Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Rory Mcllroy, Phil Mickelson and more than 150 other notable top golfers are taking over Torrey Pines Municipal Golf Course in La Jolla for the PGA Tour’s 2020 Farmers Insurance Open this week.
Starting on Thursday, Jan. 23, and running through Sunday, Jan. 26, Torrey Pines Golf Course will be flooded with professional golfers and fans alike as it plays 7,765 yards this season. According to CBS Sports, that makes the course the longest ever to host an official PGA event.
The $7.5 million, 72-hole tournament will have participating golfers vying for a prize of $1,350,000 and 500 FedExCup points. Justin Rose won the title last year and is the defending champion.
On Jan. 22, pro-am tee times were held, which gave fans of the sport an exclusive chance to compete with one of the top 100 players on the tour. Golfers also conducted interviews with the media to discuss the upcoming tournament.
“It feels good to be back,” said Rory Mcllroy, who said he first visited San Diego playing Junior World in 1999. “It’s a beautiful place to start the year. Last year I started it in Hawaii, but I decided to spend Christmas and New Year back home in Ireland. It’s already a big trip from the East Coast to go to Hawaii, so even more so from Ireland. Gave me a couple of weeks to practice at home and prepare.
“It’s a golf tournament I’ve always enjoyed watching on TV. A lot of really cool things have happened here over the years and it was exciting to get to play it for the first time last year. One year in, I feel a little bit more comfortable with the golf courses.
La Jolla native Xander Schauffele said he was happy to be back at Torrey Pines, especially because, “home is 20 minutes away.”
“Classic Torrey. The weather’s perfect, the rough is up, penalizing as always. The greens are, you know, Torrey-esque, a little bumpy here and there, smooth in certain parts. Sort of exactly I think where the tournament director or whoever wants this event to be and I think the players are happy with the course as well.”
Back in February of 2019, Torrey Pines Golf Course started a $14 million renovation that focused significantly on the always popular South Course. Updates included a new high-tech irrigation system, plus renovations to bunkers, and a couple of fairways and cart paths, according to KGTV 10 News. Of the changes, Schauffele gave his stamp of approval.
“I enjoyed them. I think sometimes changes make courses worse. I think none of these changes have done that. I think they’ve made them better, if anything.
“Some of them are a bit tricky. You know, like the cross bunker on seven. It’s not a bunker we can get into, but the hole does look — it has a different appeal to it. Nine, the bunker there is a great placement for guys just trying to bomb driver, 3-wood. Got to plot a little bit more management-wise than before. I think on four, they did a great job with four making it accessible from both sides coming up to the green.
“The course just looks awesome with most of those trees unfortunately going down. It’s just that open feel. It has a different feel to it, you see more of the ocean. It’s just got a cool vibe.”
For more information on the annual PGA Tour’s 2020 Farmers Insurance Open and to purchase tickets, visit farmersinsuranceopen.com.
