The Farmers Insurance Open is another full-field event that takes place at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, California. The event is played across both properties at Torrey Pines, the South and North Course, with the South hosting the entirety of the event after the Friday cut.
For Pick6 lineups it’s important to note which course your player will be on. The North is much shorter and far easier, while the South Course is one of the most difficult tracks on the PGA and stretches up to 7,700 yards. Here is some of what I wrote about the differences in the venues in this week’s PGA Cheat Sheet on DKNetwork.
“The North plays 400 yards shorter and also uses newly renovated bentgrass greens, which are easier to putt on. The greens at Torrey South are some of the toughest on the PGA TOUR, so don’t be shocked when you see some players struggle on the South but light it up on the greens at the North Course. It should be noted that last season’s winner, Matthieu Pavon, actually went four strokes better (65) on the South in Round 2 than he did on the North in Round 1 (69), but that’s a split you will rarely see from winners.
The North course features four reachable par 5s, and you’ll almost certainly need a good under-par round from your players there if they are going to advance to the weekend. On the South course, scoring well on the par 5s is also important as the venue features seven par 4s over 450 yards, which are all very difficult to play.“
The weather for Thursday looks solid with very little wind, so even though the South starters will have a much tougher time posting low scores, I am anticipating good scoring conditions for Round 1.
We’ll try to sort through all that chaos and find the best edges this week below.
Max Homa Less Than 71.5 Strokes
Homa is a former champion of the Farmers Insurance Open and a great West Coast swing player. He’s also won at Riviera and generally loves it when the PGA swings around to this portion of the USA. The American had a poor 2024 in general but looked solid in his first outing in Maui, gaining strokes everywhere but on the greens.
While his overall form still has some question marks, the Round 1 total we are getting on Homa this week looks entirely too big. He’s shot under 72 in each of his last six competitive rounds on Torrey South and will be getting great conditions in Round 1 to make it seven in a row as he’ll be starting off his event on the longer course. I like starting Pick6 cards with this one this week.
Jhonattan Vegas More Than 3.5 Birdies or Better
Vegas has never won this event but he has played the Farmers and Torrey Pines a lot during his lengthy career and has the kind of long game that can thrive on the longer setup. He also comes into this year’s version playing well. Vegas grabbed win number four on the PGA last summer at the 3M Open and posted a T-4 out of nowhere at the season opener in Maui.
Just given the fact he’ll have four par 5s to work with and almost no wind hindering him, Vegas should be able to get aggressive with some of the shorter par 4s as well and give himself an extra birdie chance or two in his opening round, which will take place on Torrey South. He’s 32nd in Birdies or Better Gained over the last 24 rounds, so this lower total looks worth attacking for Round 1.
Aaron Rai More Than 4.5 Birdies or Better
Rai will be starting his event on the easier North Course and with the weather looking solid, I expect we’ll see plenty of players posting some low scores on that venue in Round 1. Rai isn’t the biggest hitter but his accuracy off the tee is a huge plus at these venues where the rough tends to be thicker than normal, even on the South Course.
Rai finished T-6 at this event back in 2022 and has made the cut in all three of his career appearances at the Farmers. Last year he shot an opening 66 on the North Course, making six birdies in the process. Overall, this total just looks too low for a player of Rai’s caliber who is starting on the easier venue in great scoring positions.
Will Zalatoris Less Than 68.5 Strokes
I’ll take aim at one more less than for a player starting on the North Course this time in Will Zalatoris. The American really does like this event as he finished runner-up here in 2022 (playoff loss) and has also recorded finishes of T-7 (2021) and T-13 (2024) at Torrey Pines.
Funnily enough, in each of Zalatoris’ last four starts at this event/venue, he has shot 68 on the North Course in all four appearances. It’s a little worrisome in some respects that he hasn’t gone lower at least once on Torrey North, but his form is looking decent after he posted a T-11 last week at the American Express.
Just given the course history he has, I’m apt to trust him to get in a low enough number to cash this pick for us and round out our four PGA picks for Farmers week.
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