Farmers Insurance Open, La Jolla, CA (January 26-29)

This week the Professional Gofer’s Association Tour makes the trip from Coachella Valley in Southern California to one of golf’s greatest venues, Torrey Pines, for the Farmers Insurance open. Not only does this tournament have the largest in size and the best field of all the tournaments played so far this year, Tiger Woods is making his official debut to the professional game from taking another lengthy break (522 days) due to back surgery. Other headlines include the first appearance of Jason Day and Dustin Johnson  for the year on the regular tour. Its an exciting time to be a golf fan! Lets take a closer look into what this weeks holds.

So the most obvious highlight of the week is the return of one of the greatest players to have ever played the game. Since the scandal the broke in the Woods family in 2009, which lead to a divorce from his wife and the creation of a huge divide in his career, Tiger has also been plagued with a series of injuries mostly in his knee and lower back. This week at Torrey Pines marks the second return of Tiger Woods to the PGA Tour off of back surgery with the last being  after a 2014 procedure. There are two clear differences that separate those previous returns from the one this week:

1. Tiger has prepared a TON to be ready to compete again. Because the anticipation for Tiger to return to the game after any absence, he has to emphasize to the world that he will only return when he is able to compete at the highest level. This was a problem for him and rise of controversy from his last return when he was pressured to make a debut in mid-season. This year, he has taken his time for he has been at least practicing at that high level for over four months.
2. We have also already seen Tiger compete at a professional level prior to this tournament. In November, Tiger hosts his own tournament for charity and invites the top professionals in the game to play. Here, Tiger had the most birdies in the field and only finished in the middle of the pack because of a number of double bogies.

   

Among other news, Jason Day, the worlds number one player makes his 2017 regular season debut along with Dustin Johnson who ranks number three in the world. These two always increase the credibility and crowed excitement associated with a tournament. However, no on brings more excitement than the likes of Phil Mickelson. Always a fan favorite, Phil has put together a string of impressive seasons over the last few years with last year being most consistent. Great things look to be in order throughout this week. I sure will be watching!