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It’s a big week for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, where the defending champion, Jon Rahm, comes in hot on the heels of his second PGA TOUR victory at last week’s CareerBuilder Challenge, and seemingly everyone is talking about the 647th ranked player in the world. TEE TIMES: Farmers Insurance Open, Rounds 1 and 2 | Watch PGA TOUR LIVE Tiger Woods will make his first official TOUR start in one year when he tees it up at Torrey on Thursday. The anticipation is high any time he competes, but especially so at Torrey, where he has won the Farmers seven times and has five other top-10 finishes in 16 starts. Add his 2008 U.S. Open win, and his 1991 Junior World victory, both at Torrey, and you begin to see why there are few courses on the planet where Woods feels more comfortable. He’s hardly the only one, though, who circles this week on the schedule. Defending champion Jon Rahm is on a major roll, and Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Rose give the Farmers four of the top 10 players in the world, and 11 of the top 25. Brandt Snedeker is a two-time winner at the Farmers and shot one of the all-time great rounds in the history of the TOUR in his victory in 2016, beating the field average by 10 strokes. Xander Schauffele, officially awarded Rookie of the Year honors Tuesday, is a San Diego State product who should feel comfortable playing in his hometown tournament. And former No. 1 Jason Day, the 2015 champion at the Farmers, is looking to get back to his winning ways. Players will alternate on the (slightly easier) North Course and the South Course on Thursday and Friday, then switch to the South exclusively on the weekend. PGA TOUR Live will have coverage Thursday and Friday starting at 11:45 a.m. ET, and PGA TOUR Radio and Golf Channel will have coverage all four days. Here’s a look at this week’s Featured Groups (current FedExCup rankings in parentheses). Rickie Fowler (15), Xander Schauffele (36), Patrick Cantlay (9) Fowler tries to keep it going after his impressive victory at the unofficial Hero World Challenge last month. San Diego product Schauffele is coming off a season in which he won twice, including his surprising victory at the TOUR Championship, and should feel right at home at Torrey. And Patrick Cantlay, one of the biggest movers from last season, is already a winner this season after his breakthrough at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. North Course tee time: Thursday, Rd. 1, 12:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. local) off the 10th tee; South Course tee time: Friday, Rd. 2, 1:30 p.m. off the first tee. Justin Rose (10), Hideki Matsuyama (38), Phil Mickelson (45) Rose is one of the hottest players anywhere after reeling off back-to-back wins in Europe to end last season. Matsuyama aims to rediscover the magic he found at the Presidents Cup (singles win over Justin Thomas) and World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational last season. And Mickelson, another San Diegan, tries to rebound from a missed cut at last week’s CareerBuilder. North Course tee time: Thursday, Rd. 1, 12:40 p.m. off the 10th tee. South Course tee time: Friday, Rd. 2, 1:40 p.m. off the first tee. Jon Rahm (2), Jason Day (76), Brandt Snedeker (167) Easily the hottest player in golf, Rahm, 23, is not only this week’s defending champion, he is coming off a playoff victory at the CareerBuilder Challenge, which vaulted him to second in the FedExCup standings. Day, the 2015 Farmers champion, is trying to get back into the winner’s circle after a sub-standard 2017. And Snedeker is a two-time Farmers champion who is eager to make up for lost time after missing much of last season with a rib injury. South Course tee time: Thursday, Rd. 1, 1:30 p.m. off the first tee; North Course tee time: Friday, Rd. 2, 12:20 p.m. off the 10th tee. Patrick Reed (71), Charley Hoffman (48), Tiger Woods (NA) Reed is coming off a rare winless season, but one in which he and his wife, Justine, welcomed their second child. It surely hasn’t escaped his notice that this is a Ryder Cup year. San Diego product Hoffman knows Torrey Pines well, and just made his first Presidents Cup team at age 40. And Woods, coming off back fusion surgery last April, is making his first official TOUR start since exactly a year ago. South Course tee time: Thursday, Rd. 1, 1:40 p.m. off the first tee; North Course tee time: Friday, Rd. 2, 12:30 p.m. off the 10th tee.
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SAN DIEGO – Jon Rahm is the world’s second-ranked player, winner of the most recent PGA TOUR event and the defending champion of this week’s Farmers Insurance Open. Under normal circumstances, Rahm would be the center of attention at Torrey Pines. This, of course, is not a normal week. Tiger Woods is playing his first PGA TOUR event in a year, and this return is buoyed by his optimism about a successful back fusion surgery. Rahm is content to let Woods steal the spotlight. “The more attention you guys have on Tiger, the better for me, quite frankly,â€� Rahm said Tuesday. “Hopefully I keep playing good and give you guys something to talk about, but it’s not bad that the attention’s on Tiger. It’s good for golf, it’s good for all of us.â€� While Woods was playing a practice round with Jason Day and Bryson DeChambeau on the South Course’s back nine, Rahm was on the back nine of the North Course. Rahm, who’s ranked second in both the FedExCup and Official World Golf Ranking, is the highest-ranked player in the field according to both metrics. He can move to No. 1 on both lists with a win this week, as well. Seve Ballesteros is the only Spaniard to reach No. 1 in the world. Rahm’s win at last year’s Farmers Insurance Open, which was made possible by a back-nine 30 punctuated by a 60-foot eagle putt, was the first of his PGA TOUR career. His second came Sunday at the CareerBuilder Challenge, in a dramatic four-hole playoff with Andrew Landry. “It’s a lot of things to process in very little time,â€� said Rahm, who has two wins and a runner-up in his previous three worldwide starts. The only player to whom he’s lost in that stretch is the same player he’s trying to supplant atop the world ranking, Dustin Johnson. Rahm’s winning putt from last year’s tournament at Torrey Pines followed has been shown countless times. It has appeared in PGA TOUR commercials, and photos of his emotional reaction afterward are on banners promoting the tournament. For Rahm, it’s just the second-best shot of his remarkable 2017, during which he won three times worldwide and finished fifth in the FedExCup. “The No. 1 shot or moment of last season was the second shot out of the bunker on 13,â€� Rahm said. “If I don’t put that ball on the green, which is actually a lot harder than making that putt, the back-nine charge would have never happened and this year might have never happened, so that shot is the one that made everything possible.â€� He hit 4-iron to 18 feet from the fairway bunker on the par-5 13th for the first of two eagles in the final six holes. He finished three shots ahead of C.T. Pan and Charles Howell III. “I certainly know I can win here because I’ve done it, I think that’s the difference,â€� Rahm said Tuesday. “I think I have the confidence that I can win here, whereas last year I knew I could but I still had to do it. I hope I don’t have to shoot 30 on the back nine to win again.â€� And, he can’t help but think about a potential Sunday showdown with Woods. Last year’s Farmers Insurance Open was just the second time Rahm and Woods have played in the same field (2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open). “Tiger getting in contention, it would be absolutely amazing,â€� Rahm said. “And to be honest, I think a lot of us dreamt about having the opportunity to maybe walk the back nine with Tiger in contention and have a battle hand-in-hand. It would be something amazing for any of us. I hope it happens for somebody. I hope I’m the one, and quite truly I hope I come out on top if it happens.â€�
SAN DIEGO – In his prime, Tiger Woods would barely look at a fellow competitor and if he did it was to deliver a stare so icy it would rip right through you. Just how he will be in the heat of battle again remains to be seen as we’ve not had the pleasure of a fully healthy Woods since 2014. But one thing is certain – this is a new Tiger Woods. Both physically – with his fused back – and mentally. On Tuesday at Torrey Pines, Woods returned to a regular PGA TOUR event for the first time in a year, playing a nine-hole practice round as the sun rose with Jason Day and Bryson DeChambeau. His appearance at the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open – where he missed the cut a week before withdrawing in Dubai and going in for further back surgery – is his only full field TOUR event since the Wyndham Championship in August of 2015. Four back surgeries since March 2014 had many worried this week would never come again. But now, at this stage, there is much hope and excitement at what a fit Woods can do. A ninth-place finish in the Bahamas at the limited field Hero World Challenge in December surprised and impressed many. A year earlier – on a similar comeback trail – he finished at the back end of the same field. And while he had shown some good signs – he was still playing rigid and still in pain. This time around, the 79-time TOUR winner looks freed up in his swing. This time he waited after surgery. This time he was patient. “The other times he came back I don’t think he was ready and he probably came back too soon,â€� Day said after the round Tuesday. “This time he definitely looks ready; I think his swing is really nice, he’s hitting the driver a long way and he looks like he’s got some speed, which is great. And his touch is coming back.â€� It was true that in his nine holes he hit some powerful drives, mint irons and wedges and holed plenty of putts. But he also found some of Torrey’s famous deep rough on occasions. Having won the Farmers Insurance Open seven times plus the U.S. Open and junior world titles at Torrey, it is a track he’s comfortable with. And the man himself feels ready. After a brief break following the Bahamas event Woods began serious preparations for his return. “I feel good,â€� Woods said. “Before the Hero I was basically given the OK probably about three or four weeks prior to the tournament and I thought I did a pretty good in that prep time. “Now I’ve had a little more time to get ready for this event. I’ve played a lot more golf and overall, I feel like I’ve made some nice changes. It’s just a matter of coming out here and competing again.â€� Having had the setbacks in the past Woods admitted he had to dial it back at times as his enthusiasm to return built. “It’s just that I’m trying to build in golf endurance. So, I’m hitting a lot of golf balls and building up my endurance,â€� he said. “You have to do it. You have to beat balls for a little bit of time to build up your endurance and muscles. I feel like I’ve done that and now it’s time to play a tournament.â€� For a long time, players wouldn’t speak to Woods unless spoken to. You could almost see the literal parting of the waves as he walked through the range or practice areas in a direct line to his destination. He was all business. But now, at 42, Woods has evolved into a different human. In near darkness Tuesday he greeted Day on the range with a huge grin and a bear hug. Yes. A hug. Woods was all smiles with other players, caddies and officials alike – actively seeking out Justin Rose on the putting green to give another bro cuddle. At one point in the morning round, Woods went looking for one of Day’s errant drives in the rough even though Day himself had given up on it. This version of Woods is clearly a friendly guy. DeChambeau, who was playing with Woods for the first time, had to pinch himself at times. On their final hole he admitted to trying to pound his driver with something extra to show the veteran what he had. He wanted to impress. “There were a couple of moments I was like – I am playing with the greatest,â€� DeChambeau laughed. The 2017 John Deere Classic winner believes everyone wants to see Woods back to his best, and he’s expecting it to happen. “I expect he will come back to full form, I really think so,â€� he said. “His passion is there; his drive is there and if he gets it going it is going to be scary for everybody again.â€� Day, who has become friends with Woods over the past four years or so, warned to keep expectations tempered, just for now. “He looks impressive; it was good to see,â€� Day said “You take (Torrey Pines) last year and the Dubai tournament out and he hasn’t really played in two years. “I think the biggest thing is to not get too far ahead, or think he’s going to come back and win straight way. “He may win straight away, but you never know.â€� Just the hope he might has everyone wishing it was Thursday already.
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