Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- Farmers Insurance Open

OVERVIEW

We head to La Jolla this week to play the North & South courses at Torrey Pines before the cut. Both courses are Par 72’s, and are over 7,000 yards (the south being the longer and harder of the two). The course sits on a cliff, so there will be wind to take into account this week, but I won’t be dramatically changing my approach unless we see insane winds like we did in 2016. Course history is important here, but not the end all (see: Rahm, Jon). I think I’d use course history as a strong tie-breaker between two players instead of starting with that as a primary category. Historically the South course has played as the tougher of the two, but they recently renovated the North course and it’s expected to play closer to the South in difficulty so there doesn’t seem to be an edge in playing guys starting out on the North course this week as both courses see action, both get the same weather conditions. There may be merit to targeting players hitting the North course first, but I’m not buying into any draw bias on a Monday. Bombers have the edge here, even though our list of winners doesn’t strictly include bombers (Brandt was hitting the ball further in 2016 than he’s ever hit it – FYI).

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND

o The Course
• Torrey Pines North (1 round played) & South (3 rounds) Courses
• Par: 72 (both courses)
• Yardage: 7,200 yards (North) & 7,700 yards
• Greens: Poa Annua (North), Bentgrass (South)
o Location: La Jolla, California
o Corollary Courses:
o Past Champions:
• 2017: Jon Rahm -13 over Charles Howell III & CT Pan
• 2016: Brandt Snedeker -6 over KJ Choi
• 2015: Jason Day -9 over Harris English, JB Holmes & Scott Stallings in a playoff
• 2014: Scott Stallings -9 over KJ Choi, Jason Day, Graham DeLaet, Pat Perez & Marc Leishman
• 2013: Tiger Woods -14 over Brandt Snedeker & Josh Teater

KEY STATS TO TARGET

o Strong Emphasis – SG: APP, SG:P, Birdie Or Better
o Important – Par 4 Scoring 450-500yards, Prox 200+ yards, Scrambling, Putting 5-10’, Bogey Avoidance

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