Weekly Content Schedule

Re-Watchables

In case you missed it, here are the YouTube links to re-watch any of our shows or if you need to listen for the first time:

Sunday

Inside Golf Podcast/Hold The Green: Farmers Insurance Open MEGA Betting & DFS Preview

Monday

Inside Golf Podcast: Live DFS Show

Inside Golf Podcast: Monday Pod with Ron Klos

Tap In Birdie: Farmers Insurance Open with Geoff Feinberg

Hold The Green: Farmers Insurance Open Best Bets

Tuesday

Inside Golf Podcast: Insiders Only Premium DFS Show

Statistical Spotlight: SG OTT on Long Difficult Courses

Torrey Pines South is a par 72 and measures out to roughly 7,700 yards. With Torrey Pines being a long golf course, historically, players have opted to hit driver on average 80% of the time. Even with narrow fairways and long rough, it is still advantageous to favor distance over accuracy.

In the Rabbit Hole, you can filter for SG: OTT on Long Difficult Courses. Here are the top 10 players in the field:

Player Profile: Ludvig Aberg

Since Ludvig Aberg first emerged on the PGA Tour as one of best overall drivers of the ball in the sport, I had him pegged as a future Torrey Pines champion. I almost bet him last year at this event, but I was concerned about the lack of Poa experience, despite the fact that Torrey is a tremendous tee-to-green fit for his skill-set. Aberg proceeded to finish ninth last year, gaining in all major strokes gained categories except short game, putting together an impressive professional debut on Poa greens. Aberg proceeded to finish runner-up at Pebble Beach, another West Coast golf course with capricious Poa greens.

Coming off a fifth-place finish at the Sentry Tournament of Champions to open his season where he gained strokes in all four major categories, it’s finally time for Aberg to flex his muscles on a big boy golf course that will accentuate his elite total driving ability and long iron play. Similar to Jon Rahm who settled into a comfortable marriage at Torrey Pines, I’m expecting a long run of prosperity in San Diego for the young Swede.

One and Done: Max Homa

Max Homa LOVES playing in his home state, as four of his six professional wins came in California. He won this tournament back in 2022. Homa ranks 7th in the field strokes gained at Torrey Pines and ranks 3rd in strokes gained on Poa greens.

One of the concerns with Homa is his recent play on the golf course. After a disappointing 2024 campaign, Homa is looking to get back into form. He started the year with a T26 at The Sentry. I was encouraged what we saw from him with his driver and iron play. He hired a new coach this off-season, which has been well documented on his social media accounts.

From a OAD perspective, the Farmers Insurance Open is a non-elevated event. I can stomach taking the chance on Homa to play well at a track he is quite familiar with. I am projecting him to be lower owned than Zalatoris, Finau, and Day, who should all be chalky.

Closing Stretch

Andy Lack

My Love-Hate Relationship with Torrey Pines

Ah, Torrey Pines, probably the golf course that I have the most love-hate relationship 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. I have attended this event for four years in a row, and it is genuinely one of my favorite weekends of the year.

The hate aspect comes more in the form of disappointment, almost the way parents feel when a young child makes a mistake. It’s not their fault, but all I can do is call balls and strikes, and Torrey Pines is architectural malpractice, and the worst use of coastline in America. If Chicago Golf Club is the best work of architecture on the worst 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. Due to the fact that most of the best players in the world would answer this question with a yes, Torrey Pines generally does an excellent job of separating talent. It is a far cry from the variance-filled putting contests that we have seen to start the season.

Josh Segal

Is Justin Thomas back?

For the past two offseasons, a very popular breakout candidate pick has been Justin Thomas. He hasn’t won a professional golf tournament since capturing his 2nd Wannimaker trophy at the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills. Many will argue that he had no business winning the tournament, after Mito Pereira took a double bogey on the 72nd hole to fall short of competing in a playoff with JT and Will Zalatoris. 

Last year at this time, some of us declared Justin Thomas BACK after falling short to his fellow Crimson Tide alum Nick Dunlap. Yet in 2024, JT continued his winless streak. He did conclude the year with 8 top-15 finishes. However, JT had an underwhelming majors campaign with missed cuts at the Masters and U.S. Open. 

After finishing solo 2nd this past weekend at the American Express, JT sits in the same position as he did last season, still looking to get back into the winner’s circle on the PGA Tour. 

Although Thomas made some improvements last season, I think if you asked him if he was back to his true self last season, he would say no. Here is a quote from after the Amex this year:

JT has made some adjustments this offseason, lengthening his driver shaft to increase distance off the tee. This could be attributed to Xander Schauffele taking this approach with his new swing coach Chris Como last year. How did that work out for Xander? Winning two major championships.

For JT to be declared back, he desperately needs to figure out the putter. It was encouraging to see that he gained 1.44 strokes last week with the flatstick. This is something that has been a problem for a while, even when he was at his peak.

JT already has one of the best short games in the world. If he can find consistency with his new driver, continue to be one of the best approach players on tour, and find confidence with his putter, he might break out.

The PGA Tour needs Justin Thomas back contending week after week, as well as his best buddy Jordan Spieth. We can save that discussion for another time. 

I am hesitant to announce JT back right at this moment, however, I am more confident in him being able to end his drought than I was last year at this time. I’ll be rooting for him.

Josh Segal

What players am I drafting the most of in Underdog Majors Only Best Ball Drafts?

Last week, our very own Kyle Hewett wrote in our newsletter about how he is approaching the best ball drafts this season. We both made our own rankings that can only be found in our Discord. 

While trying to pass the time before the NFL playoff games started this weekend (shout out to the Eagles for getting it done in the snow), I drafted a couple of best ball teams. 

In total, I have done 11 drafts so far, mostly in the $10 entry called “The Albatross.” For context, Kyle has done 65. Some sicko behavior but he did come in 7th last year! 

Here are my top 5 highest exposed players on my entries:

Tyrrell Hatton and Sepp Straka are two guys I always “star” before the drafts get started. Funny enough, they both won this past weekend. I was very bullish on both when I constructed my rankings last week. 

Kyle highlighted that you want to draft elite ball strikers and guys who are suited for success on difficult golf courses. Hatton and Fleetwood have proven they have the ability to finish well at majors, but neither have crossed the finish line yet. 

Eckroat and Straka have both won twice in the last 18 months and are both great ball strikers. Tom Kim is looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2024 season, but I think his marriage with Paul Tesori will pay dividends soon. 

These Underdog drafts are really fun and will continue to build my portfolio over the course of the year. I plan on drafting 20 teams in the $10 contest. If you have any questions about players and optimal strategy, make sure to ask Kyle or I in the Discord.

Flex of the Week

Ryan Baroff is on a hot streak! After hitting Nick Taylor at the Sony Open last week, he followed that up with betting Sepp Straka at the American Express. It’s another week that many of our insiders also had Straka.

Can RB go three in a row this week at the Farmers Insurance Open? Make sure to listen to our live DFS show from yesterday to hear his thoughts with Andy.

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