Looking forward to this event at Torrey Pines which will actually cause a little bit of adversity for the best golfers in the world, which is hard to come by these days. Just wanted to give a quick write up as to what we should expect and what type of golfers we want to target this week.
The farmers insurance open at Torrey will feature 2 courses, the north and south course, although 3/4 rounds will be played on the south course so this will focus more on that set up. The north course is essentially an easier, shorter version of the south course in short. Torrey Pines south is a very long par 72 measuring out at 7,765 yds, the longest course on the pga tour. It features very small poa greens and thick rough which aside from the pure length of the course are the main defenses. This course typically plays very soft, with very narrow fairways. This actually works against more accurate players as it is so hard to hit the fairways for even the most accurate players on tour. Also, it doesn’t really matter how wide your misses are generally as this venue does not penalize you for very wayward shots, you’re either in the fairway or you have a pretty clear approach shot from the rough. Essentially this means players that bomb it off the tee do have an edge as they will end up with shorter approaches from the rough into these tiny green complexes. Now length is not everything, and there are a contingent of shorter players that consistently play well here. This is because long iron approach play and a supreme short game can very much make up for the deficits off the tee at this venue. Players that can consistently hit these greens with their long irons will have the biggest edge, although that is a big ask with how often players will be approaching these tiny greens with long irons from the rough. This is why a solid around the green game is huge at this event, and why almost every consistently high finisher at this event is a consistently great around the green player. This course will feature west coast poa greens which are among the most unpredictable greens in tour, and will result in many missed putts from very makeable ranges. That and the fact that this is not a birdie fest leads me to not give putting much weight in my modeling. Basically the ideal player here is a great long iron player, an elite around the green player, and guys that have had a good track record here and on long and difficult golf courses with thick rough such as Muirfield village, Bay hill, Quail Hollow, etc. Players that have length off the tee and have been solid on west coast poa greens is an added bonus. No odds out yet but will likely fire on a couple once released. Time to do a little more digging 
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