This week's PGA Tour action comes from Torrey Pines Golf Course in California where Ludvig Aberg and Hideki Matsuyama are battling for favouritism at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Golf punters should note that this week's tournament begins on Wednesday and concludes on Saturday in order to avoid a clash with the NFL Conference Championship Games, so bets need to be placed a day earlier than usual.
Taking place at Torrey Pines since 1968, the opening two rounds of the Farmers will see the field rotate across two courses, the scoreable North Course and the tougher, more famous South, which is where the final two rounds will take place on Friday and Saturday.
Measuring 7,765 yards, the South Course is one of the longest layouts on the PGA Tour and is known as an exacting test of tee-to-green prowess. In addition to the Farmers, it played host to the US Open in both 2008 and 2021.
- LUDVIG ABERG TO WIN & EACH-WAY
- MAX HOMA TO WIN & EACH-WAY
- AKSHAY BHATIA TO WIN & EACH-WAY
Swedish Star Aberg Could Make Class Tell
Ludvig Aberg is one of the few genuinely top-class ball-strikers in the Farmers Insurance Open field and the 25-year-old fully deserves his status as tournament favourite.
Aberg still sits on one PGA Tour victory, which he achieved at the 2023 RSM Classic, but last year's trophyless season was full of positives as he posted a host of top-10 finishes despite spending much of the campaign battling a knee injury which eventually required surgery.
The Swede returned from his layoff to defend the RSM, where he finished a respectable 17th. He then placed sixth at the Hero World Challenge in his final event of 2024 and fifth at the Sentry earlier this month, where all areas of the game appeared to be firing.
Aberg made his Farmers Insurance debut last year, finishing ninth, four shots shy of winner Matthieu Pavon, and he's a huge threat with course experience under his belt.
LUDVIG ABERG TO WIN & EACH-WAY
Homa At His Best In His Beloved California
California brings out the best in Max Homa and the Golden State native appears overpriced this week as he attempts to spark back into life following a lacklustre 2024 season.
While results might not obviously suggest it, Homa struck the ball well at both the Nedbank Challenge before Christmas and the Sentry on his yearly reappearance, and he's returning to a venue where he knows how to win.
Homa took the 2023 Farmers title, then finished 13th last year, and it would be no surprise if he contends again.
MAX HOMA TO WIN & EACH-WAY
Bhatia Can Cope With Tight Turnaround
A second Californian catches the eye in Akshay Bhatia, who can compete for this title as long as he's recovered from a long trip after finishing 37th in the Dubai Desert Classic last week.
While the quick turnaround is not ideal, Nicolai Hojgaard almost managed it last year, the Dane finishing seventh in Dubai and second at Torrey Pines.
Bhatia knows how to score at the South Course. He made the cut in the 2021 US Open when ranked outside the world's 800 and he was 13th on his Farmers debut in 2024.
AKSHAY BHATIA TO WIN & EACH-WAY
