Torrey Pines Will Host the U.S. Open. What Will This Weekend Teach Us?

Since 1968, Torrey Pines has hosted an annual PGA Tour event on the ‘West Coast Swing’. Originally the San Diego Open, it is now known as the Farmers Insurance Open and top players such as Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele will be teeing it up this weekend.

In 2008, the U.S. Open came to Torrey Pines, in a finish you may remember.

This year, we are blessed with the U.S. Open returning to the beautiful cliffs of La Jolla, CA, as Torrey Pines’ South Course hosts its 2nd major championship. So, it’s the same course being played a few months apart – the play this weekend should help us understand what will happen in June right? Not necessarily. Let’s look back to 2008 to see why.

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Reminiscing on 2008, there is an obvious correlation between the regular season event at Torrey Pines and the U.S. Open; Tiger Woods captured both titles. At the time this was commonplace, though, as Tiger won tournaments at a pace equivalent to most of us common golfers losing ProV1s.

Known at the time as the Buick Invitational, Woods won the regular season event at Torrey Pines for the 4th consecutive year, finishing at 19 under and 8 shots clear of Ryjui Imada. The (now) 15-time major champion took advantage of his18 holes at the easier North Course, firing a 7-under 65 in the 2nd round. Even when he faced the tougher South Course, the soft conditions throughout the property allowed Woods to cruise with four rounds under par. While the world #1 player dominated in typical fashion, 27 other players finished under par, and the cut line for the event was +1.

While Tiger won the 2008 U.S. Open in dramatic fashion, it bore little resemblance to the regular season event less than five months earlier.

Woods tied with Rocco Mediate after 72 holes at 1 under par, 18 (!!) shots behind the pace he set during his previous outing at Torrey. The long rough and fast greens wreaked havoc on the field, and the worlds best golfers needed to challenge the difficult South Course all four rounds. Additionally, the course was much drier and faster in June than in January, resulting in less control and more bogies for the worlds top golfers. There were a lot more bogies; no one other than Tiger & Rocco finished under par, and a cut line finished at +7.

The leaderboards of the two events also share little commonality. Imada, the runner up in the regular season event, finished tied for 18th at the U.S. Open (though ironically was closer to Woods by being only seven shots behind). The affable Mediate did not make the cut at the Buick Invitational, which clearly did not shake his confidence going against the best player on the planet in a major. Throughout the leaderboard it is more of the same; D.J Trahan and Eric Axley both missed the cut in the regular season event but finished T4 and T9, respectively, in the U.S. Open. Only one player finished in the top-10 at both events – Mr. Eldrick Tont Woods.

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All of this shows why golf is an incredible sport, one that can change on a day to day basis. Torrey Pines will play vastly different this weekend compared to when it hosts the U.S. Open in June, and the golfers currently on top of their game will be mired in slumps come the summer, while others will miss the cut this weekend and rise to contention in a few months. So enjoy this weekend, soak up the beautiful San Diego views (especially if you’re stuck in a cold region like myself) and hope for an exciting finish. Just don’t expect it to matter much this year in the U.S. Open.

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