2026 Farmers Insurance Open: Course Preview, Betting and Daily Fantasy

The PGA TOUR heads to San Diego for the Farmers Insurance Open, and if you’ve been following along, you know this means one thing: two Torrey Pines tracks with some glorious contradictions. The easier North Course and the famous, U.S. Open-tested South Course are split before the weekend cut brings play to the South.

Torrey South is simply a unique track when compared to the rest of the courses consistently on TOUR now. The municipal, cliffside track is long, is slow, and is poa annua greens in late January… which means putting and short-game play can become a weekend crap shoot.

If you watched the last 2 weeks and thought “man, I miss when courses punish bad shots,” you’re in luck. Torrey Pines, specifically the South Course, is not a hit-and-giggle. Miss fairways here and you’re hacking out of rough that’ll rip the club out of your hands. This is a ball-strikers paradise where driving distance and long-iron play separate the contenders from the rest.

In a field that consistently plays amongst the strongest non-major, non-elevated events, there is one storyline that brings the most pop: the anticipated PGA Tour return of Brooks Koepka. He surfaces in a field lead by Xander, with 2025 Genesis (at Torrey Pines) Ludvig Aberg, and the fan favorite Cameron Young.

A note on the Indiana Football Hoosiers

From your author The cause of our recent posting delays? Your 16-0 Indiana Football Hoosiers. You can read more polished people speak post their soliloquies on the Hoosiers, but I wanted to leave a note for what it meant to me… Indiana Football meant…

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by Jack Kleinrichert January 21, 2026January 21, 2026

Plus4 recap

Scottie Scheffler tees it up. Scottie Scheffler wins.

Scottie rode some elite iron play on Sunday to his first of probably countless win in 2026. Blades Brown provided a fantastic story, Si Woo faltered, and a whole host of players jostled for 2nd place all through Sunday.

Generally, the event was a birdie-fest of wild proportions. Thursday and Friday scoring had both La Quinta and the Nicklaus Course around 4 strokes under par each due to low winds and very scorable, cooler temperatures. It’s cool to see scoring, but there’s a limit to the madness and, sadly, the AmEx just can’t prove tough enough to these guys.

My favorite plays of Adam Scott and Matt Fitzpatrick had solid early play but could not close strong with enough birdies. The amount of scoring required to rise up the leaderboard did not favor their skillsets.

My best lineup featured Scottie, Tom Hoge, and a JT Poston who lost over 5 strokes with his short game on Sunday alone for a closing 74. Coulda, shoulda, woulda, it hurts to have great lineups torpedoed by poor putter play on Sunday. We get back on the horse.

Bonus: Out in the Middle East, Patrick Reed captured the Dubai Desert Classic for worldwide win #12. The career of Patrick Reed is really mind-boggling. Tracking to be a potential top 50 player of all-time when he retires, but as somebody who has almost zero fan base behind him. The early run-ins with his college authorities, run-ins with the media, beefs with specific players, very sound and reprehensible cheating scandals, and somebody who has no within-TOUR support from other players had left Reed on outside of the boy’s club.

Even in such social and media isolation, there was always a place to find Patty: the top of leaderboards. When you stack up the careers of Patrick Reed against guys like Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson, Paul Casey, Poulter, Faxon in a blind resume test, almost everybody will take Patrick Reed’s career resume when it’s all said in done. For his ego, the man has an infectious smile and is somebody I personally want to watch on the PGA TOUR again.

UPDATE: Patrick Reed is back! (this August)

Plus4: Torrey Pines (South)

Plus4: Torrey Pines (South Course) course notes

Tough rough: Bryson and Spieth have both famously injured themselves in the long grass off these fairways. Holding these greens without good angles of attack will be difficult and favors the stronger players who can gauge it out. If you are long enough, you can typically muscle it high and hold these greens. If you are accurate then you will have longer irons in and can place great approach shots. If you are neither, you are cooked buddy.
Total driving: Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Course) plays around 7,700 yards. To get to scoring zones consistently, you need to use driver as a weapon. You don’t need to be a bomber, but gaining fairways will be critical to those below TOUR average in driving. Unlike most TOUR courses, driver is required at most holes.
West coast correlation: One of the most notable things you will see is a bunch of missed putts inside 10 feet. Torrey is the most difficult course to putt inside 15 feet on TOUR due to bumpy poa annua greens that get worse as the days goes on. Those that have 1) putted well here, at Pebble or in Mexico or 2) grew up on west coast greens will have the advantage. This stat only eccentuates the need to succeed in total driving and strokes-gained approach to have 15-20 feet for birdie attempts instead of grinding out highly-variable greenside lies, bunkers and 5-footers.

Plus4: Torrey Pines (South) corollary courses

Looking at our corollary courses, a few things stand out: Poa annua greens and/or driver-heavy courses. Innisbrook and TPC Scottsdale don’t scream out as bomber tracks, but they demand good total driving to succeed at. Pebble, Silverado and Vidanta shine with their poa-like greens.

New here? Visit our Plus4 approach page to learn about our process.

TPC SCOTTSDALE (STADIUM COURSE)
INNISBROOK RESORT (COPPERHEAD COURSE)
PEBBLE BEACH GOLF LINKS
SILVERADO RESORT (NORTH COURSE)
FIRESTONE (SOUTH)
VIDANTA VALLARTA
ALBANY
BLACK DESERT RESORT
GARY PLAYER
WAIALAE
TPC SOUTHWIND
CONGAREE
NINE BRIDGES
CLUB DE GOLF CHAPULTEPEC
TRUMP NATIONAL DORAL

Plus4 Picks: Farmers Insurance Open

Favorite Play:
McNealy, Maverick ($8.9k) – Last time we were here, Maverick was chased down by Ludvig. This time, things can be different. I don’t love Mav’s start to the year, but the numbers thoroughly lead me here. The upside with Mav is never as sexy as the floor is stable, but runner-ups here, at Pebble, and at Silverado as a California kid bring Mav to this list.

Svensson, Jesper ($7.1k) – Crazy Jesper. I can’t stop him. When I played Jesper last year, it was never great, but Torrey Pines is a spot he should succeed. There are 5 DP World Tour courses that I show correlation. Jesper’s starts there? 36th, 31st, 2nd, 2nd, 1st. Match that with elevated ball speeds last week (even in an MC), and it could be Jesper time.

Star Anchor:
Schauffele, Xander ($10.5k) – Torrey’s marks Xander’s first start in 2026, closing off 2025 with a win in Japan at the Baycurrent. To summarize it quickly, Xander is elite tee-to-green, putts well on these surfaces, and is destined to win at Torrey Pines at least once in what is hopefully a long career. This is a fantastic shot to do such. Xander was 9th here last year, and runner-up in 2021, top 5s in Scottsdale, Southwind, Albany, and Innisbrook among other great performances.

Gut Check:
Knapp, Jake ($8.2k) – Knapp is the balance of bomber and mid-iron play we look for here. Knapp started the year with an 11th in Waialae, has a win at Vidanta, and in the last 2 years has put together finishes at Torrey Pines of 32nd, 3rd and 17th.

Penge, Marco ($7.7k) – Marco is a highly-anticipated PGA TOUR rookie, coming off elevation from the DP World Tour this season, but his season has not started well. Marco has missed the first 2 starts with an illness that I will hope is just a blip. Penge is amongst the top 5 drivers in the world and should be able to handle these seaside greens. There is only 1 player with a corollary course boost higher than Marco. Of the DP World Tour corollary courses, Penge has been elite, highlighted by a win in China. This may go very poorly.

Favorite Sub-$7,000:
Ford, David ($6.7k) – The only player with a larger corollary course boost is somehow David Ford, who’s played only 3 of them. Ford shot up the board on Sunday with great ball striking, and rides into Torrey as one of the best drivers in the field (ranked 7th). He’s 23 and came on tour last June after graduating as WAGR #3; the first few months? Bad. Maybe that’s just being a young guy thrust into the big time. 13th last week and 3rd in Utah in the fall at what is a driver-heavy course.

One & Done: Xander

Plus4 Bets: Farmers Insurance Open

Disclaimer

Transparency to the 4heads: I will not be betting Outright golfers at the rate I did last year (aggressively) given the current legislation related to non-fully-deductible gambling loses. I need to see full clarity from DraftKings in addressing this preposterous attempt by Congress to destroy the gambling ecosystem of which lobbyist have poured billions into and the public at-large has been referendummed to death on.

The classic counter to this for any educated gambler at large? Underground and illegal sports betting. Venmo accounts, paper money bags, a college junior named Kyle you meet behind Butch’s Delicatessen… whatever gets the job done. More info: Gambling Tax Alert: New Law Cuts Loss Deductions, Bettors Face Big Hit

How I fight back? I will play more Daily Fantasy, as income through DFS is miscellaneous through a 1099-MISC, not a W2-G that will be subject the 90% deduction of losses.

Castillo
J. Svensson
Ford
Rodgers
Theegala

My odds shown below via the datagolf.com Custom Model tool

Plus4 Player Pool: Farmers Insurance Open

Reminder: the player pool below is focused on DraftKings ownership, inclusive of leverage considerations and player upside.

As you’re building lineups this week, make sure to stack players starting on the same course for Thursday and Friday. The North is notoriously easier than the South (and 500 yards shorter)… for every year but last year. Last year, the North played very hard for one insanely windy day, and it nearly destroyed one wave of players.

Overweight

Schauffele, Xander ($10.5k)
Aberg, Ludvig ($10.4k)
Matsuyama, Hideki ($9.3k)
McNealy, Maverick ($8.9k)
Knapp, Jake ($8.2k)
Penge, Marco ($7.7k)
Bhatia, Akshay ($7.4k)
Svensson, Jesper ($7.1k)
Rodgers, Patrick ($7.2k)
Brennan, Michael ($7k)
Ford, David ($6.7k)
Castillo, Ricky ($6.9k)

Small bites

Gotterup, Chris ($9k)
English, Harris ($9.1k)
Homa, Max ($8.3k)
Theegala, Sahith ($7.4k)
Hojgaard, Nicolai ($7.5k)
Novak, Andrew ($7.2k)
Parry, John ($7.1k)
Kim, S.H. ($7k)

Sub-7s

Hoge, Tom ($6.8k)
Valimaki, Sami ($6.8k)
Nakajima, Keita ($6.7k)
Potgieter, Aldrich ($6.5k)

As always, GL GL GL.

All content on this website is for informational and entertainment purposes only. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any information provided. Betting involves risk, and you may lose money.

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