Tiger Woods will return for his first competitive start in 19 months at the Farmers Insurance Open this week. Woods had to sit out all of last season due to back surgeries and will return at the venue of Torrey Pines, where he’s one eight times, after 522 days of a tournament lay-off.
He knocked off his rust last month at the Hero World Challenge where he led the field for maximum birdies with 24 in 72 holes and went as low as 65. Despite all these impressive statistics, he could ony manage a 15th place finish among the 18 invitees who were a part of the field.
The reason he didn’t finish higher was the big numbers on a few tragic holes where he hit wayward drives and found waste areas or hazards. Those areas were largely unplayable and flanked nearly every fairway at Albany.
Those wayward drives will be playable at Torrey as these unplayable areas don’t exist here and Tiger can seek some solace in his 2008 US Open victory at Torrey where he didn’t play much of the short grass either.
Making the cut this week will be a big accomplishment for Tiger as it’s all about baby steps on his long road back. If Tiger can have his putter working even nearly as good as it was at the Hero World challenge, he might even be able to contend.
Torrey Pines has received a lot of rain in recent weeks and continues to do even now, meaning that the course will be long and soft and the rough will be thick and wet. So expect to see a less exciting version of the Tiger we saw in December as Tiger will be looking to first make the cut and play the weekend.
The wet course should help Tiger find more fairways but that will mean longer approaches which will test Tiger’s all around game this week.
Course: Torrey Pines GC (South), 7,698 yards, par 72. Opened in 1957, William Bell’s design meanders along cliffs fronting the Pacific Ocean once occupied by a World War II army base. It has been home to the PGA TOUR’s annual San Diego visit since 1968, along with the cWorlds each July.
A 2001 upgrade by Rees Jones helped Torrey Pines land the 2008 U.S. Open, won by Tiger Woods in an epic playoff over Rocco Mediate, and it has been tabbed to host the event again in 2021.
This week’s format also calls for entrants to play one of the first two rounds on Torrey Pines’ North course (7,258/72), where Tom Weiskopf just finished a $12 million redesign.
Joint 72 hole scoring record: 266, George Burns (1987), Tiger Woods (1999).
South course record: 62, Tiger Woods (3rd round, 1999).
Challenge from the Field that Tiger will face: Jason Day, US Open champion Dustin Johnson and seven others among the world's top-25 players will be joining Woods. San Diego native, Phil Mickelson will be making his 21st appearance hoping that his hometown course will allow him to end his winless drought that dates back to the 2013 British Open.
Day will make only his second start of the year after his own back-injury troubles. He will be looking to build on his T-12 finish at the SBS Tournament of Champions.
Dustin Johnson, with just one top-20 at Torrey Pines since 2011, will be looking to get it done this week after his 2nd place finish halfway around the world at the European Tour's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Although, Mickelson is a three time champ at Torrey, his last win came in 2001. Since then, he has managed a best finish of runner-up behind Ben Crane in 2010.
2016 Recap: Last year's Farmers Insurance Open saw Brandt Snedeker walk away with the win in a Monday finish where he took no part as he posted a 69 on Sunday for his 4th round to be the clubhouse leader. Powerful storms forced the final groups off the course and when play resumed amid a dozen toppled trees on the South Course on Monday, Snedeker was still one behind.
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The strong winds were too stiff a challenge for KJ CHoi, Jimmy Walker and Kevin streelman to ward off with Choi coming the closest , though his bogey at No. 14 dropped him behind Snedeker.
Snedeker won as a result for the 8th time on the PGA TOUR with a total of 6-under 282 which was also the highest winning score at Torrey Pines since 1979. The average final-round score was 77.9, highest in a regular Tour event since such statistics first started being recorded in 1983.
