In terms of the actual golf course, Torrey Pines is probably the golf course that I have the most love-hate relationship with on the PGA Tour. Touching on the love aspect first, I absolutely adore San Diego. It’s one of my favorite cities in America and is always an appreciated palate cleanser for me when Los Angeles starts feeling a little too Los Angeles. The hate aspect comes more in the form of disappointment, and Torrey Pines could be so much more than it is. That thought is mainly derived from the way that it integrates the beautiful Pacific Ocean coastline and La Jolla cliffs.

If Chicago Golf Club is the best work of architecture on the most banal piece of property in America, Torrey Pines is the worst work of architecture on the best piece of property in America. Torrey Pines could easily be one of the greatest golf courses in America, but it doesn’t even sniff the top 100 due to its poor and incoherent routing. Torrey Pines is the encapsulation of the Dark Ages of Twentieth Century design, when challenge was the North Star of architectural philosophy. Torrey Pines features incredibly narrow fairways and small greens framed by thick rough and bunkering on both sides.

Most holes are carbon copies of each of each other. There is zero structuring of penalty for big misses vs. small misses, zero personality or quirk, and close to zero relationship with one of the most dramatic coastlines in America. What this produces is dull, monotonous, execution-style golf, where the only true questions being posed are, “Can you carry the ball 320 yards off the tee,” and “Can you hit a high long iron that stops on a small green.” If the answer to both of those questions is yes, then you are likely to succeed at Torrey Pines.

And yet, despite the fact that the best players in the world can generally answer this question with a yes, we still see the occasional randomness at this course due to the capricious Poa greens, especially last year, where the skill separation slope at both the Genesis and Farmers rank well below the Tour average. Yet this was more of an anomaly, as we have seen slopes as high as 1.5+ recently at Torrey Pines in both the Max Homa and Patrick Reed years, which falls in line with our historical understanding of Torrey Pines: this is a big boy golf course that statistically rewards driving distance, long iron play, short game, and West Coast Poa putting.

For the rest of Andy’s preview article, click the button below.

Onto the Bahrain Championship at the humbly named Royal Golf Club, a 7,347-yard stock par 72. This is the third year of the Bahrain Championship, in 2024 it played to a scoring average of +0.46 with a winning score of -13 and only three players reaching double digits under par. But it played to an easier average of -0.74 last year with a three way playoff at -14 and 20 players reaching -10 or better despite wind being a factor in both years.

Royal GC is a very open and exposed desert course with very few trees or significant danger if you miss a fairway. The paspalum greens are large and heavily contoured, providing most of the course's strategic interest.

Off the tee, the Royal Golf Club is pretty simple. The fairways are relatively wide at an average width of 36 yards and if you miss them there is usually a thin strip of light rough before you reach the native desert areas. Other than the odd rocky section, these native areas are usually quite playable, as there is little vegetation such as trees that could block shots at the green or lower lying bushes that could cause difficult lies.

The only tee shots that I would classify as difficult are the 15th and 18th with water along the edge of the fairway. This is a driver-heavy course. The 5th hole requires an iron off the tee, the 10th gives the option to drive it near the green or lay up to a full wedge, and there are a few other holes that narrow a little around the 320 yard mark which offer a conservative 3 wood option, but otherwise it’s bombs away with the big stick.

For the rest of Bexico’s preview article, click the button below.

I had Harry Hall last week at the American Express. After carding a 72 during the first round, I thought Hall was going to miss the cut. After shooting three rounds in the mid 60s, he finished T24.

At the Farmers Insurance Open this week, my pick is 2026 Sony Open Champion and New Jersey native Chris Gotterup.

Gotterup is a great course fit with the way he can hit his driver. His strokes gained off-the-tee metrics are phenomenal and he ranks 17th in the field in carry distance. He has shown the ability to pop with his putter which will be crucial this week, especially on these tricky Poa greens.

This early in the OAD year, I want to ride the hot hand and that is certainly Gotterup this week at a track that fits his strong suits pretty well.

2026 total: $244,462

Brooks Koepka is making his much anticipated return to the PGA Tour this week at the Farmers Insurance Open. This is the biggest week of Brian Rolapp’s tenure as the new PGA Tour CEO, and he made a big announcement on Monday. The Farmers Insurance Open will be broadcasted LIVE from 12pm-3pm on Thursday and Friday on ESPN. You usually need to be an ESPN+ subscriber to get PGA Tour Live featured group coverage, however, PGA Tour/ESPN are giving the people an additional three hours of free coverage. 

You might think this isn’t that big of a deal for additional coverage on ESPN, but to give the non-golf sicko who isn’t a ESPN+ member, the option to watch Brooks Koepka’s return not behind an additional paywall to the PGA Tour is a smart move by Rolapp. I guarantee you this isn’t something that the old regime with Jay Monahan at the helm would ever execute. He would have fans wait until the Golf Channel coverage starts at 3pm per usual. 

Rolapp is putting his chips in the Brooks Koepka basket to be one of the biggest needlemovers in golf. It’s smart to do it this week, because Torrey Pines is still one of the biggest golf course brands. As we talked about the other night on our Monday DFS show, this was a tournament that Tiger Woods and all the top players used to start their season at. Torrey Pines is obviously known for hosting the 2008 US Open when Tiger Woods took down Rocco Mediate in a 18 hole playoff on one leg, famously sinking a clinching putt to force a playoff with an all time celebration with his caddie Steve Williams. 

The combination of Brooks Koepka and Torrey Pines makes the decision to allow additional coverage of his return is a solid move. I have been impressed with Brian Rolapp’s decisions and potential future plans with the PGA Tour. He seems to already get it and provide what the fans want, which put simply, is more golf shots on TV. 

Will Brooks Koepka make a run this weekend? Who knows. We have no idea where his game is at. He currently sits at 55/1 on the FanDuel odds board to win the Farmers. Andy’s numbers give Koepka’s fair value to win the tournament at 190/1. I am sure many people will sprinkle Koepka to win the tournament for fun. I don’t have much expectations for Koepka, but on paper, he fits the course well with his history of being an elite driver and being able to dominate on US Open setups. 

It would be great for golf if Koepka can be in one of the final groups on Sunday. Koepka returning to the PGA Tour is amazing and provides some intriguing storylines this week at the Farmers and at the Phoenix Open coming next week.

If you are reading this, you probably love to bet on golf and unfortunately Scottie Scheffler's ascension to the top has made that passion die a little bit. Scottie winning the AmEx by 4 is another example of just how dominate he is in the world of golf right now. Yes, we expect Scottie to dominate the Augusta, Bay Hill and Muirfield Villages of the world, but not the AmEX! 

That event, evens the playing field more than most on tour and with a three course rotation, a pro-am, the second event of the season and with its low scores and yet Scottie was able to lift and separate. In my opinion, it is one of his more impressive wins on tour. 

Now comes into play what do we do with him? Do we bet the without market? Place each wager with a top 5 ? not bet the event at all? I really do not know the answer. I do know however, it is a complete fools errand to simply just bet outrights regularly when he is in the field. 

All you can  hope for is that your long shot bet plays well enough to may potentially finish runner up to Scottie or in the Top 5 and make some of your money back. Bets like Gerard and McCarty last week should not go unrewarded and that is why people that bet them without Scottie were able to recoup some of their losses.

Scottie winning the AmEx changes things for me from a betting perspective and I hope it does to you as well.

Shoutout to our very own Kyle for hitting Ryan Gerard and Matt McCarty in the without Scottie Scheffler market last week as both players finished T2. We had numerous subscribers have very successful DFS weeks.

Additionally, Rishi placed six outright bets for the women’s Aussie Open. He has tickets on three out of the four semi finalists. Let’s hope that America’s own Jess Pegula can get the win for the city of Buffalo.