It’s official: Tiger Woods will start his 2019 campaign at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, a course on which he’s won eight times, most notably his last major victory in 2008.
Torrey is the traditional jumping-off point for Woods, so this announcement shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. He began his comeback from spinal fusion surgery last year at the Farmers as well, impressing many en route to a T23 finish.
Since that start last year, Woods has jumped 644 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking all the way to No. 12 currently. This will be Woods’ first official PGA Tour start since his victory at the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta last September. He has teed it up since in the Ryder Cup, The Match and his unofficial event, the Hero World Challenge.
“We couldn’t be happier to have Tiger back in our field,” Peter Ripa, the Farmers Insurance Open tournament director and Century Club of San Diego CEO, said. “He really launched his fairytale comeback season right here last January, and he has enjoyed incredible success at Torrey Pines Golf Course and in our tournament over the years.”
Woods joins a field at Torrey that already includes Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and defending champion Jason Day. Phil Mickelson has yet to commit to his hometown event.
Kicking off this season on the west coast at @FarmersInsOpen and my TGRF’s @GenesisOpen. Can’t wait!
https://t.co/KvsHp4dmmF— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) January 16, 2019
Woods also announced his commitment to play in his foundation-hosted event at Riviera Country Club on February 14.
“I’m looking forward to being back in Los Angeles for the Genesis Open,” Woods said on his website. “It’s always great to be able to play at Riviera and I am very proud of the impact the Genesis Open has been able to make on education through my foundation.”
The confirmation that Woods would be playing Torrey and Riviera all but ends the speculation that he would also tee it up at either the Waste Management Phoenix Open or the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, two events that are sandwiched between the Farmers and the Genesis.
Those tournaments won’t likely be the only events that Woods will have to skip this year given the truncated major championship slate.
The stretch of tournaments between the Genesis Open and the Masters in early April includes six events in seven weeks that Woods has or would have played in recently — the WGC-Mexico Championship, the Honda Classic, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Players Championship, the Valspar Championship and the WGC-Dell Match Play.
Experts believe that Woods will play no more than five events before the first major of the year, meaning three of those previously-visited events will not enjoy the Tiger-effect this spring.
