Plaque installed near site of Tiger Woods’ bunker shot at 2019 WGC-Mexico

Tiger Woods makes his first start of the calendar year – and takes his first crack at breaking the PGA TOUR’s all-time victories record — at a place where he’s had plenty of success. Woods is a seven-time winner of the Farmers Insurance Open. He also won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. His eight victories at this course perched on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean match his PGA TOUR record for most wins at one site. He has also won eight times at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, which hosts the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, and Firestone Golf Club, the former site of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Woods also is making his first official start since winning a record-tying 82nd title at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and being a victorious player-captain at The Presidents Cup. He’ll need to top a world-class field if he wants to break the record he shares with Sam Snead. FIELD NOTES: Defending champion Justin Rose will make his first start of the calendar year. He last teed it up on the PGA TOUR at the WGC-HSBC Champions in November, finishing T28. Rose is coming off a second-place finish Sunday at the Singapore Open, where he finished three strokes behind Matt Kuchar. … Reigning FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy tees it up on TOUR first the first time since winning the WGC-HSBC Champions. He finished T3-1 in the two tournaments he played in the fall and took a six-week break over the holidays, returning to Northern Ireland. He is sixth in the FedExCup standings as he seeks to become the first three-time winner of the season-long competition.… Two-time Farmers Insurance Open winner Jason Day will make his return to the TOUR after having to withdraw from the Presidents Cup due to injury after receiving a captain’s pick… Rose, Day, and Woods are three of the eight past champions in the field including Brandt Snedeker, Scott Stallings, Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson, and world No. 3 Jon Rahm. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Torrey Pines GC (South), 7,698 yards, par 72. A longtime PGA TOUR venue, the South Course at Torrey Pines received an upgrade from Rees Jones in 2001 to help secure the 2008 U.S. Open. The South Course recently underwent another renovation to prepare for next year’s U.S. Open. The North Course (7,258/72) also will be used for the first two rounds. STORYLINES: Tiger Woods will be seeking a record-setting 83rd PGA TOUR victory at a course where he’s been winning since his junior days. … Some California connections at Torrey Pines next week include Xander Schauffele, who is from La Jolla and was in attendance when Woods sank his famous birdie putt on the 72nd hole of the 2008 U.S. Open. … Rickie Fowler, from Murrieta, has two top-10s at the Farmers Insurance Open but also has four missed cuts in 10 starts. … And of course, Phil Mickelson – who has won this tournament three times and was born in San Diego –  will be playing his second event in a row after playing and hosting last week’s The American Express… Justin Rose looks to become the event’s fourth back-to-back champion. He’d join Woods, Mickelson, and J.C. Snead if he could manage to lift the trophy again… Rose was the first winner since Ben Crane in 2010 to start the week on the North Course. Winners from 2011-2018 all started on the South Course. 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, George Burns (1987), Tiger Woods (1999). 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, Mark Brooks (2nd round, 1990) and Brandt Snedeker (1st round, 2007) at Torrey Pines North, predating the Weiskopf redesign. South course record: 62, Tiger Woods (3rd round, 1999). Redesigned North record: 62, Jon Rahm (1st round, 2019). LAST TIME: Despite a record-setting first round by past champion Jon Rahm, he couldn’t keep the momentum going through Sunday and Justin Rose took the title, finishing at 21 under for the week. He got off to a tough start Sunday, bogeying three of his first five holes, but he was 5 under for his final 12. But Rose eventually topped Adam Scott by two shots for his 10th PGA TOUR win. Hideki Matsuyama and Talor Gooch finished T3, while Rory McIlroy finished T5 alongside two past Farmers Insurance Open champions – Rahm and Jason Day. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 1-2:45 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. ET (CBS). Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 3-6:30 p.m. ET (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: (Featured Groups, Featured Holes) Thursday-Friday 12 p.m. – 7 p.m. ET. Saturday, 10:30 a.m.- 6 p.m. ET. Sunday, 11:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m. ET. Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-7 p.m. ET. Saturday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET. Sunday, 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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Augusta National cofounder Bobby Jones once said, "There's golf. And then there's tournament golf." The greatest amateur golfer of all time understood the fundamental difference between playing for fun ... and playing for real. The nature of competitive golf is to simply get the ball in the hole in the fewest number of strokes. The player with the lowest score wins. But, as everyone who has ever entered a golf tournament knows, there's nothing simple about it. As soon as a player must putt everything out, as soon as you know a score will be posted by your name, the game is unforgiving. You got to get the ball in the hole. Somehow. Whatever it takes. Especially on the PGA TOUR where the quality of play is the best in the world. RELATED: Tee times, groupings | Determining where DeChambeau could drive it at Augusta | Pro long drivers discuss DeChambeau’s length Great putters, such as Jones himself, thrive on the greens. But for every Masters champion who is an outstanding putter, such as Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Tiger Woods or Jordan Speith, there are dozens of their contemporaries who could hit the ball well from tee to green, but couldn't keep up once they reached the putting surface. Players will go to great lengths to improve their putting. The Claw. Croquet. Left-handed. Eyes closed. Cross-handed. Bryson DeChambeau is the latest example. He is the hot topic entering this year's Masters because of his physical transformation, but a focus on his driving distance overlooks his drastic improvement on the greens. DeChambeau has become one of the TOUR's best putters with a unique arm-lock style, using an extremely upright putter that sits almost perpendicular to the putting surface. The narrative around DeChambeau is that he bludgeoned Winged Foot en route to winning the 2020 U.S. Open. Sure, he bombed it off the tee, but he didn't lead the field in driving that week. Rory McIlroy did. Bryson led the field in putting. He's steadily climbed in the rankings for Strokes Gained: Putting, finishing 10th in that statistic last season. He's also hitting more greens in regulation and his short game was spectacular at Winged Foot. That's the true narrative: Bryson has improved everything about his game. And that's why he's considered a serious favorite at this week's Masters. DeChambeau is the latest to experiment with a different or unique putting style in an attempt - sometimes a desperate attempt - to get the ball in the hole in fewer strokes. He's certainly not the first. Four-time U.S. Open champion Ben Hogan said, "There is no similarity between golf and putting. They are two different games; one played in the air, and the other on the ground." The legendary ball-striker would have been perfectly happy without the need for putting. "There shouldn't be any cups... just flagsticks," Hogan famously said. "And then the player who hit the most fairways and greens and got closest to the pins would be the tournament winner." Anyone who's ever four-putted has probably thought the same thing at least once. The competition on the PGA TOUR is so intense that even the slightest improvement on the greens can be a huge boost. We've seen right-handers putt left-handed. Langer is credited with bringing the arm-lock method into the spotlight after using it to win the 1993 Masters. Spieth has looked at the hole while hitting short putts. Johnny Miller putted with his eyes closed (he also won the 1976 Open Championship while focusing his eyes on a spot of red nail polish he painted on his putter). Here's a list of some of the unique styles we've seen, and photos illustrating them. • Left-arm locked - notables Bernhard Langer, Matt Kuchar, Bryson DeChambeau, Will Zalatoris • Eyes closed - Johnny Miller, Sergio Garcia • Looking at the hole - Johnny Miller, Jordan Spieth (on short putts) • Left-handed — Blaine McCallister (hit all other shots right-handed) • Left-handed and right-handed — Notah Begay (used a Bullseye putter and putted both right-handed (on putt that broke right-to-left) and left-handed (on putts that broke left-to-right) • One-handed - Mike Hulburt • Croquet style - Sam Snead (until USGA banned it) • Side saddle - Sam Snead • Long putter — Bernhard Langer, Adam Scott, Scott McCarron and many other PGA TOUR Champions players • The Claw - Chris DiMarco, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose Whatever it takes. At least for one week. Especially on the PGA TOUR.

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Captain of the U.S. Presidents Cup team, Tiger Woods named himself Thursday among his four at-large selections. Woods also added Tony Finau, Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed.

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