Farmers Insurance Open
January 27 - 30, 2011
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: Ben Crane

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores of 2010 Farmers Insurance Open

Box Score of 2010 Farmers Insurance Open

Tournament facts:

Individual Course records:

Tournament information:

For 18 years Buick was the sponsor of the tournament, but they had to drop out after 2009 due to bankruptcy. A week before last year's event, Farmers Insurance group took on sponsor. After a successful event, Farmers Insurance agreed to continue as the title sponsor for the next four years.

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 70.199 average making it the 44th hardest course on tour. Last year at the Buick, the South Course played to a 72.524 average making it the 16th 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: © Stephen Dunn/Getty Images A new start was born at the Bob Hope, Jhonattan Vegas.

The buzz is the first three winners of the year. On the European Tour, you had the favorites winning with Louis Oosthuizen at the Africa Open, Charl Schwartzel at the Joburg Open and Martin Kaymer at the Abu Dhabi Championship. In a way you can see how the stock of the European Tour has risen. But as AP sports writer Doug Ferguson pointed out on Twitter, "Bob Hope an easy target, but remember. When the Arab swing is done w/ appearance $, there will be "Hope" fields in Europe the next 4 months."

Over on the PGA Tour I would love to see someone that predicated one of the three winners, between Jonathan Byrd, Mark Wilson and Jhonnathan Vegas, all three were longshot. According to Jeff Sherman's Golfodd.com Byrd started Hyundai at 40 to 1 odds. Now the odds were so long he didn't even give Wilson and Vegas odds before their wins. So had to hunt around and found The Spread.Com listed Wilson as a 40 to 1 shot before he teed off on Thursday while Vegas started the week 75 to 1.

In looking through the PGA Tour achieves it's hard to find a year in which we had such long odd winners. You have to go back to 1965 to find one with such unmarquee names when Paul Harney, who won the Los Angeles Open, Wes Ellis, Jr. who won the San Diego Open and Bruce Crampton who won the Bing Crosby.

The big question then comes up, can this trend continue this week? Of course, last week's runner-up Gary Woodland is in the field at Torrey, Kevin Na who played well at the Hope is playing. Jimmy Walker who finished 4th at the Sony is in the field at Torrey along with Matt Bettencourt who was T5th at the Sony. Gosh there are about 50 other players that aren't very well know that could win this week, that's the thing, anyone on the PGA Tour could win.

Taking this one step further, lets see some possible players that have never won but have done well on the PGA Tour. To meet this challenge we added up all top-25 finishes of all the players and here is the most top-25 finishes without a victory:
Skip Kindall 94 top-25s, 27 top-tens
Brett Quigley 85 top-25s, 34 top-tens
Briny Baird 84 top-25s, 28 top-tens
Harrison Frazar 79 top-25s, 34 top-tens

Of those five players, the only one in the field at Farmers is Harrison Frazar.

We are trying something new on Golfobserver, our polls. Please vote with us and check it to see what others are thinking

But lets look at the opposite end of this, Tiger Woods. It almost seems like all the moon's are lined up for a Woods victory. How fitting would it be, on a course that he has won in his last five starts going from the 2005 Buick Invitational through the 2008 U.S. Open. In 12 starts at Torrey Woods has never finished worst than 10th and 11 of his 12 starts were top-5s.

There is no two ways about it, the PGA Tour has circled around Tiger Woods for years. In a way it's a good case, bad case scenario. Until last year a PGA Tour event was judged based on if Tiger was teeing it up or not. So in 2008 when Tiger took leave after the U.S. Open because of his leg, things started sliding. Ratings went down, overall viewership was down and the PGA Tour did suffer. In a way it was almost like an addiction problem in which fans didn't know what to do when Tiger didn't play.

A funny thing happened when Woods returned last year at the Masters, it was a big deal and a lot of interest but by the time the U.S. Open rolled around it was no longer the Tiger show. In a way the tour is now humming along with new hero's. Phil Mickelson has always been popular, but when he won the Masters he hit new highs. This carried over throughout the year as new hero's from Graeme McDowell to Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer emerged. Along with Kaymer who is just 25 years-old, new faces have sparked fan interest with Rickie Fowler, Rory McIlroy, Camilo Villegas and now Jhonattan Vegas, all pointing to a new breed of golfers. In a way Vegas win reminded us of what Lee Trevino meant to the PGA Tour when he won the U.S. Open in 1968. It will be interesting to see if this youngster can keep the momentum going.

So what happens if Tiger wins again? Will golf or should we say the PGA Tour regain it's addiction of Tiger? Interesting questions, with TV contracts up for renewal the Tour could use a run of Tiger winning. But is it heathy for golf to go back to relying on Woods winning to bring in more fan base? Frankly the PGA Tour needs more Jhonattan Vegas, along with Boo Weekley, Rickie Fowler and Robert Garrigus. But an occasional Tiger Woods win is always nice but we should learn from past leassons, Woods is a dangerous addiction that we should take in moderation and look for other ways of growing the PGA Tour, a bit like the way the European Tour has grown over the years.

Photo: © Geoff Ogilvy Twitter page Ogilvy's finger on January 17th.

Talking about stars, the Farmers Insurance Open lost one over the weekend when Geoff Ogilvy announced that his finger was not good enough to start. It's a big disappointment for him as he now has a home down the road in Del Mar and was looking forward to it. But as you can see by this picture of Ogilvy's finger that he put on his Twitter page on January 17th, after the switches were taken out the wound still looks raw. Ogilvy is hopeful to be playing next week in Phoenix.

Another star making his first start on the PGA Tour is Phil Mickelson. He has been a folkhero in the San Diego area for decades now growing up in the area. Mickelson's first start on the PGA Tour was as a 17 year-old in 1988 and he has played every year since 1991. Between 1993 and 2001 he won it three times and over the course of 21 starts has a runner-up finish, a third and nine top-10s in all of his starts. After finishing T6th in 2008, his last three starts have been embarrassing. He was a big favorite for the 2008 U.S. Open held at Torrey but Phil may of miscalculated when he decided not to put a driver in his bag. He opened up with rounds of 71-75 that put him out of contention, added a 76 before finishing with a 68 which got him a T18th finish. At the 2009 Farmers he was T42nd while last year was 19th.

So Mickelson has a bad run going into his hometown event and would like to turn things around. Supposedly he has worked hard on his game, but he has not played well since his runner-up finish at Quail Hollow. In 15 world wide starts since, he hasn't finish better than T4th at last year's Memorial and after starting the season last week in Abu Dhabi finishing T37th many whispers are growing louder. Many are questioning if Mickelson has the same drive. With his wife and mother battling cancer, Mickelson telling the world of his problems with psoriasis arthritis and his total devotion to his family maybe golf is taking a back of the van priority. Mickelson is a fan favorite and someone that the media likes so he has been given a pass the last couple of years with all of his problems. But with him now placing more importance to playing outside of the PGA Tour in places like Abu Dhabi, China and Singapore and warning us that he may not play in the Accenture Match Play he may get more scrutiny from the press like this story that I am writing and Shane Bacon's story in Yahoo wondering if we have to start worrying about Mickelson's game. It's too bad because the game is always better with Phil in contention than playing bad.

In looking at this week's event, a couple of things that we should realize. It's been a very wet last month in the San Diego area so both courses look great and are very lush. The rough is up, according to some that played last week. It's not like the U.S. Open but still tough and dense. Greens are in really good shape and as one person told me the greens are as good and smooth as they were for the U.S. Open two and a half years ago.

In past years the North Course has played two shots easier. Every year it plays under par, last year played to a 70.199 average which means it played two under par. Since the PGA Tour started keeping records in 1983 only once has the North played over par and harder than the South, that was in 1993 when terrible weather plagued the first two days of the event and the North played to an average of 74.980. This was a fluke but also answers a question, could the course be as tough as the South? Yes but all of the resources have been spent on the South and frankly most of the regulars that play the North the other 51 weeks a year like the course the way it is.

But as Ed Zieralski in this San Diego Tribune story points out some changes to the North has taken place. Five new tees have been built and the course will play to 7,062 yards, 76 yards longer. With thick rough and more yards the course will play tougher as we won't be on 59 watch this week.

Weather wise look for a perfect week with zero chance of rain and temperatures every day between 70 and 77. Of course Torrey is next to the Pacific and could experience morning mist and afternoon breezes, but it looks on the whole like good conditions for good scoring, minus the tough rough.

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 Tiger Woods are here, but just look at the record. Of the world ranked players they have a tendency of not showing up here. Some examples, fourth ranked Steve Stricker is a no show, getting ready to play in Qatar next week. Stricker hasn't played at Torrey since 2007. World number 8 Jim Furyk isn't at Torrey again, he has only played in this event three times, missed the cut twice and T37th the last time he played in 2008. World number 9 Paul Casey is in Bahrain this week, he has played at Torrey once, in 2002 and finished T22nd. World number ten Luke Donald is also not playing this week, he has played seven times at Torrey, been runner-up twice and T7th twice. Last year he was T48th. 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 South 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 in 2009 and Ben Crane 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. Now I say that gingerly since it was supposedly impossible to have a new comer win the Bob Hope and Vegas pulled off that feat.
• Greens that will be classified as "bumpy" may play a role in determining the champion. Now people that have played it in the last couple of weeks say they are perfect, but anything could happen. Even though the South greens were redone in 2001, Poa Annua have crept back in to almost 95% 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 58 winners have either been born, raised, gone to school or live in California. An even frightening stat, 15 of the last 19 winners have "California ties". Nick Watney kept the streak alive in 2009 as he was born and raised in Sacramento, California. Last year a non-Californian won with Ben Crane who was born and still lives in Oregon one state over. One important aspect of this is the fact that those players are used 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 72.524 average and was the 16th hardest on tour. The North played almost a shot and a half easier to a 70.199 average and was the 44th hardest course on the PGA Tour last year. So look for the leader of the first round to come from the North Course. .

• Previous
• For the Farmers Insurance Open picks, next page