2021 Farmers Insurance Open: Tournament preview and picks

The PGA Tour remains on the West Coast this week for the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open at the iconic Torrey Pines in La Jolla, California.

Things went from bad to worse for us at The American Express last week and it was capped by Charlie Hoffman’s withdrawal from the event after the second round when he was just three shots off the lead. Instead, it was Pete Dye specialist Si Woo Kim who fired a fantastic bogey-free round of 64 on way to his third PGA win.

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After a relatively disappointing week, it’s time to move on to this week’s Famers Insurance Open in what is undoubtedly one of the biggest events on the 2021 schedule so far.

The courses at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open

The iconic Torrey Pines, future site of the 2021 U.S. Open, will host this week’s Farmers Insurance Open and it includes the strongest full field of 2021 so far including 10 of the Worlds top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Torrey Pines’s North and South courses will both be in play this week, with the North Course hosting one of the first two rounds and the South Course hosting the remaining three rounds this week.

The North Course at Torrey Pines was re-designed by Tom Weiskopf in 2016 and this 7,250 yard PAR 72 is right around 450 yards shorter than its southern counterpart. In fact, in 2020 the North at Torrey played on average almost three shot’s easier than the South course so players will be looking to score here during their round of play this week.

Torrey’s South Course is a monster that plays at around a whopping 7,700 yards and features some of the most narrow fairways and greens on tour. The PAR 72 South was designed by William Bell in 1957 and was later re-designed by Reese Jones in 2001 who was tasked with making the course more difficult and fitting to host Major Championships, it will again play host to a golf Major when it hosts the 2021 U.S. Open this summer.

The Favorites at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open

The odds used in this article can be found online at popular betting sites, for more information on the best odds and sportsbook’s available locally to you check out The Action Network.

Favorites

Jon Rahm +710

Rory Mcllroy +875

Xander Schauffele +1200

Tony Finau +1700

Jon Rahm opens as the favorite this week following his withdrawal last week at The American Express. The Spaniard has a terrific history at The Farmers Insurance Open with three top-five finishes in four appearances including a win back in 2017.

Rory Mcllroy will be stateside for the first time in 2021 and is coming off a 3rd place finish last week in Abu Dhabi at the HSBC Golf Championship. Mcllroy is intriguing this week as he has placed in the top five at Torrey in back to back years now and if I was backing someone at the top of the board this week I’d lean Rory.

San Diego local Xander Schauffele is a bit short for my liking this week at an event that he has yet to have much success at. Tony Finau meanwhile was in contention for much of last week and it will be interesting to see how he rebounds at another place that suits his game well.

Mid-Tier

Harris English +2200
Hideki Matsuyama +2500
Patrick Reed +2500
Viktor Hovland +3050

Matthew Wolf +3400
Jason Day +3500
Billy Horschel +3500
Scottie Scheffler+3500
Si Woo Kim+3500

Brooks Koepka+3650
Sungjae Im+3650
Marc Leishman+4150
Adam Scott+4500
Ryan Palmer+5000
Bubba Watson+5000

Of the first four in this tier, only Harris English catches my attention, who with one win already in 2021 and two top-ten finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open before Harris makes for an interesting choice this week, albeit at a short price.

Matthew Wolf is coming off a 40th last week in his first start of the New Year. Jason Day will be making his first start in 2021 this week at a place he has had much success at including winning here in both 2018 and 2015.

Brooks Koepka struggled with his approach play last week in his first start of 2021 and he has a limited history at the Farmers Insurance Open that includes a missed cut in 2017 and a 41st in 2015.

Both Aussies come into this week at good numbers, Marc Leishman has had a great start to 2021  with a 4th and 24th in two starts, he is also the defending champion after winning here in 2020. Adam Scott was 2nd in 2019 in his only start at the Farmers Insurance Open and he tends to putt better on POA greens, so if he can improve his ball-striking numbers from his last start could be an interesting option this week.

Longshots

John Huh (+7000) is interesting further down the board with three top 25 finishes in his last four starts. Huh has two top 25’s at the Farmers Insurance Open in the past as well but perhaps is better suited as a top 20 or top 10 play this week.

Doug Ghim (+11000) had a fantastic week last week when he gained over three strokes with his approach play and aside from a missed cut at the Sony a few weeks ago has really been playing some nice golf lately.

Picks to win at the 2021 Farmers Insurance Open

Matthew Wolf +3400

Wolf was excellent with his irons last week gaining over three strokes in his first start of 2021. Matthew leads the field in strokes gained approach over the last 24 rounds and he is one of the longest drivers of the ball on tour, something that will be needed to compete at the Farmers Insurance Open this week.

With a 20th in his debut at Torrey Pines last year, this is a course that should suit Matthew’s game very nicely.

Adam Scott +4500

Adam’s last five starts in the state of California read,22nd,1st,17th,7th,7th,2nd. Scott was 2nd at the Farmers Insurance Open in 2019 as previously mentioned and he has really had a nice run of success in California over the last couple of years.

The Australian played both events in Hawaii to begin the year with differing results, a 21st at the Tournament of Champions, albeit in a limited field, and a 41st at the Sony Open last time out. Adam gained over 5 strokes from off the tee in his last start and if he can get his irons to click for him again this week, could very well find himself in contention.

Gary Woodland +7000

The 2019 U.S. Open Champion returned to action last week after struggling with an injury for much of the 2020 season. Woodland was impressive in his first start back as he gained strokes from both off the tee and approach on his way to a 16th at the American Express.

Gary loves Torrey and he has four top 20 finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open in the last five years. This is a big price for someone who has typically played well at this event and also has had success in California before.

Alex Noren +9000

I’ll take a chance with Noren here next at +9000. Alex started out well last week only to eventually drift back to a 40th place finish, what’s encouraging however is that Noren was excellent with his approach play gaining over two strokes from approach for the week at PGA West.

Including last week Alex has now made four straight cuts in California including two top 20 finishes in those starts. Noren was also 2nd at the Farmers Insurance Open back in 2018.