Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: The American Express (Hudson Swafford)
THIS WEEK: Farmers Insurance Open, San Diego, Calif., Jan. 26-29
Courses: Torrey Pines South (Par 72, 7,765 yards); Torrey Pines North (Par 72, 7,258 yards)
Purse: $8.4M (Winner: $1.512M)
Defending Champion: Patrick Reed
FedEx Cup Leader: Hideki Matsuyama
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Wednesday, 12:30-4:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Thursday, 3-7 p.m. (Golf Channel); Friday, 3-5 p.m. (Golf Channel), 5-8 p.m. (CBS); Saturday, 2:30-4:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 4:30-8 p.m. (CBS).
PGA Tour Live: Four live feeds per day on ESPN+
Social Media: @FarmersInsOpen (Twitter)
NOTES: This is the 13th of 47 FedEx Cup events in the 2021-22 season. … The scheduled Saturday finish is the first on the PGA Tour since the 1996 Phoenix Open. … The South Course ranked as the fourth toughest on tour last season with an average score to par of +1.340, and each of the past three winners opened the event on the North Course. … Dustin Johnson tees it up for the first time since The CJ Cup @ Summit. His best finish in nine previous event starts was a T3 in 2011. … Bryson DeChambeau added the event to his schedule after withdrawing before the Sony Open due to a wrist injury. … Reed is attempting to become the fourth player to successfully defend at the event. The most recent was Tiger Woods, who won four consecutive from 2005-08. Woods also holds the 18-hole scoring record of 62 on the South course set in 1999. … Jason Day is a two-time event winner. … Kamalu Johnson received a sponsor exemption after being forced to withdraw last year due to a positive COVID-19 test. Fellow APGA player Ryan Alford is also in the field. Other sponsor exemptions include Taylor Montgomery and Kevin Yu.
BEST BETS: Jon Rahm (+650 at BetMGM) won the event in 2017, finished runner-up in 2020 and T7 last year before claiming his first major title at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines last June. … Justin Thomas (+1400) leads the tour in birdie average this season (6.83) and makes his first start in the event since 2015. … Matsuyama (+1800) is the only two-time winner on tour this season and owns the longest active streak on tour with 13 consecutive rounds in the 60s. … Xander Schauffele (+1800) is a San Diego native and joined Rahm as the only players last year to finish in the top 10 of both the Farmers Insurance Open and the U.S. Open. … Sam Burns (+2200) makes his fifth appearance and is coming off a T18 last year. He has a win and a runner-up among 10 consecutive events finishing no worse than T21. … Marc Leishman (+3300) won the event two years ago and has a pair of runner-ups and two other top-10s in 13 previous starts. … Reed (+5000) has five consecutive top-25s at Torrey Pines, including a T19 at the U.S. Open.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Pebble Beach, Calif., Feb. 3-6
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Tournament of Champions (Danielle Kang)
THIS WEEK: Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, Boca Raton, Fla., Jan. 27-30
Course: Boca Rio Golf Club (Par 72, 6,701 yards)
Purse: $2M (Winner: $300,000)
Defending Champion: Nelly Korda
Race to the CME Globe leader: Kang
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. ET; Sunday, 2-5 p.m. ET (All times Golf Channel and streaming on NBC Sports App)
Social Media: @GainbridgeLPGA, #GainbridgeLPGA
NOTES: Korda won last year’s event at Lake Nona Golf & Country Club, site of last week’s Tournament of Champions. … Korda leads the Team USA Solheim Cup standings with 78 points, followed by Kang (77) and Lexi Thompson (58). … Kang moved up two spots to No. 8 in the Rolex Rankings following last week’s victory. … Seventeen of the 21 winners on tour last year are in this week’s field. … Two-time defending Race to the CME Globe winner Jin Young Ko is idle for the second consecutive week.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: LPGA Drive On Championship, Fort Myers, Fla., Feb. 3-5
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Mitsubishi Electric Championship (Miguel Angel Jimenez)
THIS WEEK: OFF
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Chubb Classic, Naples, Fla., Feb. 18-20
–Field Level Media