The Farmers Insurance Open attracted the first truly stacked field of the 2019 PGA Tour season. Along with the likes of Tiger Woods and Jason Day (both with multiple wins at the tournament) several of the best players in the world are at Torrey Pines.
In fact eight of the top 13 in the World Rankings are playing this week. Those rankings might be on to something because the guy at #1 at the top is also alone atop the leaderboard.
Justin Rose shot a sizzling 63 on the relatively easier North course on Thursday. He didn't flinch on the South course on Friday, firing a 66 to take a 3-shot lead on Hidecki Matsuyama. 1st round leader Jon Rahm, Ryan Palmer, and Billy Horschel are tied for 3rd place at 10-under par.
There are plenty of guys with a championship pedigree lurking. Tiger Woods is 4-under par after a second straight 70. Former SDSU star Xander Schauffele is 5-under so he'll play the weekend for the first time in San Diego. He's not the only PGA Tour winner that will be making his first trip to Saturday.
Former Masters champion Adam Scott (8-under par) made the cut for the first time at this event, as did 4-time Major champion Rory McIlroy. Of course McIlroy made the cut for the first time because he's playing at Torrey Pines for the first time. Now he's wondering why he waited so long to play here.
"I'll be back," said McIlroy after his 2nd round 65 on the North Course moved him to 8-under par and squarely in contention. "I'll have to be back. It's gorgeous. What a great way to spend a week. There's a lot of courses on this West Coast Swing that are pretty spectacular but standing on that 16th tee on the North course especially, looking back to the cliffs and the ocean, it's pretty nice."
There has been zero wind in La Jolla for the first two rounds, part of the reason for the consistently low scores but that will change a bit on Saturday.
Local
NBC 7’s Dagmar Midcap expects winds to arrive for Round 3 with a consistent breeze of 10-15 MPH and gusts reaching the mid-20 MPH range. It’s not going to knock anyone over but that’s enough wind to add or subtract a club length, something these guys have to be conscious of as they play the longest track on the entire PGA Tour.
