Farmers Insurance Open: The top ten performances at Torrey Pines
By Bill Felber
The Farmers Insurance Open represented Woods’ 2019 debut. He’s coming off a 2018 season that was his best in several years. At the same time, Woods recently turned 43, an age at which players’ games tend to begin to decline.
The 2018 version of Woods was steady, and his play at Torrey Pines was essentially a continuation of that profile. His best asset last year was his approaches, which netted Woods an average of nearly nine-tenths of a stroke per round. In San Diego, Tiger improved that to about 1.4 strokes per round, giving him about a half stroke jump even on his standard game plan.
What Tiger needs now is a secondary asset. Statistically, his best hopes for that attribute have been with his game around or on the greens. In 2018, both provided him between a quarter stroke and a four-tenths stroke advantage on the field. In San Diego, Tiger minimized both areas, gaining only a fraction more than a half stroke total.
His driving game, once one of the most feared on tour, hasn’t been a strength for some years now., and it wasn’t again at the Farmers. Woods picked up about two-tenths of a stroke per round off the tee, an advantage of sufficient marginality as to be diaphanous.
Overall, Woods was about two strokes better than the field per round in San Diego, showing no weaknesses and one potentially overpowering strength, that being in his iron play. His ability to contend, however, probably will hinge on whether he can marshal occasional strength out of the remaining facets of a game which, demographically anyway, could be in the beginnings of a decline.
The Farmers Insurance Open, then, was not great news for Woods backers, but neither did it contain any cautionary notes.