2023 Farmers Insurance Open Preview
The Farmers Insurance Open is the official start to the 2023 golf season, or so they say! The tour is headed to San Diego for the 4th tournament of this young season and the pros will be taking on Torrey Pines North and South courses. This year’s Farmers Insurance Field will have 5 of the top 10 players in the world attending the tournament. This is just a reminder for everyone reading this because of NFL football playoff this tournament will be Wednesday-Saturday and not a traditional tournament schedule.
The Course and Tournament Layout
The Farmers Insurance Open is played on two different courses Torrey Pines North Course and Torrey Pines South Course. In the first two rounds, the tour pros will play one round on the north course and one round on the south course. After the cut, the final two rounds will be played on the Torrey Pines south course. The south course is well known for hosting the U.S. Open which they last hosted in 2021.
Torrey Pines North- The North course could be called the Little Brother compared to the South course. However, the course doesn’t miss marks. The course went through a renovation in 2016 by Tom Weiskopf. The North is known for not being as long or as expansive as its bigger brother the South Course. The North is known for its better views of the Pacific Ocean. The north part of the course is also boarded by the Torrey Pines State Reserve.
Torrey Pines South- The South Course is world renowned for hosting the U.S. Open in 2008 and 2021. Torrey Pines South was originally designed in 1957 by William Bell, Sr and has hosted the Farmers Insurance Open since 1968. In 2001 and 2019, the course was renovated and redesigned by Rees Jones. The renovations made Torrey Pines South longer and more difficult. The Teeing areas extended the length of the course to 7,800 yards.
2023 Farmer Insurance Open Picks
Here at Everyday Golf Blog, we make picks every week for the tournament. This is just something fun that we put together and we usually put bets on the exact picks we made for this week’s tournament.
Winner Pick: Jason Day
Jason Day is back and we are here for it! If you are going off of recent form he would be our pick with his great performance at The American Express tournament. He also has a good track record at Torrey winning the tournament in 2015 and 2018, he also finished T5 in 2019, and T3 last year. I know this seems like an outrageous pick in 2022. However, we know the potential of Jason Day and we feel like he might be getting back to himself.
Top 5 Pick: Jon Rahm
Jon Rahm is on a heater right now. He also said last week at The American Express that he feels like he is not even playing his 100% game. He won at the Sentry TOC at the beginning of the year and is coming off ANOTHER win at The American Express Tournament. So he has to be in our Top 5 and at this point, he feels like a lock for a top 5 or top 10.
Top 10 Pick: J.J. Spaun
J.J. Spaun has not had very great success at the Farmers and still has not finished above a top 30 position. Spaun has been playing great this year, and as I am writing this it looks like he is poised for another top-30 finish at least. We at Everyday Golf are also rocking with his new untucked shirts, it is a total vibe and we are here for it!
Top 20 Pick: Si Woo Kim
Si Woo Kim will be coming off a win at the Sony Open a couple weeks ago. He looks like he has it figured out at the moment. He also finished T11 last year at the Farmers Open, so it shows that he can perform at Torrey. He is also performing well at The American Express currently looking like he could also finish in the top 30. We have Si Woo Kim finishing in the Top 20 at the farmers.
Top 40 Pick: Maverick McNealy
Maverick McNealy or Mr. Westcoast loves playing in California and seems to perform really well in the Westcoast swing of the PGA Tour. He does not have a great record at the Farmers. However, he has been playing well this year with recent finishes of T10, T27, T10, and most recently T7 at the Sony Open. Maverick is also one of those players that if you bet on him for a top 40 the odds are pretty good and you could get some money.
Underdog Winner Pick: Sahith Theegala
Sahith Teegala has become one of my favorite players on tour. I mean seriously how can you not like this guy! Sahith does not have that much history here at Torrey finishing T25 in 2021. We are riding with Sahith and he is our underdog pick for the Farmers.