HP 🍑 for the Farmers Insurance Open

First Look: Torrey Pines, La Jolla, CA

Not to diminish amateur Nick Dunlap’s incredible achievement, but I think we can all agree the California Swing officially starts this week at Torrey Pines. The hit-and-giggle Amex is behind us, and eight of the OWGR top-20 are in the field in SoCal including defending champ Max Homa along with fellow Cali-natives Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay. With big NFL action on Sunday coinciding with CBS’s 2024 golf debut, we’ve got a Saturday finish on our hands with play beginning Wednesday. So with time of the essence, let’s get into it!

Welcome to the Show:
Get to Know the 2024 PGA Tour Rookies

Thanks to recent eligibility changes from the PGA Tour, 45 newly minted Tour Cards were handed out ahead of the 2024 season. Each week, we’ll spotlight a few up-and-comers whose names will be important to know as the year progresses.

• Jacob Bridgeman - Inman, SC

  While some pros grind for years for their first taste of PGA TOUR action, Jacob Bridgeman’s path to the big leagues couldn’t have been more straightforward. After wrapping up his senior year at Clemson as the No. 2 player in the PGA TOUR University standings, it took the 24-year-old just one year on the Korn Ferry Tour to earn his card for 2024. An all-around solid player, Bridgeman always finds a way to score, even when parts of his game aren’t on point. He ranked inside the top five in Scoring Average and Total Birdies last year on the KFT, and his impressive short game earned him the No. 1 ranking in Scrambling as well.

• Alexander Bjork - Sweden

  One of 10 DP World Tour players to earn a PGA TOUR card via the new eligibility changes for 2024, Bjork is a seasoned vet across the pond who will hope to make the most of his guaranteed starts Stateside. The 33-year-old Swede bagged nine top-10 finishes on the DP World Tour last year and made the cut in both the Genesis Scottish Open and the Open Championship. Unlike his fellow countryman Ludvig Aberg, Bjork is far from the longest hitter out there, but his game is built on superb accuracy off the tee and on approach, ranking fourth on the DPWT in Driving Accuracy and 11th in GIR % in 2023.

• Sami Valimaki - Finland

  Joining Bjork as one of the newcomers from Europe is Sami Valimaki. The 25-year-old native of Finland finished 12th in last year’s Race to Dubai off the back of one win and eight other top-25 finishes in 2023. Valimaki burst onto the scene in 2020 as the European Tour Rookie of the Year but has since battled through inconsistent ball striking to find his way onto the PGA TOUR. Very much a boom-or-bust player, Valimaki has the talent to win on the biggest stages if he can keep big numbers off the card.

1. SG: Off the Tee Leaders last 40 rounds: 1. Aberg  2. Vegas  3. Duncan 4. Yu 5. Mitchell  6. Champ 7. Jaeger  8. Cantlay  9. Homa 10. Ghim

2. SG: Approach Leaders last 40 rounds: 1. Ryder  2. Morikawa 3. Reavie 4. Woodland  5. Schauffele  6. Cole  7. Moore  8. Thomas 9. Smalley 10. Lindhelm

3. SG: ARG Leaders last 40 rounds:  1. Merritt 2. Baddeley  3. Cink  4. Kim, S.H 5. Spaun  6. Stevens  7. Lee, K.H. 8. Hughes  9. Cole 10. Theegala

4. SG: Putting on Poa Annua Greens Leaders last 40 rounds:  1. Malnati  2. Theegala  3. Homa  4. Hall  5. Hadley  6. Ryder  7. Im  8. Wu, Dylan  9. Suh 10. Moore, Taylor

5. Top 10 in Ball Speed last 40 rounds: 1. Lee, M.W.  2. Champ  3. Tarren  4. Bramlett  5. Vegas  6. Gordon 7. Woodland  8. Yu  9. Norrman 10. Coody, Pierceson

6. SG: APP from 175-275 leader last 40 rounds: 1. Spaun  2. Reavie  3. Dahmen  4. NeSmith  5. Hoffman 6. Lipsky  7. Jaeger 8. Hisatsune  9. Champ 10. Im

7. SG: APP from 75-140 leaders last 40 rounds: 1. Moore, Ryan  2. Hossler  3. Blair  4. Reavie  5. Hojgaard, Nicolai 6. Dahmen 7. Ryder 8. Morikawa  9. Matsuyama  10. Tarren

8. SG: Total (Per Rd vs Field) at Torrey Pines South last 40 rounds: 1. Schmid  2. Higgo  3. Schauffele  4. Yu  5. Endycott  6. Montgomery  7. Burns  8. Kim, S.W.  9. Cantlay 10. Smalley

9. SG Putting from 4’-12’ on Poa Annua Greens last 30 rounds: 1. Cole  2. Poston  3. Bhatia  4. Scheffler  5. Suh  6. van Rooyen  7. Schauffele  8. Cantlay  9. Pereda  10. Ryder

10. Top 10 in Data Golf Positive Course History vs. Expectation: 1. Schmid 2. Higgo 3. Endycott  4. Young, Carson  5. Yu  6. Burns  7. Kim, S.W.  8. Montgomery  9. Griffin, Lanto 10. Hadwin

We’re thrilled that Underdog chose to launch Season Long PGA TOUR Best Ball Drafts starting on 2/8 with the Waste Management and ending at The Open. There’s plenty of strategy involved in drafting your 10-man teams, but the beauty of Best Ball is the joy of drafting and then sitting back and enjoying the sweat for 22 weeks!

DB will be doing LIVE drafts regularly between now and the contest starting on 2/8. Plus, we’ve got a dedicated thread in the DISCORD talking about strategy and rankings. Check out DB’s 1st draft to see how it works, and click the banner above to get a 100% deposit match on your first $100 deposited.