Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas among players to watch at 2023 Farmers Open

The PGA extends its California stay this week with a trip to the San Diego area for the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open.

This event is always one of the highlights on the Tour’s schedule each year and this year is no different with five of the top ten players in the world taking the opportunity to tee it up at the famed Torrey Pines.

Defending champion, Luke List, isn’t the only player worth keeping an eye on this week as he aims to become the first player to successfully defend his title at the Farmers since Tiger Woods.

Here are several players to monitor this week who could find themselves in the mix on Saturday at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open.

Who to watch at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open

Jon Rahm

The Spaniard adores Torrey Pines, the site of his first major back in 2021. Now, he comes into this week’s Farmers Insurance Open fresh off back-to-back wins in his last two PGA Tour starts.

Rahm’s record at Torrey Pines includes a win in 2017 at the Farmers and four top 5s in his last six visits to La Jolla.

The 28-year-old aims for a third consecutive win in three starts to kick off 2023, and it wouldn’t come as a massive shock to see him claim a second Farmers title this week.

Xander Schauffele

The San Diego native put aside any remaining doubts regarding how healthy he is after a stellar showing at last week’s The American Express where he finished T3rd.

Xander has now strung together five top 10s in a row in events that he hasn’t had to withdraw from (Sentry).

Schauffele, somewhat surprisingly, hasn’t had the best experience at his home event throughout the years with just one top 10 and four missed cuts in his last seven starts at the Farmers Insurance Open. He is certainly more than capable of changing all of that this week.

Will Zalatoris

Runner-up to eventual winner Luke List at the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open, Zalatoris returns this year looking to get across the line this time around.

After missing the cut in his first start at Torrey Pines, Will has recorded consecutive top-10 finishes at this event in the last two years. The 26-year-old returned from his own injury lay-off at the Sentry Tournament of Champions (11th) and has now put together two complete starts since the return to action.

There is little reason to believe that Zalatoris can’t find himself in contention once again this year at a locale that suits his game perfectly.

Collin Morikawa

Morikawa returns to action for the first since his devastating collapse at the Sentry Tournament of Champions where he was unable to hold on for his first win since the DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour at the end of 2021.

Collin is making his second start at the Farmers following his debut here in 2020 when he finished T21st. The 25-year-old is a bit of a wild card this week in terms of how he will respond after the events at the Sentry. He certainly has the pedigree to bounceback in style, however.

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Justin Thomas

JT has played the Farmers Insurance Open three times since 2014 with two of those three starts resulting in top-20 finishes. Thomas also played in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in 2021 and added another top 20.

Last year’s PGA Champion hasn’t played often since the season-ending Tour Championship last year, but he did make his 2023 debut in Hawaii at the Sentry where he recorded a T25 finish, albeit in a limited field event. Limited action aside, Thomas is talented enough to turn up and make an impact on any given week.

Tony Finau

Tony Finau has four top 10s at the Farmers Insurance Open in his previous six starts in this event. Suffice to say, the 33-year-old loves this place and that was before his breakthrough year in 2022 when Tony added three more wins to the column.

Finau has finished 20th or better in each of his last four starts and should be a factor once again this week.

Max Homa

Homa had a successful Autumn. The California native won at the season-opening Fortinet Championship before helping the US team win the Presidents Cup in September. Max was also sensational in his last start at the Sentry a few weeks ago where rounds of 63 and 66 on the weekend saw him soar up the leaderboard in Hawaii en route to a T3 finish.

Homa has finished top 20 or better in two of his previous three appearances at the Farmers Insurance Open and should be primed for another successful week in California.