LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA | Though the PGA Tour season may have technically started with an early morning tee shot at the Safeway Open in the California wine country last September, it feels like it really begins this week along the cliffs at Torrey Pines.
Not to dismiss the eye candy and spectacular scoring from the previous three weeks in Hawaii and Palm Springs, but the Farmers Insurance Open has become a milepost of sorts in the tour schedule, a subtle ratcheting up in importance and impact as the golf year gathers momentum.
For years, this is where Tiger Woods started his season. But another back procedure has sidelined him this year. Still, while the paragliders drift on the ocean breezes, a return to Torrey Pines feels right, even if there are no fans and the pandemic protocols remain a priority.
Rory McIlroy flew from Abu Dhabi to San Diego to play this week. Even if you’re flying private, that’s more than 8,400 miles in the air, halfway around the world according to the time zone clock. There’s a reason he did that.
The U.S. Open will be played five months from now on Torrey Pines’ South Course, a brute that has some of the most captivating views in the game. As pretty as it is, the South Course is as subtle as a sledgehammer at 7,765 yards, a place where the ball doesn’t fly quite so far, and birdies are harder to come by.
“It’s such a good golf course,” defending champion Marc Leishman said. “It’s a strong, strong course.”
This is as good a time as any for players to hit the ON switch. While Harris English, Kevin Na and Si Woo Kim have already won this calendar year, others are in chase mode while still others – Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau among them – have opted to play in the Middle East instead.
McIlroy remains something of a mystery. He’s developed a bothersome habit of not playing his best in final rounds when he’s in or near the lead. It happened again at Abu Dhabi on Sunday when his game went flat while Tyrrell Hatton’s caught fire.
Finishing third isn’t what drives McIlroy. A year ago, he was on a roll. But whatever he had went away during the forced break. It wasn’t until the Masters last November that McIlroy said he began to feel the fire again.
Conquering Torrey Pines and jet lag the same week is a big ask but McIlroy isn’t one to waste weeks.
Four years ago, Jon Rahm holed a cross-country putt on the 18th green to win his first PGA Tour event at Torrey and now he’s ranked second in the world. He took last week off to deal with a minor injury and there is a sense that if anyone is going to knock Dustin Johnson out of his place atop the world rankings, it’s Rahm.
For others, the questions are more direct.
Spieth has been chasing his lost magic for longer than Fowler. He was wise to ask Butch Harmon to take a look late last year, just to assure himself that he and teacher Cameron McCormick are on the proper path.
Brooks Koepka has pronounced himself healthy after more than a year of dealing with injury issues that stalled his remarkable run. Koepka has a gift for finding his own motivation and that, as much as anything, suggests it would be shortsighted to see him as a comet who has streaked through the game.
Koepka doesn’t typically play at Torrey Pines but with the U.S. Open here in five months – and an interest in taking the test – he has the big-course game that fits the challenge.
For Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, every week feels important. Not long ago, they were the game’s fresh faces, living la vida loca. Now they are curiosities, familiar faces with unfamiliar results.
Golf swings are peculiar things, engineered at times by confidence as much as technique. They are two players in need of results to validate the work they have put in.
Spieth has been chasing his lost magic for longer than Fowler. He was wise to ask Butch Harmon to take a look late last year, just to assure himself that he and teacher Cameron McCormick are on the proper path.
Three years ago, Spieth looked like the guy who would carry the PGA Tour into its post Tiger-Phil era. Seems like a long time ago.
Fowler has gone quietly into the shadows, working through a swing change. He felt the change was needed but there must be times when a player like him feels lost in the wilderness, chasing what once came easier.
At some point, patience and persistence should pay off but there are no guarantees.
Maybe this is the week when Xander Schauffele stamps his name on his hometown event. Maybe Tony Finau finally finishes one off.
This week at Torrey Pines, don’t let the quiet be deceiving. There’s something in the air.