Tiger Woods announced that he will begin 2014 on a familiar venue. As expected Woods will play in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, a tournament he has won seven times + the 2008 U.S. Open held there.
The 2014 Farmers Insurance Open will begin on Thursday, January 23rd. Woods is the defending champion at the tournament, which was the first of his five wins in 2013. Woods won the PGA Tour Player of the Year last season, despite not winning a Major Championship.
Woods will certainly be the favorite to win at Torrey Pines in a couple of weeks, though the payout for him won’t be available until Monday, January 20th.
In addition to Woods, Phil Mickelson will make his 2014 debut at Torrey Pines as well for the Farmers Insurance Open. Mickelson is coming off of a fantastic season that included a Major victory at the British Open. Mickelson typically plays in more of the West-Coast events than Woods and that will likely be the case again.
The PGA Tour is in Hawaii this week for the Sony Open. From there, the Humana Challenge from PGA West in California will take place the following week before then coming to Torrey Pines.
Woods follows a predictable schedule for him, and it’s likely that he will play a month later at the Accenture Match Play Championship in Dove Mountain. That would make two events on the West Coast before going to Florida the next week at the Honda Classic at PGA National.
The Farmers Insurance Open has become a big event on the PGA Tour because of the fact that it’s a tournament where many of the game’s top players like Woods and Mickelson make their debuts for the season. Of course, this year is a bit different because the season actually began in the fall of 2013 for the first time. Still, the start of the new year still has a feel like the debut of the season.
Golf fans won’t have to wait much longer until Woods is on the course. The big question will be whether or not he wins a Major this season. He just turned 38 at the end of December and is four Majors shy of tying Jack Nicklaus.