Torrey Pines Shows Its Teeth At The Farmers Insurance Open

Almost unexpectedly a heck of a golf tournament has broken out at Torrey Pines. After a Thursday and Friday highlighted by a bad back and a left handed putting mess, it’s shaping up to be a heck of a weekend. Tiger Woods limped off the course and Phil Mickelson has another free weekend for the family, but life has gone on without them. A leaderboard full winners and tour vets will most certainly give way to an exciting Sunday afternoon.

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As the NFL exits the stage for eight months the PGA Tour is doing it’s best to try and fill the void. Even without Mickelson and Woods, The Farmers Insurance Open has been nothing to gloss over. Torrey Pines has been tough and the leaderboard reflects that.

As it stands now J.B. Holmes and Harris English hold on to a one-stroke lead, but by no means should they feel comfortable. Of the eighteen players who are within four shots of the lead, eleven of them have won on tour, and two of them have picked up victories this season. You add a major champion and a Ryder Cup hero to the mix and it could be a sleepless night for the leaders.

Holmes finds himself on top of the leaderborad after a sizzling 68, which was good enough for the best round of the day. Last year’s winner at Quail Hollow has always hit it a mile, but his short game has been on form this week. He’ll be playing with English whose one over par round was good enough for him to stay in the lead. It wasn’t easy for English who had to fight and claw his way through out the entire round.

"English said, “it’s a battle out there, you’ve got to stay patient that’s the key to this golf course. I feel like I did that today. You’ve got to grind and that’s what I’ll do tomorrow.” (CBS Sports)"

Sunday will definitely be a battle all right; there are plenty of challengers lurking in the distance. A course that is not yielding many birdies isn’t expected to get any easier tomorrow. If you’re a Lucas Glover, Nick Watney, Jason Day or Ian Poulter it will be an uphill climb, but it’s certainly not impossible. If one of those guys can replicate Holmes’ round today, things will get very interesting.

Taking into account the difficulty of the course and final round pressure, it’s easy to say that the winner may not be coming from the final group. If that’s the case the one who to look out for is Day. Earlier this year I thought this could be a big year for the Aussie. He’s already picked up a third place finish and at two shots behind the leaders. If one of them falters it could be Day stealing the trophy. He’s kind of flown under the radar for most of the week but tomorrow he could be front and center.

A week that began with a former dominant player in disarray is now about the course that is looking to break the backs of it’s competitors. It’s not every week that a regular tour event produces major championship drama. Tomorrow we have a chance for that, and we can make all the predictions we want to but when it’s all said and done, Torrey Pines will determine the winner.

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