munneypicks

2016 Farmers Insurance Open

Tournament: It’s not quite the California swing as we are headed to Arizona next week, but it’s the 2nd week we’re in California. This time it’s in beatiful La Jolla, California and Torrey Pines. This tournament used to be Tigers Tourney. He’s won this tournament seven times and also won the 2009 U.S. Open at this course.

Course: Torrey Pines is located in La Jolla, California. Right on the Pacific Ocean. The tournament will be played over two courses at Torrey Pines. The North Course and the South Course. Players will alternate between the South and the North the first two days. Then they will play the South exclusively on the weekend. The South is considerably tougher @ 7,600+ yards than the North is at just 6,900+ yards. Both courses play as par 72’s.

Field: We have a great field here. This is where some people say the PGA season really begins. The list includes Justin Rose, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Phil the Thrill, Bill Haas, Keegan Bradley, and more.

What to Look For: There are a few things that I deem extremely critically at Torrey Pines. One is length. Being long off the tee is a huge advantage on a 7,600 yard course. Short hitters aren’t completely out of it as Snedeker’s performance at this tournament indicates. But, bombers fill up the leaderboard far more than their shorter counterparts. Going hand in hand with length is performance on the par 5’s. Torrey Pines South is a tough course and scoring on the par 5’s will be one of the only ways to really gain some ground on the course. Finally course performance is critical. Looking back at past winners, they mostly ALL had some type of great course history here, with the exception of Stallings two years ago.

Picks:

Jimmy Walker e/w: I’m not going to miss West Coast Jimmy Walker this year. Admittedly, he isn’t playing his best golf, but in his last three tournaments, he has top 15 finishes in all of them. Walker is also a poa annua grass expert. He thrives on poa and he’s already a good putter to begin with. He also has three top 10s in his last four starts at Torrey. He has length off the tee. I think this is a great price.

J.B. Holmes e/w: One of the similar courses according to my research is Quail Hollow where Holmes kickstarted the resurgance to his career a couple of years ago. Holmes is one of the longest players on TOUR and lost here in a playoff last season. He knows this course well and I expect a good finish.

Graham DeLaet e/w: DeLaet is one of the more frustrating players to back. He withdraws a ton, he seems to have missed his best chances to win in 2014, and he hasn’t won when stats indicate he should have. DeLaet is a big hitter and a great ballstriker. His past two appearances here resulted in two top tens and sans the final round last week, he had a good showing at the Career Builder.

Seung-Yul Noh e/w: I backed Noh here last year and he missed the cut. But I still think that he’s a good play at this course. Noh had a T17 finish last week and his lone win on TOUR came at a course where you have to hit them pretty long. Noh isn’t a bomber but he’s worth a chance at this price.

Hunter Mahan e/w: I almost never back Mahan. Never. But wow…these odds are surprising. Mahan has two top 10s here and is a world class player when on top of his game. He slipped a little last year but at these odds it is worth to see if he’s inspired to improve his game this year. The same strategy led us to Dufner last week.

1.5u Jimmy Walker e/w* @ 34/1

1.25u J.B. Holmes e/w* @ 45/1

1.0u Graham DeLaet e/w* @ 50/1

0.5u Seung-Yul Noh e/w* @ 125/1

0.5u Hunter Mahan e/w* @ 145/1

*If your book does not offer e/w betting, place 1 bet of the stated unit on the golfer to win and 1 bet of the stated unit on the golfer to place top 5