Farmers Insurance Open
January 28 - 31, 2010
Torrey Pines Golf Course
La Jolla, California
South Course (Home Course) - Par: 72 / Yardage: 7,569
North Course - Par: 72 / Yardage 6,874
Purse: $5.3 million with $954,000 going to the winner
Defending Champions: Nick Watney

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores of 2009 Buick

Box Score of 2009 Buick

Tournament facts:

Individual Course records:

Tournament information:

For 18 years Buick was the sponsor of the tournament, but they had to drop out after last year due to bankruptcy. Last week the Farmers Insurance group took on sponsor this year and will determine after the tournament if they continue.

The first two rounds are played on the South and North courses at Torrey Pines. After the 36 hole cut the final rounds are played on the South course.

Course information:

The course was the brainchild of Leo Calland, then director of San Diego's park and recreation department. He pushed hard to change a old World War II camp into a golf course. When he got permission, Bell came in and covered over the blacktop and was able to use the excess concrete to achieve rolling fairways on what was a flat site. The lure of both courses after they opened was the views of the ocean on every hole. Both courses sit atop of bluffs overlooking the Pacific and these views were seen a couple years later nationally when Challenge Golf filmed one of there matches with Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead and Doug Sanders.

A decade later, the San Diego Open was looking around for a home. Since the tournament was first played in 1952 it never really found a home. It was played on several different courses but in 1968 it was about to embark on a big change. It decided to copy several west coast tournaments by getting a headline celebrity to host the event and got Andy Williams who at the time was one of the biggest stars on television with a weekly show. They also needed financial support and asked the city for the use of Torrey Pines free of charge. It was a match made in heaven. The course proved very popular not only with the pros but the TV audience that watched it.

Since then Torrey Pines has been the home of the tournament, even though every year rumblings are heard that it is may be replaced with a TPC course. After the 2001 Buick the South course went through an extensive revamping process. With the chance of getting the 2008 U.S. Open, $3.3 million was spent with Rees Jones adding a lot of length to the course. Now the course can stretch to 7,607 yards although the Buick Invitational will play to a yardage of 7,208 yards. Even though Jones didn't change the routing of the course he did change redo all the bunkers and changed four holes moving greens on the third, fourth, fourteen and fifteen holes. With all of the changes it brought some bite back to a course which 20 years ago was considered very difficult by the touring professionals. Average scores were up almost two shots compared to past years and the winning score of 275 was along with two other years the highest winning score in 20 years. The revamp proved such a big success with the players, media and fans that the USGA has given the 2008 U.S. Open to Torrey Pines.

The North Course is two shots easier than the South but in some people's minds the North is more Scenic. There's a reason the par-3 sixth is still the most photographed hole at Torrey, and the red sandstone cliffs on the northern edge provide as much beauty as anything else. Now the course was suppose to undergo renovations in the hope of being the main course for the 2008 Buick, but those plans never materialized. As for the degree of difficulty, last year the North Course played to a 71.804 average making it the 28th hardest course on tour. Last year at the Buick, the South Course played to a 74.010 average making it the 5th hardest course on tour. For the U.S. Open the South Course played to a 74.712 average, now par was reduced to 71 so you can see the differences between not only the course but how the South Course can be altered.

For a more comprehensive look at the course, look at this map of the South Course.

Race to get into the Accenture World Match Play Championshp

Race to the Masters

The Buzz:

Photo: © Andrew Redington/Getty Images Rocco Mediate with his girlfriend Cindi Hilfman.

Of course the buzz is no Tiger again this year. After winning this event six times in the last 11 years and winning it the last four, Woods was unable to make the call again for a second year in a row. If there were ever a course that Woods owns it was Torrey. With him not playing last year it broke the possibility of winning five straight times on the same course, shame to see the streak go away.

Last year another disappointment happened when Rocco Mediate, who was runner-up to Tiger at the 2008 Open at Torrey couldn't play because of arthroscopic surgery. The good news is that Rocco will play this year, 19 months later and is really looking forward to it. A lot has happened in his life since finishing second at the Open. He is now divorced from his wife, and what many suspected at the Open that Rocco was carrying on with his physical therapist Cindi Hilfman. She did a lot of great things in helping Rocco get over his back problems, to the point that he was just a stroke away from winning the U.S. Open.

As we know he never won it and after his divorce moved to Los Angeles to be with Hilfman. Unfortunately a health issue that Hilfman has had since childhood which causes blockages in her kidneys got worst last year. That combined with some poor play didn't help Rocco, who finished 145th on the money list. Hopefully Hilfman's situation will get better after she receives a kidney transplant hopefully in March.

Adding to Mediate's problems was a sore knee which prevented him to do any finess work and he gained 30 pounds. In December he made a goal to get back into shape again and has dropped 30 pounds thanks to working with a VersaClimber

Tiger may not be playing but Phil Mickelson is back in action and all signs point to him having a breakout season. Between Butch Harmon working on his long game and Dave Stockton and Dave Pelz working on his short game he says that he has been hard at work the last two months and is ready to go. Now for years Mickelson dominated this event but he has had some rough starts at the U.S. Open, 2009, 2007, 2005 and in 2002. You never know which Phil will show up on Thursday but I have a feeling that you better not bet against Phil.

Bad but mostly good news on the weather, it's raining on Tuesday night at Torrey and the storm is suppose to last in the morning. Supposedly this storm is dropping close to an inch of rain on a course that got socked with close to 4 inches last week. Those storms caused havoc with fallen trees, washed out bunkers and torn hospitality tents.

The good news is when the Golf Channel airs the first show on Thursday, it will be clear skies with temperatures in the 60s. Look for the same during the tournament, possibly morning clouds that will burn away but with the sun drying things out the course should be OK for this week. Still look for a long course and greens that will be receptive to shots, could have some low scores.

One sad thing with all of the storms since December, more than 50 trees have fallen on both courses. Two trees of interest, on the hillside in back of the 4th green, which sits on the ocean a big Torrey Pine fell. Another was a giant eucalyptus on the right side of the 7th hole, with the tree gone it opens up the hole better for shots right.

Here are some things to look for this week:

Photo: © Stan Badz/WireImage The view of the 18th green at the South Course at Torrey Pines, site of the Farmers Insurance Open.

The Farmers Insurance Open is one of those gems of an event that unfortunely tends to scare away a lot of guys. Yes Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els are here, this will be Els second trip to this event, his only other trip he finished T6th and surprisingly hasn't been back, but after that there are very little top players. Just look at the record, of the world ranked players they have a tendency of not showing up here. Some examples, third ranked Steve Stricker is a no show and hasn't played her since 2007. Jim Furyk still hasn't played this year and won't this week has he has only played in this event twice and missed the cut both times. How about Sergio Garcia, who has played the Farmers three times but won't be here this week while Vijay Singh, Geoff Ogilvy and Kenny Perry aren't in the field. So what does this all mean? That the Farmers is a different type of tournament that takes a different type of player to win on. Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the Farmers Insurance Open:

• The course can be stretched to over 7,600 yards but don't look for that length even though some tees will be used the course will still play at 7,208. Driving will play an important role this week. Look for those that do well in total driving stat, the one that combines both distance and accuracy together. In the past couple of years the course has pride itself with heavy U.S. Open rough. With all of the rain the last month that will be the case this year.
• Course was revamped and toughen and now has a "U.S. Open feel" to it. In past years this course has had the reputation as the course that major winners are victorious on. Until Nick Watney broke things up last year, the course had a major winner every year between 1996 and 2008. One record still in tack, don't look at a newcomer winning, the last rookie champion was in 1991 with Jay Don Blake.
• Greens that will be classified as "bumpy" may play a role in determining the champion. Even though the South greens were redone in 2001, Poa Annua have crept back in to almost 90% of the area of the greens. With that if it tends to get foggy in the morning the greens will be inconsistent and drive players a bit crazy. Again, patience will be the key here.
• Look at the list of champions shows that scramblers have done very well in this event. Look for the player that is able to get it up and down to win.

Photo: © Chris Condon/WireImage Torrey Pines, site of the Farmers Insurance Open is one of the prettiest courses in the world.

• Look for a winner with ties to California, 24 of the 57 winners have either been born, raised, gone to school or live in California. An even frightening stat, 15 of the last 18 winners have "California ties". Even Nick Watney kept the streak alive last year, Watney was born and raised in Sacramento, California. One important aspect of this is the fact that those players are use to putting on Poa Annua greens, which along with some bent is the grass that is on the greens at Torrey Pines
• We know how tough the South Course is but the North Course is a walk in the park. Last year while the South Course played to a 74.712 average and was the 5th hardest on tour, the North played almost 3 shots easier to a 71.804 average and was the 28th hardest course on the PGA Tour last year. So look for the leader of the first round to come from the North Course. Also don't be surprised if there is a sub-60 round shot. In 2007 Brandt Snedeker got everybodies attention when he opened up his first ten holes on the North course in ten under par (27 on the back nine) but could only play his next eight holes in 1 under, shooting a 61. If the weather is perfect and warm, a round of 59 could be in the cards.

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