Farmers Insurance Open PGA DFS Stats Preview: Course Fits, GPP Picks, and Values

The PGA TOUR season ramps up this week as we head to historic Torrey Pines Golf Course for the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open.

To many, this event marks the true start of the PGA TOUR season as it draws big names, a loaded prize pool, and a difficult test, which is something golf fans have been craving after three weeks of low scoring events.

The event will be played from Wednesday through Saturday this week for the second consecutive year to avoid going against the NFL Conference Championship games so golf fans can enjoy both sports.

Torrey Pines Golf Club (South) is a par 72, measuring 7,765 yards. Golfers will play three rounds on the South Course and one round on the North Course.

The South Course is the far more difficult of the two and features Poa Annua greens. The North Course is 7,258 yards and features Bentgrass greens.

The 2023 Farmers Insurance Open field is a full-field event comprised of 156 golfers. The field is fairly strong and will include Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, and Sungjae Im.

For GPP contests on DraftKings, I will be breaking down the key stats (past 24 rounds) and selecting golfers from different price tiers to provide flexibility for a DFS lineup.

For large-field tournaments, you can utilize our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 150 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.

Don’t forget about the other tools that FantasyLabs has to offer, such as the Trends tool and PGA Correlation Dashboard.

This analysis may reference Strokes Gained, a set of proprietary metrics generated by the PGA TOUR using millions of data points to calculate how many shots on average it takes a player to get the ball in the hole from every distance and situation. Strokes Gained is now available in the FantasyLabs PGA Models.

Strokes Gained: Approach

Hitting greens will be important due to the difficulty around the green areas at Torrey Pines. Strokes Gained: Approach has been the most indicative statistic of top 10 finishers at the course historically.

High-end target: Xander Schauffele – $10,300 (2nd SG:APP)
Mid-range target: Jason Day – $8,800 (3rd SG: APP)
Value target: James Hahnwwq – $6,500 (6th SG: APP)

Driving Distance

Torrey Pines is a long course, and distance will absolutely be a major factor. Average driving distance is far greater here than your average TOUR event, while driving accuracy is far lower. We are most definitely looking at a bomber’s track this week.

High-end target: Jon Rahm – $11,600 (9th Driving Distance)
Mid-range target: Taylor Pendrith – $7,900 (8th Driving Distance)
Value target: Brandon Matthews – $6,000 (1st Driving Distance)

Strokes Gained: Putting (Poa)

We typically see a lot of golfers play well in this area year after year. One determining factor in the consistent results is whether or not golfers prefer the Poa out West to other surfaces.

Great Poa putters typically play very well in California.

High-end target: Xander Schauffele – $10,300 (1st Strokes Gained: Putting Poa)
Mid-range target: Justin Rose – $8,100 (12th Strokes Gained: Putting Poa)
Value target: Justin Suh – $7,100 (8th Strokes Gained: Putting Poa)

Par 4: 450-500 Yards

Torrey Pines has a total of six par 4s between 450 and 500 yards on the South Course. To play well this week, golfers will need to outplay the field on these particular holes.

High-end target: Tony Finau – $10,500 (2nd Par 4: 450-500 Yards)
Mid-range target: Jason Day – $8,800 (8th Par 4: 450-500 Yards)
Value target: Ben Taylor – $7,100 (3rd Par 4: 450-500 Yards)

Par 5: 550-600 Yards

With all four par 5s at the Torrey Pines South Course measuring between 550 and 600 yards, the long hitters will have a major advantage. The course can be relatively difficult, so it’s an absolute must to take care of the par 5s and make birdies.

High-end target: Tony Finau – $10,500 (12th Par 5: 550-600 Yards)
Mid-range target: Hideki Matsuyama – $9,000 (11th Par 5: 550-600 Yards)
Value target: Alex Smalley – $7,700 (1st Par 5: 550-600 Yards)

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