Power rankings: Farmers Insurance Open
This week, the PGA Tour is in the San Diego area for the Farmers Insurance Open. The annual stop at Torrey Pines sports a 156-player field battling to make the weekend cut playing a round each on the North and South courses on the publicly-accessible property.
Jason Day is the defending champion, but he pulled out of the Wednesday pro-am with flu-like symptoms. Beware the sick golfer, they say, but we’re not sure if that’ll mean good things for the Aussie – like when he won The Barclays last summer after pulling out of a pro-am due to illness – or a tough few days.
Here are our top five players for this week:
1. Rickie Fowler – Fowler deserves the love here this week. He won in Abu Dhabi, furthering his reputation as a guy who can get the job done when it’s close. This event has an affinity for playoffs, so we like Fowler’s chances.
2. Brandt Snedeker – Snedeker is playing like a man who wants to make the Ryder Cup team. He came out of the gate hot in Hawaii, losing in a playoff at the Sony Open. He’s the 2012 champion here and has four top-three finishes.
3. Phil Mickelson – Mickelson had a strong opening to 2016 with a good finish at the CareerBuilder Challenge. He said on TV that he felt he was a week away from being able to win. Well, it’s a week. Let’s see what he does in a hometown event.
4. Jason Day – We would have ranked Day, the defending champion, much higher, but in being late with our picks, we know he’s dealing with flu-like symptoms. They say beware the sick golfer, but there’s a caution flag here.
5. Bill Haas – Of course, Haas had his good annual showing at the CareerBuilder Challenge, and that typically has led to a rubbing-off effect at Torrey Pines. He’s pretty much a top-20 machine here.
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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