Tiger Woods set to compete
The long-awaited and much-discussed return of Tiger Woods to the PGA Tour is actually happening this week at a track and tournament where he’s had tremendous success. The 14-time Major winner and 79-time overall PGA Tour champion takes his re-built game to the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in an effort to start building stamina for a run at his fifth Masters title in April. Woods should feel comfortable this week since he’s earned the first-place trophy at the Farmers seven times and recorded two other victories at Torrey Pines – the 1991 Junior World Championship and his last Major win when he defeated Rocco Mediate while limping through a playoff to capture the 2008 U.S.
Open.
Woods heads into action after just announcing he has inked an equipment deal with TaylorMade. In his bag, will be TaylorMade’s full M line of metalwoods – driver and fairways – a custom set of irons he teamed up with the company to create and an MG wedge. The ball Woods will be striking is Bridgestone’s B330-S. This isn’t Tiger’s first go-around with TaylorMade. Very early in his career Woods used TaylorMade equipment to win U.S. Junior and U.S Amateur Championships. The Farmers Insurance Open will be played on the Tom Weiskopf-redesigned North Course and the South Course. Once the cut has happened, the third and fourth rounds will be played on the South Course only.
What to expect
Woods has been slotted in to play the first two rounds with fellow TaylorMade staffers Jason Day of Australia, the top-ranked player in the world, and Dustin Johnson of the U.S., the latest U.S.
Open champ. Day cranks it up in his first appearance since finishing T12 at the SBS Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. His rounds of 70, 69, 70, 70 for a total of 279 earned him a check worth $147,000. Johnson landed T6 at Kapalua and has banked $277,000 so far this season.
Farmers Insurance Open favorites: Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Hudson Swafford.
Players to watch: Tiger Woods, Patrick Reed, Gary Woodland, Adam Hadwin, Brandt Snedeker.
