Power Rankings: Farmers Insurance Open

The West Coast Swing opens with a dance that might feel like it’s in double time. Two tournaments, five courses across eight days and two cuts in six days. To accommodate Full-Field Events of 156 golfers at this latitude in January, it’s all PGA TOUR membership can handle and then some.

Immediately on the heels of The American Express, which concluded on Sunday, is this week’s Farmers Insurance Open, which opens Wednesday. A traditional 36-hole cut will fall on Thursday, while the final round is scheduled for Saturday.

For more details on the format, what the pair of courses at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California, presents and more, continue reading below.

A few of the rookies on the PGA TOUR this season aren’t that far separated from final exams as undergrads. So, while the Farmers is just the fourth of 46 tournaments on the 2025 schedule, they probably can’t help but feel like they’ve been cramming to learn everything they can about the tests across this fortnight.

Last week, a triumvirate of tracks hosted The American Express in the Coachella Valley. The restored Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA WEST proved to be distinctly more difficult than its co-hosts, which was somewhat unexpected, but nothing is more predictable than how the South Course at Torrey Pines will challenge compared to the North that shares hosting duties.

Unlike last week’s lesson, neither the South nor the North has been modified for the Farmers. Consider that a bone to the returning participants, who will feel prideful if they break par on the South in any round. Perennially one of the toughest par 72s of the season, it was tamed for a scoring average of 72.40 last year. Meanwhile, the North, which also is a stock par 72, rolled over for 69.5.

The field splits in half and alternates playing each course in the first two rounds. When the weather cooperates, as it will again this week, expect a difference of approximately two and a half strokes between the courses. (Only the South hosts the third and final rounds.) In the last six years, the smallest margin the North has played easier than the South was in 2019 at 2.134 strokes lower.

Finding fairways on both courses isn’t easy, but the South punishes at a PGA TOUR-long 7,765 yards, so golfers on it will inflate the field average if they hit at least 12 greens in regulation (GIR) per round. When they’re on the North, which stretches to just 7,258 yards with 6,000-square-foot greens that are 20-percent larger than the South, if they total 13 GIR, they could be weighing down the average. That’s a massive deviation. In a very fair sense, a sound strategy is to treat the entirety of the first 36 holes as one round. It’s a half-marathon within the sprint.

Both courses are overseeded, and all greens are a blend of Bentgrass and Poa annua. As always, they will be ready to touch 13 feet on the Stimpmeter. The thickest of the rough on both properties could exceed four inches.

Aside from the likelihood of a morning marine layer every day, the only day of significance as it concerns the weather happens to align with Saturday’s finale. The energy that will encroach on the area will bring the potential of rain and the promise of healthy breezes off the Pacific Ocean. After three pleasant days with daytime temperatures climbing into the 60s or even higher, Saturday’s high would be doing well to reach the upper 50s.

This is when the APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational will begin. For the fourth straight year, the annual 36-hole contest at Torrey Pines will open on the North on Saturday and finish on the South on Sunday.

While the winner of the Farmers will pocket the usual plethora of perks, others will be chasing a spot in the Aon Swing 5. The Farmers represents the finish line for entry into next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which is the second Signature Event of the season.

All who finish inside the top 10 would be eligible for a top-10 exemption into the WM Phoenix Open on Feb. 6-9, which would contribute as the last stop in the Aon Swing 5 for The Genesis Invitational that follows. However, entry for that category can be on the bubble in Arizona, so if any top 10s at Torrey Pines don’t crack the field of 132 at TPC Scottsdale, the top-10 exemption would spill over to the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld on Feb. 20-23.

NOTE: ShotLink is utilized only on the South Course at Torrey Pines.

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

PGATOUR.COM's Rob Bolton previews and recaps every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled.

MONDAY: Power Rankings
TUESDAY*: Fantasy Insider
SUNDAY: Payouts and Points, Qualifiers

*Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by PGA TOUR Superstore, which also publishes on Tuesday.