Optimal Plays: Schauffele, Young, Gotterup, McNealy, Knapp, R. Hojgaard, Pi. Coody, Rodgers
GPP Plays: Aberg, Pendrith, Homa, Gerard, Thorbjornsen, Stevens, Higgo, N. Hojgaard, Yu, Castillo, Kanaya
This week the tour continues its California swing with the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course. The tournament will be played across two courses, the North & South in La Jolla, California. The first two rounds the golfers will play each of the courses and the top 65 and ties will advance playing the South for the weekend. The South Course is about 7,600 yard par 72 and one of the longest on Tour and among the toughest while the North Course is slightly shorter with newer bentgrass greens that play easier. Historically this event rewards elite ball-striking, approach play, and putting.
The optimal stud this week is Xander Schauffele. Xander’s ball striking remains elite, ranking 4th in the field in wSG: Approach, while also maintaining distance off the tee. His accuracy off the tee in 2024 wasn’t great, but we think he will be fine here and his distance off the tee will make the tee box a strong spot for him. Xander did not look great in the beginning of 2024, but it was reported he was injured, and once he got healthy, he rattled off some good finishes to end the year. We expect a big year out of Schauffele, and it likely starts this week.
Next up this week in the top tier we have Cameron Young who closed out the 2025 season with strong results finishing T4 at the Tour Championship, top 5 at Fed Ex St. Jude, and a win at the Wyndham Championship. Young last played the Farmers Open back in 2022 where he was T20 shooting -10. When digging into his key stats he is elite OTT ranking 3rd in the field to go along with 5th T2G, 32nd in App, and 6th in Putting. His combination of length and improving short game makes him a great play this week at Torrey’s demanding layout.
Moving down a little cheaper, where Rasmus Hojgaard really pops in our stat model and projections. Once again, we are leaning into distance over accuracy here, as Hojgaard should be able to rip at it and showcase his strength off the tee, and not worry too much about accuracy. We will see a ton of longer approach shots, which is a strength of Rasmus, ranking amongst the fields best in GIR from 200+ yards. Rasmus is a strong option this week and has a humongous ceiling. Vegas odds support our thesis that he’s really undervalued at his price this week.
Next up we have a guy in Max Homa who looks like he has his groove back after finishing 6th and 27th in his last two events. Homa comes in priced at 8.3k on DK and 9.5k on Fanduel and has great history here at Torrey finishing 13th back in 2024 and winning in 2023. Homa’s game aligns well with Torrey demands: length, approach play, and putting on Poa greens. He ranks as one of the best putters on Poa greens in this field historically. Homa is also an elite BS ranking 19th in the field to go along with 6th in approach. If you are looking for a great combo of course history and recent form, Homa fits the bill this week and makes for a fantastic DFS play.
One of our favorite midrange plays this week is a bomber that hasn’t quite gained household notoriety yet, and that’s Michael Thorbjornsen. He not only projects well for us, but Vegas has his odds standing out in this price range. Despite all that, his ownership doesn’t look all that high, as many people seem to be taking a wait and see approach with him. He can hit the ball a mile, and he’s solid enough with his approach game and putting to give him a high ceiling. While we haven’t seen him against many top tier fields, in his last 8 events his worst finish was 39th. There’s definitely more variance to him than other midrange plays, but that makes him a great GPP play.
In the value section, we turn to Aldrich Potgieter who comes in priced at 6.5k on DK and 7.5k on Fanduel. Aldrich is one of the longest hitters on the tour, ranking 1st in the field in driving distance to go along with 28th in App and 9th in BoB. Aldrich also had success here last year finishing 15th while picking up 5.3 strokes on the field. With his upside at a discounted price he makes for a great option to give you salary relief to pair with some of the top players in your lineups this week. The best part is that the industry isn’t really talking about him and therefore his ownership projection is super low.
For One and Done, this event is similar to last week, although not quite as bad. I guess if you knew for sure Scottie would win, you would just lock in the 1.5 million prize, but he’ll almost certainly win some events that pay over $4m, so you’d rather get him right one of those weeks. Xander is similar this week, where he is the favorite but you’d much rather save him for an event that pays more. The highest tier of player we’d be willing to take here is JJ Spaun, and optimally you’d probably rather drop down to the Gotterup, Homa, Day, Knapp tier of players. Those guys are our team’s main choices. If MME’ing, I’d use other guys that aren’t likely to be near the top of the odds market in Signature events, but that project pretty well here. The Hojgaards, McNealy, Pendrith, Gerard, Thorbjornsen. Those guys are all solid choices here. I like Thor a lot, but it’s possible he has a great season and becomes more valuable later, so that’s worth keeping in mind.