2024 Farmers Insurance Open Betting Card Picks and Preview
Ryan Noonan
2 years ago
We’re a few events into the season, but things begin to heat up this week for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. We’ll start seeing the world’s best golfers week-in and week-out moving forward, and nine of the top 21 and 27 of the top 60 have made the trip to La Jolla, California, this week. The schedule is a bit wonky this week, with the Tour wisely moving the event into the Wednesday-Saturday window instead of competing with the NFL during Conference Championship Sunday.
This week, the field will split the first two days between the North and South courses, with the final two rounds of golf being played on one of the Tour’s toughest tracks, the aforementioned South Course. After keeping some of the tee boxes and adjustments from the 2021 U.S. Open, it’s now the longest track on the Tour. It features thick, penial rough, narrow fairways and small Poa Annua greens, which are notoriously difficult to putt on, especially late in the day. Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln? Course history matters here as well, as 16 of the last 18 winners of the Farmers Insurance Open have had a top-10 at this event prior to their win.
For more course details, check out Ron’s course preview. It’s the best in the business, bar none. Here’s an important tidbit about the unique setup this week:
Enormous length, narrow fairways, deep rough, criminally tough greens on which to putt. These are just a few of the ways to describe the South Course. While mostly flat, at 7,765 yards, Torrey Pines is a monster and the longest on Tour. Winds off the coast can also severely hamper a round.
Over the past five years, it’s also played as the ninth-toughest course at 0.55 strokes over par. Almost every metric is tougher here. From scrambling to fairways hit to GIR % – all are significantly lower here than the average PGA Tour course.
Since most players will be in the rough plenty of times this week, it only makes sense that those who drive the ball farthest will have shorter iron shots and a better chance of holding the green. It is much easier for a “bomber” to hit a higher-lofted iron out of deep rough. Four of the past 11 winners ranked first or second for the week in Driving Distance. Furthermore, with only 1.6% of tee shots going out of bounds and zero water hazards, the bigger hitters have complete freedom to bomb away.
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There are millions of ways to bet on this beautiful game, and my goal with this piece is to touch on the golfers I’m targeting this week. Remember to check out the Rabbit Hole, our customizable stat database that can help you pair down your player pool each week.
Please take advantage of the Discord feature and community. It’s the best way to get up-to-the-minute lines and advice, and if you need help getting started, please reach out. That’s where my full card will be posted, along with any live in-tournament bets. Betting markets are fluid, but I’ll note the best number available at the time of this writing.
*Betting lines are accurate at the time of publication.