Strap in and buckle up as the combination of a tough Torrey Pines South Course and a forecast for stiffening winds has set up a potential wild finish to the Farmers Insurance Open.
The latest forecast for Saturday’s final round has winds freshening at around 18 mph from noon onwards with gusts hitting the 25-28 mph on the Southern California coastal course. With the luscious rough and hard and fast greens on the former U.S. Open course, the injection of wind means no one is safe.
Add a high of just 61 degrees Fahrenheit and the lengthy 7,765-yard brute becomes even longer. A small chance of rain is also on the cards, though precipitation should hold off until Sunday.
The wind has already seen play halted for over an hour during Thursday’s second round, but the hope is that Saturday’s gusts will hold below that threshold. Regardless, it will be a very tough test with the leaders set to tee off at 11:11 a.m. local time, right as the winds start to pick up.
Just look at the scoring average from the three rounds so far:
- In Wednesday’s opening round, half the field who played the South did so in 72.160. So even without tough winds, the infamous course played over par.
- When the high winds arrived Thursday for the second round, they came from the northeast and the average ballooned to 75.567, over 3.5 shots over par.
- Friday’s calmer conditions had a light breeze from the west, the best of the week, and with only the players who cut sent back out, the average dropped to 71.871.
But for the final round Mother Nature has flipped the script again, with the wind coming from the south. In other words, a completely new test for every one with designs on the famous Torrey Pines trophy and celebratory surfboard.
“Today was way easier condition-wise than yesterday, yesterday was wild,” leader Harris English said. “It’s kind of survival of the fittest out there.”
English, a four-time TOUR winner, took advantage on Friday with a 6-under 66 moving him to 9-under and a one-shot lead over Andrew Novak. Novak will chase his first TOUR win from 8-under.