Farmer Insurance Open 2022 Overview
The Farmers Insurance Open is held on Torrey Pines’ South and North courses. Three rounds are played on the newly lengthened +7,700 yard South Course, with each competitor also playing 18 holes on the North Course on Thursday or Friday. The world-famous South Course, which stretches above the Pacific Ocean and is one of the longest on the PGA Tour, is a classic design. Scoring is exceptionally difficult due to penal rough, specialised Kikuyugrass fairways, and green complex designs that resist approach shots, the elite tend to ascend to the top of the scoreboard here at Torrey.
South
Seven of the par-4s at Torrey Pines South are over 450 yards, and all four of the par-5s are over 560 yards. Torrey South also features Poa Annua greens, which are exclusively found on the West Coast and North East of the United States. Both courses also have Kikuyugrass rough, which is only seen on the PGA Tour here, at Riviera, and at Chapultepec each year. Torrey South is a brute of a golf course , where length historically has been a huge advantage, despite some shorter hitter like Sneds having a tremendous record here. Players will aim to go low at the North track and hold on at the South track.
North
The North Course is a par 72 course that continues to favour low scoring and can be crucial in tournaments. The North Course has been through its own redesign and is playing a little longer and tougher over recent years. Despite this players must take advantage of the 18 holes they get round here, anything short of 5 under par and you can expect to lose strokes to the main protagonists. The North Course has played 2-3 strokes easier than the South Course on average. It’s critical to shoot low on your one round on the North Course, and we’ve seen players win or lose tournaments simply on that one round.
Patrick Reed shot an 8-under 64 on the North Course to start in 2021. On the South Course, he went 6-under in his next three rounds. In 2019, Justin Rose started with a 9-under 63 on the North Course and won after shooting a total of 12-under on the South Course over the next three days. In 2018, Jason Day won at 10-under par after shooting an 8-under 64 on the North Course and three rounds in the 70s on the South Course.
You can’t win it on the North Course but you can certainly lose it if you don’t go low.
Putting
The South Course has Poa Annua greens, whereas the North Course has pure Bentgrass greens, which adds to the intricacy of this event, personally I’d pay attention to those that put tho poa Annua well as we have 54 holes on that surface.
The best event of 2022 so far is right upon us, let’s hope we can bag the winner!
5 Key Skills Set Required
- Driving Distance – One of the longest courses the players face on the PGA tour all year round and three of the four rounds take place on the world-famous Torrey Pines south course which is 7770 yards. This is a course that certainly favours driving distance and length in general, the biased isn’t as strong for the North course however the players only have 18 holes to contend with there whereas the other 54 will be on the brutal and demanding Tory Pines South.
- SG T2G – Quite simply, to win the Farmers Insurance Open you have to have an outstanding T2G performance on that given week. Previous winners have arrived with good current form and in addition to that a strong tee to Green performance of recent times. I certainly want to use this as the bedrock of my research this week and encourage you to do the same also. Players don’t tend to find their T2G form at an event like this on such a demanding layout.
- SG Approach 175+ yards – There is going to be a higher percentage of shots from over 175 yards out in approach play this week given the demanding length of the layout in front of the players. When looking at the data it’s apparent that players who have excelled from 175 yards + have had a significant better chance of lifting the trophy come Sunday evening. I don’t see it being any different this week. This is of key importance on both the long par 4’s the players face on the south course and the par 5’s across both tracks.
- Par 4 Scoring 450-500 – Like we have touched upon 54 holes take place on the demanding Torrey Pines south this week. This course has 4 par 4’s that fall within 450 to 500 yards in length, This really does separate the men from the boys and the cream tends to rise to the top on these demanding tracks. I’m certainly wanting to dig deeper into this range on par four score in this week.
- SG Putting 0-15ft – We have two different grasses to contend with this week at Torrey Pines however we are going to focus on the Poa Annua surface on which the players face 54 holes. The green complexes are notorious hard on the Torrey Pines south course and this is one of the hardest putting courses the players face all year from 0 to 15 feet. When doing my research I’m focusing on players have excelled in this area and have a liking for Poa Annua.
