Tiger Woods‘ hunt for a record 83rd career PGA Tour victory is the story of the week heading into the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Tiger makes his 2020 debut in San Diego, Calif., at a course where he already has eight professional victories, as he tries to surpass Sam Snead. Below, we assess the field and make our PGA Tour betting picks for the Farmers Insurance Open.
The key stats for the Farmers Insurance Open are:
- Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
- Strokes Gained: Ball Striking
- Birdies or Better Gained
- Good Drives Gained
- Proximity from 150-175 Yards
- Sand Saves Gained
My model at Fantasy National looks at the most recent 36 rounds for each golfer in the field on courses longer than 7,400 yards.
Farmers Insurance Open – Tier 1
Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 7 a.m. ET.
Rory McIlroy (+600)
McIlroy’s a heavy betting favorite in his first event of 2020. He won his second-last worldwide event of 2019, the WGC-HSBC Champions in early November. It followed up his 2019 Tour Championship win en route to being named the PGA Tour Player of the Year.
He finished T-5 at this event last year, and enters this week ranked first in the field in both SG: T2G and SG: BS to lead the stat model. Four of the last five winners here came from inside the top 25 of the Official World Golf Ranking. McIlroy ranks second.
Tiger Woods (+1100)
Tiger has owned this course, winning this event seven times along with the 2008 US Open. He’ll be looking to tie Jack Nicklaus’ record of six Masters Tournament wins in April, but first, he can break the tie with Snead. He was T-20 here last year and T-23 in 2018.
Gary Woodland (+2200)
Woodland is discounted among those at the top of the board. The 2019 US Open champ enters the week rank 15th by the OWGR. This venue is much longer than Pebble Beach Golf Links, where he won last year, but it is a US Open course and distance has never been an issue for him. He picked up a T-9 here last year, five months before his major win.
Farmers Insurance Open – Tier 2
Jason Day (+4000)
Day enters the week off of an injury, which forced him to pull out of the Presidents Cup. Before that, he missed the cut at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, and he hasn’t won since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship. Two of his 12 career victories have come at Torrey Pines, though, and he managed to finish in a tie for fifth last year. He leads the field in Sand Saves Gained.
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Marc Leishman (+5000)
Leish is a bargain in an event where they’re hard to find due to the influx of talent this week. He’s ranked 28th by the OWGR but is only 19th by BetMGM‘s odds. He’s ranked 10th in the field in SG: BS, and he tied for eighth in 2018.
Farmers Insurance Open – Longshots
Keith Mitchell (+20000)
If you absolutely hate betting favorites, shoot your shot with Mitchell. One of the longest hitters on Tour, he’s more than up to the task of taming Torrey Pines. He’s third in the field in SG: BS and BoB Gained.
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