Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The first two rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open are in the books and here are a few takeaways.
This week marks the second and final week of the PGA Tour’s January California swing as it arrives at Torrey Pines for the Farmer’s Insurance Open.
Last week at the TPC Stadium Course in La Quinta, Hudson Swafford took home the title of CareerBuilder Challenge. However, this week its a fresh slate for anyone to rise to the top.
After two rounds, Torrey Pines is proving its not as easy as some of the Hawaiian courses that saw some extremely low scores in the PGA Tour’s first two tournaments of the 2017 calendar year.
Golfers are out playing both of it’s North and South Courses and it turns out, the first round was more forgiving than the second round. The first round produced some relatively low scores but the golfers couldn’t seem to match the pace in the second round.
It is yet to be seen how the course will play in the final two rounds but before then here are a few takeaways from the first two rounds of action.
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Rose Leading the Pack
Justin Rose’s 2017 is off to a roaring start. The 2016 Olympic Gold medalist headed into the Farmers Insurance Open coming off a second place finish in the Sony Open in Hawaii just two weeks ago. Rose came into the clubhouse that week with a 20-under tournament score to occupy the spot just behind winner Justin Thomas.
Now, after two rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open, Rose is one step higher as he is occupying the top spot of the leaderboard. Not only is he in first after the second round but he also held the lead after the first round.
Rose torched the easier North Course in the first round as he posted a seven-under 65 to take the lead after 18-holes. However, his lead was only one stroke as the PGA Tour’s latest 59 scorer, Adam Hadwin was right on his tail after firing a six-under 66 to get within one stroke of Rose.
The second round seemed to tell a completely different story as Rose wasn’t able to continue the hot streak he started the day before. This time on the South Course, Rose came into the clubhouse with just a one-under 71. However, since the rest of field seemingly had similar struggles, he didn’t lose the top spot.
He maintains his one stroke lead heading into the weekend as Adam Hadwin and Brandt Snedeker are sitting in a tie for second place.
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Defending Champion Snedeker Right In The Mix
It’s been a roller-coaster of a year so far for Brandt Snedeker as each of his finishes in the tournaments he’s been in this season have been up and down in terms of positioning on the leaderboard. Snedeker has played in four tournaments before the Farmers Insurance Open and he finished in the top-15 twice, missed the cut once, and finished in 45th place at the other tournament. With so many different finishing spots this year, its yet to be seen where he will finish this week but a trip back to the tournament he won just a year ago might mean he’s looking at another good finish.
After 36-holes, it seems Snedeker is again just as comfortable on the course as he was last year when he won. Unlike Justin Rose who seemed to find all of his success in the first round, Snedeker was consistent in both of his first two rounds.
His tournament started out with a four-under 68 after seven birdies and three bogeys with three of those birdies coming on his final three holes. In the second round, Snedeker had a similar round as he added six birdies and thee bogeys on the South Course to come into the clubhouse with a three-under 69.
He now sits at seven-under for the tournament and in a tie for second place with Adam Hadwin. They are just one stroke off Justin Rose’s leading pace.
Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
Cut Line Takes Out Some Of The World’s Best
After all was said and done after two rounds at the Farmers Insurance Open, the cut line set at even par took out a significant amount of the world’s best golfers. Some of the more notable golfers to miss the cut are Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, and Dustin Johnson. All four golfers will be heading home before the weekend at Torrey Pines.
Among that group of four, Woods unfortunately had the worst finish of them all. Woods wasn’t able to get things going in his first appearance of 2017. This was his first start since he made his long awaited return at his own tournament, the Hero World Challenge, in the beginning of December. Woods began his week with an underwhelming four-over 76. In his second round, he did improve to an even 72 but it wasn’t enough to fix the damage from the first round.
Rickie Fowler was also making his first PGA Tour appearance of 2017 and like Woods didn’t have the best start to his year. Fowler fired an even 73 in the first round and the fell off by posting a three-over 75 in the second round. Fowler and Day’s three-over tournament scores ended their Farmers Insurance Open appearance early.
Dustin Johnson did a little bit better than Woods, Fowler, and Day but still he wasn’t good enough to be able to stick around for the weekend. DJ fired an even 72 in the first round and then a two-over 74 in the second round. He finished his short appearance with a two-over tournament score.
Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Farmers Insurance Open – Round Two Leaderboard
1. Justin Rose – (-8)
T2. Adam Hadwin – (-7)
T2. Brandt Snedeker – (-7)
T4. Ollie Schniederjans – (-6)
T4. Keegan Bradley – (-6)
T6. Robert Streb – (-5)
T6. Brian Harmon – (-5)
T6. Zac Blair – (-5)
T6. Kevin Streelamn – (-5)
T6. Cheng Tsung Pan – (-5)
Who do you think will come out on top over the weekend? Let us know in the comments below.
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