{"id":16373,"date":"2026-01-26T08:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T08:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/?post_type=article&p=16373"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:34:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:34:42","slug":"farmers-insurance-open-at-torrey-pines-2026-preview","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/article\/farmers-insurance-open-at-torrey-pines-2026-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines – 2026 Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The PGA Tour’s west coast swing continues with the Farmers Insurance Open featuring the scenic Torrey Pines South Golf Course in La Jolla, California. Torrey Pines has hosted this event every year since 1968. Lying on land occupied by an anti-aircraft battery during World War II, it is one of America’s most scenic course layouts atop coastal bluffs north of San Diego with dazzling views of the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Thanks to the frequent morning fog delays and early sunsets, there will be two courses utilized this week. Both are owned and maintained by the City of San Diego. Golfers will play both the North and South courses once before the cut on Friday. Only the South course will be used on the weekend. While the North course plays much easier and is more tree-lined, the South course sits much closer to the Pacific bringing possible weather effects into play. It is a massively lengthy track. In fact, it is the longest annual Tour course in the rotation, stretching to almost 7,800 yards.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Scoring this week should be a complete reversal from last week\u2019s birdie-fest at The American Express. Torrey Pines\u2019 South Course ranks as the fifth-most difficult layout on Tour, offering no let-up and forcing players to use every club in the bag. It serves as a true barometer of a golfer\u2019s all-around game early in the 2026 season.<\/p>\r\n

Even at sea level, Torrey Pines plays longer than the scorecard yardage due to softer fairways and the cooler January air. Long irons will be unavoidable, and players will need to shake off any early-season rust quickly. That challenge is reflected on the leaderboard, as winning scores here have been 15-under par or lower in 12 of the past 13 years.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Torrey Pines is a \u201csticky\u201d course when it comes to the profile of players who find success. Par is a good score on the majority of holes, and with the course\u2019s length, bombers and long-iron standouts hold a clear advantage. That said, the winners\u2019 list is also dotted with elite scramblers and players who thrive on Poa annua greens.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The Field<\/h2>\r\n

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It’s the first tough test of the new calendar year, and all eyes will be on Brooks Koepka<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, the five-time major champion who returns to the PGA Tour after spending the last four years at LIV Golf. Koepka announced in December that he would be leaving LIV Golf, and three weeks later returned to the PGA Tour through the \u201cReturning Member Program,\u201d which allows the five-time major champion to rejoin with certain restrictions. Chief among them is ineligibility for signature events unless he qualifies, making non-signature stops like the Farmers Insurance Open a natural fit on his schedule. His inclusion also won\u2019t displace another Tour member. This week\u2019s field will feature 147 players\u2014the standard 144, plus Koepka, with two additional players added from the alternate list to complete threesomes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

10 of the top 20 players in the world are in the field including Xander Schauffele<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, J.J. Spaun<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Justin Rose<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Hideki Matsuyama<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Keegan Bradley<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Chris Gotterup<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Ludvig Aberg<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Cameron Young<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Patrick Cantlay<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Alex Noren<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, and returning champion, Harris English<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We are back to a standard 36-hole cut this week with the top 65 and ties playing the weekend. Only the South Course is equipped with ShotLink data. This is the last chance for players to earn a spot in the first signature event of the year in two weeks at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The top five FedExCup points earners from the Sony Open, The American Express, and this week’s Farmers Insurance Open will gain a spot in the field at Pebble Beach.<\/p>\r\n

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Torrey Pines – Course History<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One of the most famous municipal golf properties in the country, Torrey Pines was designed by William Bell in 1957. Located at the previous site of Camp Callan, a U.S. Army installation, it was built on a tract of land with mountains to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the west.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Since 1968, Torrey Pines has hosted the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open, which was originally known as the San Diego Open. During its first few decades, the South Course was around 6,850 yards. The South Course was first renovated in the late 1970s by local hero Billy Casper<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It was then completely redesigned by Rees Jones in 2001. Jones moved multiple greens, doubled the number of bunkers, added ten new tee boxes, and extended the yardage to a whopping 7,607 yards. He also brought several coastal canyons into play, namely on the 3rd and 14th holes. The goal was to make the course more competitive for the modern-day player. Jones’s efforts were rewarded as the course hosted the 2008 U.S. Open.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Again in 2019, Rees Jones completed another renovation of the South Course. Bunkers were shifted and refurbished on five different holes. Greens were repositioned closer to canyons to bring more of an element of danger into play. Jones also extended the course another 150+ yards. Two years after this renovation, the South Course was again awarded the U.S. Open in 2021.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As for the North Course, it stood the test of time until it was finally renovated in 2016 by Tom Weiskopf. He overhauled the greens and created more challenging pin positions, eliminated more than a dozen bunkers, and flipped the nines so that the routing now finishes along the coast. He also stretched the course out to its current length.<\/p>\r\n

Finish Position and Strokes Gained History at Torrey Pines (2016-2025)<\/h2>\r\n

This includes the average finish position and Strokes Gained per round since 2016. Players are sorted by SG: Total. Torrey Pines South is the 13th most predictive course on Tour.<\/em> \"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\r\n

Torrey Pines South – Course Features<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With the one round at the North Course not using ShotLink\/Strokes Gained data, there will not be any stat correlations for this event since the data is incomplete.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

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Enormous length, narrow fairways, deep rough, criminally tough greens – these are just a few of the ways to describe the South Course. While mostly flat, at 7,765 yards, Torrey Pines is a monster and the longest on Tour. Winds off the coast can also severely hamper a round. Xander Schauffele<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span> commented about both of these factors. “It\u2019s brutal. It\u2019s mentally exhausting. The place is a hike. Just everything about it. When the wind picks up, you\u2019re just worn out at the end of the day.”<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Over the past five years, it has ranked as the fifth-toughest course on Tour at +1.08 strokes over par per round. Nearly every key metric plays more difficult than average, from scrambling to fairways hit to greens in regulation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

From an agronomy standpoint, greens are Poa annua and fairways and rough are ryegrass overseed. Torrey Pines is infamous for its thick penal four-inch rough. The course typically plays very firm, as Scott Bentley the Deputy Director Golf Division for San Diego remarked, “For the tournament, our goal is to really have dry conditions. We like the fairways to be firm and fast, and we like to see a bounce in the greens. We do expect the rough to be long and lush.”<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Winners at Torrey Pines have typically fallen into two classifications – either bombers off the tee or players with elite short-game skills. From the bomber category, we have seen Luke List<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Justin Rose<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Jon Rahm<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Scott Stallings<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Tiger Woods<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, and Bubba Watson<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span> triumph. On the short-game side, Patrick Reed<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Jason Day<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>, Brandt Snedeker<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span> (twice), and Ben Crane<\/a><\/a><\/span><\/span>. Interestingly, many of the bombers also have quality short games.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This par-72 layout has seven par-4s that play over 450 yards and two par-5s that measure over 615 yards. Golfers must take advantage of the four par-5s as they are generally the only birdie holes on the course, and possibly the only holes that will play under par for the week.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While the coastal setting is spectacular, Torrey Pines lacks compelling hole architecture throughout the South Course. It is often criticized for not standing out architecturally, as many of the par 4s and par 5s feel repetitive in design. The test is very straightforward with no tricks or hidden nuances. What you see is what you get.<\/p>\r\n

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