Patrick Waters 
The Range is a course breakdown for the upcoming PGA tournament with a DFS perspective. This week the tour stays in California as the players face off at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Sign up NOW for WIN DAILY SPORTS Premium Gold RIGHT HERE! Projections, weather reports, wagering info, 24/7 expert chats and more!
The Basics
Course(s): Torrey Pines South and North
Par: 72
Length: South – 7,698 yards, North – 7,258 yards.
Greens: Bentgrass with Poa Annua, 4,500 sq ft in size, below tour average.
Fairways: Kikuyu overseeded with Rye. Rough will be at three and a half inches.
Architect: William Bell originally with a redesign in 2001 (Rees Jones) and later the North Course in 2016 (Tom Weiskopf).
For a hole by hole breakdown of the South Course, click here.
For a hole by hole breakdown of the North Course, click here.
Like last week this will be a course rotation. Each golfer will get a turn on both the North and South course for the Farmers Insurance Open. After the cut (Top 65 and ties) on Friday, golfers will play the remaining weekend on the South Course.
Course Breakdown
Last year the FIO played easier than expected and the winning score was in the low 20s. Previous years the top golfer finished between six to 13. I think the scoring comes back down from years past and with that in mind, let’s look at the top 10 golfers who perform well on average to difficult scoring courses.
On the South course more so than the North course golfers will find hitting the fairways to be troublesome. Most of the fairways are narrow than tour average with trees on both sides. Here are the top golfers in the field when it comes to OTT (off the tee) on hard to hit fairways.
Coming off of Bermuda, the field of golfers will have to contest with Bentgrass greens with Poa Annua. Let’s look at some of the best golfers with dealing with the greens here at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Here are the top 10 golfers with all three course conditions factored in.
Player Fit – Back end
North Course – Farmers Insurance Open
The hardest holes on the course are Par 4 between 450 – 500 yards. The easiest holes on the course are the Par 5 between 500 – 550 yards. Being able to avoid bogey on the Par 4 and birdie on the Par 5 will be critical. With the North course playing shorter golfers should have a smaller iron or wedge in their hands for the second shot. Look for golfers who do well between the 150 – 175-yard range for proximity. Birdie or better will be huge on the North course though it gets played only once out of the four days, assuming the golfer makes the cut.
South Course – Farmers Insurance open
This is where the two courses have a similarity. The toughest holes to play on the South course is between 450 – 500 yards on the Par 4. Par 5 also plays as the easiest but they range from 550 – 600 yards. Golfers will have to be able to play the second shot with 200+ yards in most cases. While opportunity gained should always be used, Bogey Avoidance will be getting applied here. Being able to avoid the big numbers will be key to making the cut and advancing on the weekend.
Below is the top 10 golfers with all player traits evenly weighted for the FIO.
Final Recap of the Farmers Insurance Open.
This tournament is the first of the year that we have a truly loaded field of top-end talent. Players that have been high priced over the start of 2020 will see their pricing suppressed greatly outside of the studs. Just because they’re cheap now doesn’t necessarily make them a good value.
Course Setup
Average to difficult scoring conditions
Hard-hitting fairways
Bentgrass with Poa Annua
Player Efficiencies
North Course –
Par 5 500 – 550
Proximity 150 – 175
Birdie or better
South Course –
Par 5 550 – 600
Proximity 200+
Bogey Avoidance
Farmers Insurance Open Overall –
Par 4 450 – 500
Opportunity Gained
Scrambling
Thanks for reading and I hope this article is a great starting place for your DFS research. Look out for the Insight Sheet dropping Wednesday. It will include my personal player pool and reasoning why each golfer was chosen. Also Wednesday night you can find me in the Win Daily Discord helping members with their lineups and last-minute questions.
While this article, The Range, will remain FREE, the Insight Sheet will require a Premium Gold membership. To make sure you don’t miss out, sign up for our Premium Gold membership right here!
Stats source: FantasyNational
