It may not be the Farmers Insurance Open that television networks and sponsors dreamed of, let’s not kid ourselves. It’s very likely that, at least until Friday, the third day of the tournament, the audiences have been rather poor. Or average at best. The cause? Apparently, the players with the most draw are moving on the leaderboard in a second line, not to mention a third or fourth, and tomorrow, Saturday, on the decisive day, we don’t find any top 30 world player in any of the last three matches…
And yet, it’s a very Farmers-like Farmers. You don’t have to dig too deep to find the attractions. We said that only apparently the players with the most draw are missing, and we said it well, because Xander Schauffele (-7), Tony Finau (-7) and Ludvig Aberg (-7) will start in the decisive round four strokes behind the leader, who is still the German Stephan Jaeger (-11) and we must not forget, for example, what happened last year in the last round, when Max Homa won by overcoming a five-stroke deficit with the leader…
That’s right, because almost anything can happen on the South course of Torrey Pines. The equation is very simple, because it is a course where by being very orderly (but very, very orderly, it should be clarified) you can achieve a great score, and yet it can blow up the most painted as soon as it starts to be too many times out of position.
Today only 18 players have beaten a course with a rough that gets trickier every day, on a slightly colder day and on very fast greens, yes, but not too noble, which made things very difficult. And tomorrow we are going to have a whopping 26 players starting within a margin of five strokes with that tournament head marked by the German Jaeger, who today has remained at the top despite having signed a card of 73 strokes. His partners in the star match of the decisive round will be the French Matthieu Pavon (-10) and the Dane Nicolai Hojgaard (-10), so European golf continues surprisingly in luck, with a Thomas Detry (-9) who has given his place in the star match to Pavon, but who is in fourth position right now. All of them looking for their first victory on the PGA Tour. Pavon’s would be a big deal, as he is playing his third tournament of the regular calendar of this circuit, just graduated last year through the DP World Tour. And Hojgaard’s would be the confirmation of his brilliant progression towards the dimension of the world mega cracks.
Ask them, also ask Jaeger, if this Farmers is turning out very unattractive. They care little or nothing, as they find themselves with the possibility of making a significant turn in their careers. It is likely that the audiences will have to wait for another edition to break records, but no one doubts that the fourth round in San Diego promises emotions as strong or stronger than those of previous editions.
