Welcome to our Torrey Pines Golf Tournament preview, formally known as the Farmers Insurance Open 2018 edition.
It’s a big week on the PGA Tour as Tiger Woods makes his official 2018 PGA Tour debut. Tiger is a big fan of Torrey Pines, winning the U.S. Open here in 2008, and the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in 2013.
Will Tiger bring enough game to the course this week to contend? Will he show rust? I guess we will have to wait and see!
2018 FedEx Cup Standings
source: pgatour.com
Jon Rahm Ascends to #2 in the Official World Golf Rankings
Jon Rahm did more this weekend than win the CareerBuilder Challenge and ascend to #2 in the 2018 FedEx Cup standings.
With his win this past week, Rahm has moved all the way to 2nd in the Official World Golf Ranking, and can actually overtake Johnson (who isn’t playing in the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines this week) with a win.
Rahm’s rise in the Official World Golf Rankings has been nothing short of incredible. In fact, this time last year Rahm was ranked 137th in the world. Moving up 135 spots in the world rankings in one year? Not bad.
The feisty 23-year-old Spaniard is also the defending champion, after draining this 60-footer for eagle last year on the 18th hole to win the tournament.
World #1 Dustin Johnson Drop to 4th position
Dustin Johnson dropped a spot in the FedEx Cup rankings, but still maintains #1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Johnson has now been the world’s number one player for 49 weeks. To put that in perspective, only 8 players in history have spent more weeks at number one (since they started tracking the stat in 1986).
Tiger Woods Farmers Insurance Open 2018 News
There’s just no doubt about it, the return of Tiger Woods is the biggest news of the week. While the big cat may be back in action, it remains to be seen if his game is where it needs to be to compete.
Of course, he had a great showing in December at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, but that was a “cupcake” resort course, whereas Torrey Pines is a major championship caliber test.
What will the Tiger Woods 2018 Farmers Insurance Open News hold by the end of the week? Our prediction is a solid top-25 finish for Tiger, but we don’t expect him to seriously contend for the title this week. He’s just had so much time off, and no doubt the game is a bit rusty right now. However, if you need a reminder for how much he loves this golf course, take a look at the video below where Tiger makes a clutch putt to force a playoff with Rocco Mediate at the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines:
Farmers Insurance Open Field
The 2018 Farmers Insurance Open Field is solid, as players love playing both the North and South courses at Torrey. Here are a few of the “featured players” who are teeing it up this week at the Torrey Pines golf tournament:
Keegan Bradley
Jason Day
Bryson DeChambeau
Luke Donald
Ricky Fowler
Brian Harman
Charley Hoffman
J.B. Holmes
Billy Horschel
Si Woo Kim
Chris Kirk
Marc Leishman
Hideki Matsuyama
Jon Rahm
Patrick Reed
Justin Rose
Xander Schauffele
Brandt Snedeker
Jimmy Walker
Gary Woodland
Tiger Woods
Farmers Insurance Open Tee Times: Pairings for Thursday’s First Round at the Torrey Pines Golf Tournament
Here are a few of the feature pairings for the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open (tee times noted below are EST):
No. 1 Tee, South Course
12 p.m. — J.J. Henry, Kevin Streelman, Jamie Lovemark
12:10 p.m. — Hunter Mahan, Ben Crane, Scott Stallings
12:20 p.m. — Troy Merritt, Ted Potter, Jr., John Huh
12:30 p.m. — Emiliano Grillo, Chris Kirk, Nick Watney
12:40 p.m. — Marc Leishman, James Hahn, Charles Howell III
12:50 p.m. — Brice Garnett, Conrad Shindler, Julian Suri
1 p.m. — Beau Hossler, Andrew Yun, Michael Block
1:10 p.m. — J.B. Holmes, Martin Laird, Chad Campbell
1:20 p.m. — Johnson Wagner, Sung Kang, Zac Blair
1:30 p.m. — Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Brandt Snedeker
1:40 p.m. — Patrick Reed, Charley Hoffman, Tiger Woods
1:50 p.m. — Nicholas Lindheim, Andrew Putnam, Maverick McNealy
2 p.m. — Xinjun Zhang, Lanto Griffin, Norman Xiong
No. 10 Tee, South Course
12 p.m. — Keegan Bradley, Robert Garrigus, Martin Flores
12:10 p.m. — Francesco Molinari, Whee Kim, Kevin Tway
12:20 p.m. — Harris English, Shawn Stefani, Derek Fathauer
12:30 p.m. — Cody Gribble, Jim Herman, Stewart Cink
12:40 p.m. — Adam Hadwin, Smylie Kaufman, Alex Noren
12:50 p.m. — Seamus Power, Abraham Ancer, Kyle Thompson
1 p.m. — Talor Gooch, Corey Conners, John Mallinger
1:10 p.m. — Ryan Palmer, Tom Hoge, Andrew Loupe
1:20 p.m. — Robert Streb, Sean O’Hair, David Hearn
1:30 p.m. — Jhonattan Vegas, Mac Hughes, Peter Malnati
1:40 p.m. — Si Woo Kim, Jimmy Walker, Luke Donald
1:50 p.m. — Joel Dahmen, Stephan Jaeger, Nate Lashley
2 p.m. — Tyler Duncan, Zecheng Dou, Jack Maguire
No. 1 Tee, North Course
12 p.m. — Camilo Villegas, Chesson Hadley, Bud Cauley
12:10 p.m. — Danny Lee, Retief Goosen, Harold Varner III
12:20 p.m. — Cameron Tringale, Patrick Rodgers, Tyrone Van Aswegen
12:30 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Russell Knox, Aaron Baddeley
12:40 p.m. — Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry, K.J. Choi
12:50 p.m. — Aaron Wise, Denny McCarthy, Derek Barron
1 p.m. — Trey Mullinax, Ethan Tracy, Will Zalatoris
1:10 p.m. — Nick Taylor, Rory Sabbatini, Michael Kim
1:20 p.m. — Lucas Glover, C.T. Pan, Richy Werenski
1:30 p.m. — Cameron Smith, Tony Finau, Sangmoon Bae
1:40 p.m. — Brendan Steele, Brian Harman, Padraig Harrington
1:50 p.m. — Martin Piller, Adam Schenk, Roberto Diaz
2 p.m. — J.T. Poston, Bronson Burgoon, Ben Silverman
No. 10 Tee, North Course
12 p.m. — Michael Thompson, Anirban Lahiri, Ollie Schniederjans
12:10 p.m. — Morgan Hoffmann, Kelly Kraft, J.J. Spaun
12:20 p.m. — Matt Every, Matt Jones, Steve Wheatcroft
12:30 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler
12:40 p.m. — Justin Rose, Hideki Matsuyama, Phil Mickelson
12:50 p.m. — Rob Oppenheim, Sam Ryder, Tyler Torano
1 p.m. — Peter Uihlein, Tom Lovelady, Sam Burns
1:10 p.m. — Geoff Ogilvy, Jonathan Byrd, Andrew Landry
1:20 p.m. — David Lingmerth, Alex Cejka, Luke List
1:30 p.m. — Grayson Murray, Jonas Blixt, Rod Pampling
1:40 p.m. — Kyle Stanley, Bill Haas, Gary Woodland
1:50 p.m. — Keith Mitchell, Matt Atkins, Cameron Davis
2 p.m. — Brett Stegmaier, Jonathan Randolph, Brandon Harkins
Farmers Insurance Open TV Schedule and Where to Watch
The Farmers Insurance Open TV Schedule will showcase all 4 tournament rounds (Thursday-Sunday).
Thursday: 3-7pm EST (Golf Channel)
Friday: 3-7pm EST (Golf Channel)
Saturday: 2-3:30pm EST, 4pm-Finish (Golf Channel, CBS)
Sunday: 1-2:45pm EST, 3pm-Finish (Golf Channel, CBS)
Farmers Insurance Open Payout & Total Prize Money
Like all other PGA Tour events in the Tiger Woods era, the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open payout and prize money is quite impressive.
The total Farmers Insurance Open Purse for 2018 is a whopping $6,900,000. $1,242,000 of that will go to the eventual winner. Again, I’m really regretting my decision not to practice harder when I was a high school golfer.
Farmers Insurance Open Picks and Predictions for the Week
Here’s a video showcasing a few expert picks for the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. After watching the video, it appears these experts don’t agree to much with the picks from Scratch Golf Academy below:
5. Tiger Woods
Yes, this is an emotional pick. I know, I know…a few paragraphs up I predicted a top-25 finish and said I had relatively low expectations for Tiger this week, but I’ve changed my mind.
If he plays well and puts himself in decent position heading into the weekend, there is a chance (albeit slim) for him to shock the world and win this week (but even with all the surgeries and layoff it’s still Tiger…so is it really that unbelievable?
4. Justin Rose
Rose edged out the likes of Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson back in October at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions event in China.
Rose also posted a T-5 finish at the Hero World Challenge in December and is currently the 6th ranked player in the world. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Rose content this week, as he always seems to play his best on challenging layouts.
3. Gary Woodland
I can’t really put my finger on why I like Woodland’s chances this week, but I do. He is one of the longest hitters on tour, which is a great asset to have at Torrey Pines. Traditionally, “bombers” win here more often than not, and Gary certainly fits that mold.
He’s also coming off a T-7 finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii a few weeks ago, so he’s in good form.
2. Ricky Fowler
Ranked just behind Rose in the Official World Golf Rankings at #7, Ricky Fowler is poised for a big year. Ricky won the Hero World Challenge in December and is coming off a T-4 Finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua.
1. Jon Rahm
What’s left to say about Rahm?
He’s the defending champion, and in a single season, the 23-year old has vaulted from 137th in the world all the way to 2nd. Rahm has 4 worldwide victories in the last 12 months and is coming off of his second career PGA tour win at the CareerBuilder Challenge just last week.
Oh and when asked about meeting Woods on Sunday for a showdown, here is what Rahm had to say:
“To be honest, I think a lot of us dreamt about having the opportunity to maybe walk the back nine with Tiger in contention and have a battle hand in hand,” Rahm, the defending champion of here, said on Tuesday.
“It would be something amazing for any of us. I hope it happens for somebody. I hope I’m the one, and quite truly I hope I come out on top if it happens.”
If we get a Tiger Woods vs. Jon Rahm final pairing on Sunday, I’ll be glued to the television as will millions of other rabid golf fans…that much I can guarantee. The Farmers Insurance Open 2018 edition surely won’t disappoint, and I anticipate an incredible Torrey Pines golf tournament this year, as always.
Farmers Insurance Open 2018 Results and Recap
