Farmers Insurance Open: The top ten performances at Torrey Pines
By Bill Felber
Robert Streb is a one of the hardest-working players on the 2019 tour. He has to be. A journeyman, he lost his tour privileges during a poor 2018 season, then won them back and is attacking events this fall and winter with the dedication of one who isn’t sure where his next paycheck will come from.
The Farmers Insurance Open was Streb’s ninth start this season, significant given that there have only been a dozen events and he was ineligible for two of them. He’s missed three cuts, but that also means he’s cashed six checks, including a matter of $45,000 in San Diego. That enabled him to hold onto his 60th spot on the seasonal money list. Will he tee it up at the Waste Management next week in Phoenix? Absolutely.
He’ll be bringing a marginal game, and he’ll need to get hot to contend. But he’ll settle for tepid, which is the temperature most of the tournament field operates at. Thus far in 2019, the sum total of Streb’s Strokes Gained advantage over the field comes to less than half a stroke.
At the Farmer’s, he beat the field averages by a total of eight-tenths of a stroke largely due to a hot week with his irons. He came into the tournament picking up about one-third of a stroke per round on the field through that facet of his game, and jacked that up to nine-tenths of a stroke per round.
For the season, and really going back to his rookie year on tour, Streb’s weakness has been his game off the tee. Thus far in 2019 he’s running at -0.23 Strokes Gained in that area, although he turned it into a minor asset in San Diego, gaining 0.24 strokes per round.
Streb is 31 now, and in his seventh season on tour. His 170 career starts have netted one victory and 64 missed cuts so he is not a strong bet for immortality. But like a lot of guys on tour, he’ll settle for the steady paycheck. That’s a substantial enough challenge.