 100/1
Aaron Baddeley 110/1
Ian Poulter 110/1
Pat Perez 110/1
Rory Sabbatini 110/1
Tony Finau 110/1
Erik Compton 120/1
Freddie Jacobson 120/1
Shane Lowry 120/1
Ben Martin 130/1
John Peterson 130/1
Morgan Hoffmann 130/1
Sang-Moon Bae 130/1
Scott Stallings 140/1
Angel Cabrera 150/1
Brendon de Jonge 150/1
Andrew Svoboda 160/1
John Senden 160/1
Ryo Ishikawa 160/1
Jonas Blixt 190/1
Cameron Tringale 210/1
Camilo Villegas 210/1
J.B. Holmes 210/1
Bill Lunde 220/1
Brian Harman 220/1
Brian Stuard 220/1
Michael Putnam 230/1
Daniel Berger 240/1
Adam Hadwin 250/1
Alex Cejka 250/1
Alex Prugh 250/1
Andres Gonzales 250/1
Andres Romero 250/1
Andrew Putnam 250/1
Ben Crane 250/1
Blayne Barber 250/1
Brian Davis 250/1
Brice Garnett 250/1
Bryce Molder 250/1
Cameron Percy 250/1
Carl Pettersson 250/1
Carlos Ortiz 250/1
Carlos Sainz Jr. 250/1
Chad Campbell 250/1
Chad Collins 250/1
Charlie Beljan 250/1
Chris Williams 250/1
Colt Knost 250/1
D.A. Points 250/1
Danny Lee 250/1
David Lingmerth 250/1
David Toms 250/1
Fabian Gomez 250/1
Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano 250/1
Greg Owen 250/1
Heath Slocum 250/1
Hudson Swafford 250/1
J.J. Henry 250/1
James Hahn 250/1
Jason Gore 250/1
Jeff Overton 250/1
Jhonattan Vegas 250/1
Jim Herman 250/1
John Huh 250/1
John Merrick 250/1
Justin Leonard 250/1
Ken Duke 250/1
Kyle Reifers 250/1
Kyle Stanley 250/1
Lucas Glover 250/1
Luke Guthrie 250/1
Mark Hubbard 250/1
Martin Flores 250/1
Matt Every 250/1
Max Homa 250/1
Michael Thompson 250/1
Nicholas Thompson 250/1
Padraig Harrington 250/1
Retief Goosen 250/1
Richard Sterne 250/1
Robert Allenby 250/1
Robert Garrigus 250/1
Scott Brown 250/1
Scott Pinckney 250/1
Sean O'Hair 250/1
Spencer Levin 250/1
Steve Wheatcroft 250/1
Steven Bowditch 250/1
Stewart Cink 250/1
Stuart Appleby 250/1
Sung Joon Park 250/1
Troy Merritt 250/1
Zac Blair 250/1
Farmers Insurance Open Betting Preview
By Matt Fargo
Playbook.com
The PGA Tour returns to California with the Farmers Insurance Open from historic Torrey Pines in La Jolla. Last week, Brooks Koepka was able to hold off Bubba Watson, Ryan Palmer and Hideki Matsuyama to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open by one shot for his first tour victory. This week, 156 golfers will be eyeing the $6,300,000 purse in what is the biggest and most star studded field of the young PGA Tour season.
Scoring low on the North course is imperative because the South will not give in. The South Course is the longest course on Tour at 7,698 yards but that does not mean big hitters will dominate. Experience is the biggest factor this week as a mix of small greens with Poa annua can cause havoc for many. Only the U.S. Open has gone longer than the Farmers in a first timer winning as you have to go back to 1957 when Arnold Palmer captured the tournament in his first trip here.
Scott Stallings took home the hardware and $1,098,000 as he won by a stroke over five other players. The favorite going in last year was Tiger Woods (+250) and he missed the Sunday cut and finished T80. This year, his odds are at +3,000 (sportsbook.ag) so we are seeing some value for once with Woods but after watching him play last week on Friday, he cannot be trusted to make the cut, let alone win.
Jason Day (+1,150) is making his first start since the Sony Open where he finished T17 which followed a T3 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. That T17 is his worst finish since The Open Championship last year as he has six T7 or better finishes. He was part of the group that tied for second at the Farmers last year which came after a T9 in 2013.
Rickie Fowler (+2,300) did not play great last week in Phoenix as he finished T46 but he closed 2014 with a T3 and a T6 which came after a brilliant season last year that saw him close with seven T9's or better in his last eight starts. Thursday at the Farmers has not been kind to him the last two years as he has opened with 77's but he was still able to finish T6 in 2013.
After missing the cut at the Humana, Brandt Snedeker (+2,300) came back with a T10 last week as his putter caught fire. That is good timing as he can be aggressive with the flat stick at Torrey because of the Poa and he certainly loves it here. Since 2010, he has a T2, T9, WIN, T2 and a missed cut which happened last year but he was not healthy and that is no longer the case.
Gary Woodland (+3,500) let us down last week with a missed cut in Phoenix but I will back him again this week as he was coming off a T3 at the Sony Open. He is a big hitter and while that always isn't the best asset here despite Torrey South being the longest course on tour, he has had success here by never missing a cut. A Sunday 74 pushed him to a T10 last year.
For someone who is playing solid and has had recent success here, Russell Knox (+8,000) is not getting very much respect. This will be his fourth straight start in 2015 and while he missed the cut at the Humana, he surrounded that with a T13 at the Sony and a T15 last week. He missed the cut at Torrey in his first stat here in 2012 but came back with a T10 last year.
Recommended Tournament Win Five Pack at the Farmers Insurance Open - All for 1 Unit
Jason Day (+1,150)
Rickie Fowler (+2,300)
Brandt Snedeker (+2,300)
Gary Woodland (+3,500)
Russell Knox (+8,000)
2015 Record to date after 3 event: +14 Units
Hyundai Tournament of Champions -5 Units
Humana Challenge +24 Units
Waste Management Phoenix Open -5 Units