Anyone needing a 2023 Farmers Insurance Open ‘One and Done’ pick will once again deal with unusual circumstances this week on the PGA Tour.
This event features two courses with both Torrey Pines South and North in play. In addition, we get the rare Wednesday opening round and Saturday final round due to the NFL playoffs taking all the eyeballs Sunday.
There is another seven-figure payday up for grabs for One and Done players, but it is still early season golf. Jon Rahm is on a mega-heater and taking all the first-place money to himself. This is a good thing since almost nobody is using him in the pools making everyone still firmly in the hunt.
Let’s dive into the possible targets for this week’s Farmers Insurance Open.
2023 Farmers Insurance Open One and Done Picks
Safe Pick: Tony Finau
Let’s start with a safer option in Tony Finau, who checks almost all the boxes we’d want with a golfer. He’s a long hitter off the tee, which is useful at Torrey South given how long it plays, and he’s a guy with three wins over the last calendar year. We already saw Finau in 2023 including last week so we know the form is good, plus he’s coming to an event where he’s had plenty of success.
The only question — and it’s a big one — is do we want to waste Finau this early in the
season? I think for that reason most people will go elsewhere despite Finau playing some of the best golf in the world right now.
Contrarian Pick: Taylor Pendrith
Some One and Done pools are gigantic so we have to plan ahead and possibly take some risks. It’s very early in the season, but a guy like Taylor Pendrith is a sleeper pick I have some interest in.
He’s coming off a missed cut last week, which was his first in nearly a year. Despite that, I believe the game is in good shape. He’s consistently gaining strokes off the tee and that allows him to attack these pin locations via the irons. His around the green game isn’t top
end, but the rest really seems to be firing on all cylinders.
Pendrith played the Farmers last year and finished 16th thanks to positive ball striking and another few strokes gained with the putter. Given you may not even use him the entire season this is a low-risk, high-reward option in terms of opportunity cost.
My One and Done Pick: Jason Day
Even with last week’s banking of $0 thanks to Brian Harman I will not be altering my approach of conservative picks to start the season. When I say conservative, I mean saving elite golfers and just trying to tread water while other people reach too quickly.
I expect Jason Day to be popular this week given he absolutely loves this course and flashed his old form last week. Day played well at AmEx and even more encouraging was the positive strokes with the putter.
He has multiple wins in this tournament, a runner-up, and a third-place finish last year. He know these courses well and clearly his game allows him to work around what can be erratic off the tee shots. Targeting Day early in the season when he’s presumed healthy, at a course he loves seems to be the move and that where I’ll be going in One and Done
this week.
