The PGA Tour continues its West Coast trek this week, and we’ve got a huge event up ahead at the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open.
This year’s installment of the tournament will have a very familiar face back on the greens, as Tiger Woods is set to make his first PGA Tour start in what feels like ages. Not only that, but the South Course of Torrey Pines just underwent a major revamp, with the course having been redesigned by Tom Weiskopf to make the playing field all the more a challenge.
Let’s take a look below at the golfers worth keeping tabs on this week in San Diego. And yes; good ol’ Tiger deserves to get some love from us here, so that’s a plus all on its own.
It appears as if there’s no reason for concern regarding Jason Day’s current form. Day, who’s been dealing with a back injury of late, managed to finish a solid T12 at Maui two weeks ago.
Many people believe that this week’s tournament is where the former PGA Championship winner will return to his usual dominant self barring another setback with his health. Despite being uncharacteristically cut at the Farmers Insurance Open last year, he was 2015’s champ at this event, the runner-up in 2014 and had another top-10 finish in 2013 (T9).
Arguably the hottest golfer heading into San Diego, Dustin Johnson will be sure to give Torrey Pines another good crack. He enters this week’s tournament with three-straight top-10 finishes, having nabbed a T6 in Maui and being tied for second place in Abu Dhabi – both within the span of the last couple of weeks.
However, the South Course hasn’t been too kind on DJ. Although he’s made the cut six out of the eight times he’s played at Torrey Pines, he’s only finished in the top 10 twice and with his best finish being tied for third back in 2011. Fatigue from his cross-continent flight back to American soil and the redesigned course may also be huge factors, but we know better than to doubt the tenacity of the reigning U.S. Open champion.
After 17 long months, golf fans will once again be treated with a Tiger Woods performance. Although Tiger’s last few attempts at a comeback have been disappointing to say the least, you can’t help but believe that there’s still some fight left in his tank, and there’s no better place than this week’s course for him to steal the spotlight once more.
Most of Woods’ biggest accomplishments on the Tour have come from Torrey Pines. He won his first grand tournament as an up-and-comer here at the 1991 Junior World Championships. Since then, he’s won seven other tournaments as well as his last major title at the 2008 U.S. Open.
There’s really nothing worth noting in terms of Woods’ current form, but you can’t help but put faith in the greatest golfer who ever played the game to have at least one more magical victory up his sleeve. And, quite frankly, this week’s tournament may be his last best shot at that as well.
For all the chatter surrounding Woods’ return, you can sense that Brandt Snedeker will play will a huge chip on his shoulder this week. The Nashville native is, by the way, the defending Farmers Insurance Open champ.
Not only did Snedeker win this tournament last year, but he was also victorious at the event back in 2012. In fact, he has reaped and sowed abundantly at the Farmers Insurance Open with a total of six top-10 finishes in 10 trips. On top of that, he’s also first overall in this event when it comes to birdies and scoring average since the 2010 season.
Snedeker may not be a household name compared to the first three entries on this feature, but he can surely stir the pot at Torrey Pines given his dominance over the tournament in general.
Korean Whee Kim is starting to make his presence felt on the PGA Tour, most recently securing a T17 finish at La Quinta. However, that’s his best finish of the year thus far, and he’s not had a top-15 finish since October near the start of the 2016-17 season.
In addition, Kim has very little experience playing with the PGA Tour’s big boys in this particular tournament. He was cut from the Farmers Insurance Open last year and failed to one-up his meager T49 finish from his only other appearance at the event in 2015.
Simply put, the former Asian Games gold medalist has not found success away from Far Eastern territory at all. Kim’s only professional title came from way back in 2012 at the Shinhan Donghae Open, and that tournament was at the Korean Tour level all the less.
Writer’s Prediction
Johnson (+750) prevails with his first win in 2017.
