This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Farmers Insurance Open – La Jolla, Calif.
Torrey Pines Golf Club South course (7,698, par-72)
Torrey Pines Golf Club North course (7,258, par-72)
$6.9M Purse
$1,242,000 and 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner
Tournament Preview
As has been the case for the past 20 years, the focus heading into this tournament is Tiger Woods. Only this year, things are different for the eight-time champion at Torrey Pines, who will be making his first PGA Tour start since missing the cut here last year. Woods has undergone yet another back surgery since, but the latest one, however, appears to have allowed Woods to continue his career pain-free. Whether that translates to success remains to be seen, but there can be no better place for the latest comeback to commence. It's among the last places Woods has won a tournament, which he did in 2013. Unlike DraftKings, FanDuel has tagged Woods with a realistic price tag, and you may just see his name again below. The Farmers tends to be the first non-fluff event of the season, as last year Jon Rahm won at 13-under-par, and he was one of only three players to hit double-digit red figures. Golfers will play each course once before switching to the South exclusively for the weekend. The South is far tougher, though the North has slowly but surely been losing its pushover tag, as it ranked as the 32nd toughest course on Tour last year. For most of the past decade, big hitters have ruled the roost here, with the exception of Brandt Snedeker's two wins, victories marked by superb scrambling.
Recent Past Champions
2017 – Jon Rahm
2016 - Brandt Snedeker
2015 – Jason Day
2014 – Scott Stallings
2013 – Tiger Woods
2012 – Brandt Snedeker
2011 – Bubba Watson
2010 – Ben Crane
2009 – Nick Watney
2008 – Tiger Woods
Key Stats to Winning at Torrey Pines
• Driving distance
• Greens in regulation
• Scrambling
• Par-4 efficiency 450-500 yards
Champion's Profile
Big hitters surely have an advantage at the nearly 7,700-yard South course, though there's more than one way to win this tournament. Greens are among the toughest all season to hit in regulation, which makes scrambling an important skill this week. There are so many par-4s in excess of 450 yards that just escaping with par most of the time, with the occasional birdie, will go a long way toward a high finish. The past three champions did no better than rank 30th in strokes gained putting, so this is the rare week in which proficiency on the greens is not mandatory.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Jon Rahm, $12,600 – The winner here last year and the winner at the CareerBuilder last week is a pretty dynamic way of saying Rahm enters with good form and good course history. Even though he will face more big names this week than last, Rahm is still the overwhelming class of the field, with a chance to overtake Dustin Johnson for No. 1 in the OWGR.
Justin Rose, $12,000 – As the No. 4 choice on the FanDuel board, that seems like a bit of a slight for Rose. He closed 2017 as the hottest golfer on the planet with three wins and 10 consecutive top-10s. Plus he tied for fourth here last year.
Marc Leishman, $11,400 – Not only has Leishman played the best golf of his life over the past six months, he lists Torrey Pines as one of this favorite courses in the world, one that reminds him of his days as a boy in Australia. Leishman has a pair of runners-up here through the years, and he was T20 last year.
Tony Finau, $10,900 – Finau is among the longest on Tour with his driver and among the most accurate with his irons. That's a good combination to have this week. Finau has improved each year he has come to La Jolla, from T24 three years ago, to T18, to T4.
Longer Shots Worth a Risk
Francesco Molinari, $10,400 – Molinari costs $100 less than Brandt Snedeker and is the same price as Phil Mickelson. That's puzzling, as Snedeker is still not on form after missing the second half of last season and Mickelson has largely been off his game for some time. It all adds up to a green light for the world's No. 22-ranked golfer who also tied for 14th here a year ago.
Si Woo Kim, $9,200 – A golfer known as much for his frequent withdrawals as he is for winning THE PLAYERS Championship a year ago, Kim has apparently turned a corner. He has completed his past 10 starts without a WD (nine cashes, one MC). He withdrew here a year ago, but the year before tied for 18th.
Tiger Woods, $8,900 – You know what? This may not be the most sound play -- but it's far from ridiculous. There are 34 golfers more expensive than Woods on the FanDuel board, which seems fair. He doesn't have an inflated price just because he's Tiger Woods. Woods has won eight times on this track, albeit a lifetime ago. He showed enough at the Hero World Challenge to think there's a good chance for weekend play and, if and when that happens, the potential for more. Besides, if you pick Woods, you won't turn away from your TV for a second.
Jhonattan Vegas, $8,800 – Vegas has always seemed a golfer capable of incredible highs and six of seven cuts -- including a T3 way back in 2011, two other top-20s, and a T28 last year. That makes sense, since he has professed his love for playing Torrey Pines. Vegas is also six for six in cuts overall this season, with a T7 and a T11 to kick off 2018.
Strategy Tips for this week (based on 60k standard salary cap)
Your job is to find the guys who will be able to notch some birdies on a course that doesn't yield many. Perhaps more important is to avoid the guys capable of the disastrous crooked numbers. Rahm, who is the highest price in the field; Rose, who is fourth on the board; and Leishman, who is sixth, seem to best fit the bill to anchor a lineup.
