Sport
Farmers Insurance Open preview: Back Johnson to come out swinging in 2022
Things kick off a little earlier than usual on the PGA Tour this week with six of the world’s top 10 in action at Torrey Pines for the Farmers Insurance Open.
Given the likes of Tiger Woods (seven times), Phil Mickelson (three times) and current world number one Jon Rahm have won this title in the past, it’s a much-coveted role of honour to be a part of, so expect plenty of thrilling action over the next four days.
Here’s our preview ahead of Wednesday’s opening salvo.
Johnson too big to ignore
When Dustin Johnson sauntered to a five-shot victory at the 2020 Masters, many thought the American would go on to dominate golf for years to come, but perhaps surprisingly he has won just once since. That came in Saudi Arabia and capped off a quite extraordinary eight-tournament spell that saw DJ win three times, finish runner-up three times as well as a further third-place finish at the Tour Championship – and as mentioned, the rest of the golfing world looked as if they’d been playing second fiddle for quite some time.
However, since that win in Saudi Arabia in February 2021, Johnson has, remarkably, failed to taste victory, with his best finish being a tie for sixth. Granted, it was virtually impossible to keep up the form he showed at the back end of 2020, but to not have a top-five finish since February was a fact no-one thought they’d be reading come January 2022. As such, it might seem silly to suggest backing him at Torrey Pines this week, given his scratchy record at the course, which has only seen him finish inside the top 10 once in 11 appearances. However, there might be reason to think this is the time to catch the 37-year-old.
His record on the first start of a season is fantastic, with two wins and eight top 10s from 12 starts at the Tournament of Champions, and although that’s an easier test than Torrey Pines, it shows that Johnson often goes well at this time of the year when he’s fully rested and ready to go. The fact he hasn’t won in almost a year will not sit well, and what better way to show the golfing world that most of 2021 was a mere blip by winning on your opening start of the new year?
The 20/1 on Johnson could be a gift…
Finau & Torrey Pines – A match made in heaven
Max Homa is an interesting contender at 60/1 given he’s in good form, having won at the back end of 2021 and has played well in this tournament for the last two years. He should go well, but the other to look out for is Tony Finau, who simply loves Torrey Pines.
In seven starts in this tournament, Finau has finished inside the top 25 in all of them, with four top 10s thrown in for good measure. He was sixth in 2020 and then finished runner-up to Patrick Reed last year, where a Saturday 74 proved to really cost him. In short, he’s pretty much done everything but win here and this looks a great opportunity to do that.
A 40th place finish at The American Express last week doesn’t look great on the face of it, but across the 36 holes of the Pete Dye Stadium Course (the only course that was tracked out of the three that were used) he ranked 19th for Tee to Green, 13th in Strokes Gained: Total and 24th for putting (his best performance on the greens since August), so the game is clearly in good shape.
He will surely build on that at a course he loves and he looks a decent play at 25/1.
