This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
The PGA Tour pushes farther west this week to the San Diego area for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, with the North and South Courses (the North is undergoing a renovation following this year's event) used Thursday and Friday and just the South over the weekend.
Phil Impresses
Phil Mickelson looked fantastic last week, a freedom and confidence in his new swing under Andrew Getson that we haven't seen in a long time. Now remember, ShotLink was only available on the PGA West TPC Stadium Course, so there's only two days worth of strokes-gained data. But we have some data for all four rounds in other categories, and consider this: he was eighth in driving distance (so he's still long), T25 in greens in regulation and second in the two rounds where strokes gained-tee to green were in play. He says he's a week away, and maybe I'm drinking the Kool-Aid, but I believe it. This is a Phil Mickelson that if he made a couple more putts is in that playoff with David Lingmerth and Jason Dufner last Sunday. Pick him this week -- I really think he's going to win somewhere in the next three weeks.
The Winning Stat
Jason Day is your defending champion and won last year by virtue of being first in driving distance and T8 in greens in regulation.
Greens in regulation especially is crucial this week, as the penalty for missing the green on the South Course -- host of the
The PGA Tour pushes farther west this week to the San Diego area for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, with the North and South Courses (the North is undergoing a renovation following this year's event) used Thursday and Friday and just the South over the weekend.
Phil Impresses
Phil Mickelson looked fantastic last week, a freedom and confidence in his new swing under Andrew Getson that we haven't seen in a long time. Now remember, ShotLink was only available on the PGA West TPC Stadium Course, so there's only two days worth of strokes-gained data. But we have some data for all four rounds in other categories, and consider this: he was eighth in driving distance (so he's still long), T25 in greens in regulation and second in the two rounds where strokes gained-tee to green were in play. He says he's a week away, and maybe I'm drinking the Kool-Aid, but I believe it. This is a Phil Mickelson that if he made a couple more putts is in that playoff with David Lingmerth and Jason Dufner last Sunday. Pick him this week -- I really think he's going to win somewhere in the next three weeks.
The Winning Stat
Jason Day is your defending champion and won last year by virtue of being first in driving distance and T8 in greens in regulation.
Greens in regulation especially is crucial this week, as the penalty for missing the green on the South Course -- host of the 2008 U.S. Open -- is major. Here's the top-five players in that category participating this week (minimum two events):
Paul Casey - 81.25 percent
Patrick Reed - 78.17 percent
Fabian Gomez - 78.06 percent
Patrick Rodgers - 78.06 percent
Graham DeLaet - 77.78 percent
Our pick is Gomez. Gomez won two weeks ago at the Sony Open while hitting 77.78 percent (which ranked T7) and finishing seventh in strokes gained-tee to green en route to a playoff victory over Brandt Snedeker. This season he's 12th in greens in regulation.
The Field
Besides Mickelson and Day (who withdrew from the Pro-Am early Wednesday because of flu-like symptom; keep an eye on that) are Rickie Fowler (who got a huge win in Abu Dhabi last week), Casey, Reed, Keegan Bradley, Ben Crane, Harris English, Paul Dunne, Tony Finau, Bill Haas, Emiliano Grillo, Brian Harman, Dustin Johnson, Danny Lee, Justin Rose, Jimmy Walker and Snedeker.
Obviously, after last week's impressive win over Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and others where he holed two shots from off the green Sunday and showed poise on the weekend, Fowler is a top pick, as well.
The Weather
This week's weather looks fantastic until Sunday, with mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the high 60s and 5-10 mph wind. HOWEVER, Sunday's forecast is atrocious, with heavy rain, 25-35 mph wind, potential thunder and a temperature of about 60. That will be utterly brutal conditions to play on the South Course, and obviously if it becomes too much, could push this event into Monday.
