A great course, a great event, and a great field this week at Torrey Pines.
The Farmers Insurance Open also marks the 2011 debut of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to the PGA Tour. It will be the first start for Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines since his U.S. Open win there in 2008. He missed the 2009 Farmers Insurance Open due to injury and in 2010 when he sat out the first three months of the season due to personal problems. Tiger has won this event six-times.
They will be joined by the likes of Lucas Glover, Dustin Johnson, Kenny Perry and Davis Love III. Both the North and the South courses will be used for tournament play this week. Here is this week's buy, sell, and hold:
Buy:
Tiger Woods (A) - Is Tiger looking to make a big splash to open 2011? We'll find out, but this would be a message to all the other players that Tiger is back. He loves this tournament and loves this course.
Phil Mickelson (A) - This course is home to Phil who always plays well here.
Charley Hoffman (A) - Usually plays well in the West Coast events. He's had some good finishes here and might be ready to break out. His length off the tee also help him here.
Justin Rose (B) - Give this Brit credit for playing full-time on the PGA Tour. He will win a lot of events in his career. He has started out the year with a T-13 and T-14 so far this year, setting him up for a top-5 finish on a course he should play well on.
Fredrik Jacobson (C) - After playing two events, Jacobson's game seems to be rounding into form. He's always a good play as a C level player. Finished T-22 last year at Torrey.
Charles Howell III (C) - Another solid play for a C player. He had a top-15 finish last week at the Hope and has never missed the cut in this event. A must play as a C player this week.
Sell:
Jhonattan Vegas (C) - The Venezuelan rookie surprised everyone and won last week at the Hope. Coming off that high, I don't think he is a great play this week.
Ben Crane (B) - The defending champ doesn't appear in good form. If you are one of those players who always goes with players who historically play well in certain events, you may want to go a different direction this week and not play Crane.
Hold:
Bill Haas (B) - Can he keep up his outstanding play? He's already made over $600,000 in his two 2011 starts and it a cumulative 43-under par. Might want to hold him this week.
Remember to listen to the AudioBoo for this week's "flyer" pick of the week.