We’re at Torrey pines this coming week, a pretty tough test for these guys which I love. Sick and tired of these incredibly easy putting contests that we see entirely too often on the pga tour.
Torrey pines has 2 courses but both are pretty similar. These are long par 72 setups. Both courses have relatively small green surfaces and very narrow fairways w/ thick rough which will really challenge these guys off the tee. Torrey pines has consistently played as one of the top 10 most difficult venues on the pga tour and we typically see a winning score of -15 or less. This is a relatively tough setup when it comes to approaching the green as it is very heavy on long irons into these smaller greens. Torrey is also very difficult off the tee and is maybe the hardest course on the pga tour in terms of putting on these bumpy poa greens.
Now you would think you would want to target guys that are accurate off the tee with these narrow fairways and thick rough, but the reality is pretty much everyone will be playing out of the rough here therefore distance IMO is more important as longer guys will have shorter approaches out of the rough when they don’t hit fairways which is a big edge. Longer hitters off the tee have consistently filled leaderboards at this event. I think it’s also paramount to target guys that are elite long iron players in particular with the wide majority of approaches coming from over 150 yds. Putting always brings a lot of variance and with this being a tougher test I won’t put a lot of weight in putting as even the best putters will have a hard time on these greens. Guys that I will be looking at when odds drop Monday morning include Will Zalatoris, Ludvig Aberg, Tony Finau, Keegan Bradley, Taylor Pendrith, Aaron Rai and Max Homa. Pretty chalky but these guys all have the skill set to win on long, difficult venues. Obviously won’t be on all these guys and will make a decision based on odds. BOL!
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