Horse For The Course: PGA DFS Course History - 2025 Farmers Insurance Open

January 20, 2025

Todd McGill's DraftKings, FanDuel PGA DFS picks for the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course. Picks for daily fantasy golf based on course history

It was an event full of haymakers at PGA West that resulted in Sepp Straka's third PGA Tour victory. Such an event, which requires 25+ birdies over four days is admittedly not the greatest golf spectacle, as one player tends to shine above the rest leaving Sunday to feel much more flat than I'm sure the Tour would like. Luckily, the next stop on the schedule doesn't typically have that issue.

Taking a two-hour drive to San Diego, the PGA Tour comes to the famed Torrey Pines for another rendition of the Farmers Insurance Open. Given the wild weather on the West Coast that has been headlining national news in recent weeks, this year's event could prove to be even more difficult than usual. Matthieu Pavon will return to the site of his breakthrough victory last season looking to become the fourth player in tournament history to go back-to-back.

Horse For The Course is an article highlighting players in this week's field with elite course history and is part of our free PGA DFS content here at RotoBaller. For some of the favorite DFS plays of the week check, out the Core Four article written by my buddy, Joe Nicely here at RotoBaller every Wednesday. It's part of our amazing PGA Premium package that includes an all-new PGA Research Station, Lineup Builder & Optimizer, and some of the best articles in the PGA DFS industry! You can sign up now using Promo Code: TDG for an extra discount at checkout!

2025 Farmers Insurance Open

As I previously mentioned, Mother Nature has brought extreme winds to the California coast that have been the driving force behind the devastating fires in the Los Angeles area. That impact on the Tour schedule will be felt more in a couple of weeks, but the residual effect will be felt all week long at Torrey Pines.

This field doesn't have the firepower at the top quite as much as in years past, as the two top players in the game (Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler) will again be absent this week as they continue to tend to injuries sustained in the offseason.

This will be one of the last events with Farmers Insurance as the title sponsor of this event, as they have declined to renew their contract that ends in 2026. Being a venue that's witnessed many big moments in the game, it seems hard to imagine it not being on the schedule, but a replacement sponsor has not yet been announced.

You can find out who the smart money is on by checking out Spencer Aguiar's PGA DFS: Vegas Report every week. And be sure to read our other top-notch weekly PGA DFS articles and Player News/Matchup Outlook Posts to help you win big!

The Courses: Torrey Pines Golf Course (North & South)

Par 72 - 7,258 (North), 7,765 (South) | Greens: Bentgrass/Poa annua | Designed By: William Bell

Similarly to last week in La Quinta, this event is played on two courses for rounds one and two. The South Course is the more renowned layout and will be the site of play on the weekend. Stretching out over 7,700 yards, it is, by all means, a "big boy" golf course that will often reward the players with the supernatural ability to be long and straight off the tee.

Since players will only get one crack at the North Course, it is easy to overlook the much easier test. However, much of the success in this event from previous winners has come from their ability to take advantage here and keep the wheels on the car for the other three rounds.

This week is very much a Jekyll and Hyde situation when comparing the two courses, with some rounds having seen a difference of over three shots in scoring average between them. By Sunday's end, the winner will likely be the one who manages to play exceptionally well with the longer irons and gets putts to fall on these pesky surfaces.

Recent American Express Winners

• 2024: Matthieu Pavon (-13)
• 2023: Max Homa (-13)
• 2022: Luke List (-15)
• 2021: Patrick Reed (-14)
• 2020: Marc Leishman (-15)

The Horse

Max Homa

• Notable Finishes: 1st ('23), T9 ('20)

Winning this event two years ago, Max Homa returns to Torrey Pines looking to add another solid week to his resume and continue to put a disappointing 2024 behind him. Of anyone in the field with more than one appearance in this event, Homa has the highest total strokes gained (+1.763) of anyone.

The 34-year-old will be another example of how well players adjust from the feel of the new TGL league back to regular golf as he was the lone bright spot on the Jupiter squad with Tiger Woods and Kevin Kisner. Feelings on him may still be muted, and if that's the case, ownership levels in DFS will be optimal.

The Ponies

Tony Finau

• Notable Finishes:  T2 ('21), T6 ('20 & '24)

Tony Finau pitches it in for birdie from the rough on 14! 🇺🇸👏

📺 Golf Channel 📱 NBC Sports app | #PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/RBTFiXeaIY

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) September 26, 2024

Tony Finau is the perfect fit at a place like Torrey Pines, where players hit drives as far as possible and hit long irons to tough pin locations. That is evident by the incredibly consistent history, with six top 10s and two top 25s in 10 total starts. The only thing that kept him from taking Homa's spot atop this list is the perceived win equity between the two.

It was also a successful start to the season for Finau, as the 35-year-old finished T15 at The Sentry.  However, he missed the cut at the AmEx last week; another place that's yielded high finishes for him in years past. Torrey Pines is a much different animal than PGA West, which could be good in Finau's case.

Will Zalatoris

• Notable Finishes: 2nd ('22), T7 ('21)

Will Zalatoris is in a good headspace after putting on 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason. pic.twitter.com/3TpPp5jdIN

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) January 3, 2025

Will Zalatoris continues his good start in 2024 with a T12 finish last week at the AmEx, where he ranked 16th or better in the field in strokes gained off the tee, tee to green, and around the green. His experience at Torrey Pines isn't as vast as the other players on this list, but the sample size he does have is impressive.

Couple that with how he has gotten things done in his two starts this season, and he is undeniably one of the standouts heading into Thursday's opening round. His near victory in 2022 felt like one that got away given the putting woes coming down the stretch. He'll need to rectify that to give himself another chance this week, but it has been well-documented how different of a player Zalatoris is now compared to then.

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Jason Day

• Notable Finishes: T3 ('22), T7 ('23)

Jason Day CHIPS IN from the rough to reach T-3! 🎯

📺 Golf Channel | @TheAmexGolf pic.twitter.com/WWGapSWLGt

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) January 19, 2025

When researching the total strokes gained category, you go through quite a few names before reaching Jason Day (+0.986). However, he has the most appearances of almost everyone else in the field, making nearly every start here since 2008. He's racked up two victories and five top-10 finishes in that span.

After a strong T3 finish at PGA West, he should be on the minds of bettors and DFS players again this week, but he'll need to get more efficient with the flat stick if he hopes to improve his placement and earn his 12th PGA Tour Victory. I know, it sounds ludicrous to say that given he just shot -22 under in a tournament, but even there he averaged -0.70 strokes gained putting on the week.

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