With the majority of the United States hunkered down in the frozen tundra, the PGA Tour is in San Diego for the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Well, some players are. A relatively sparse field is in La Jolla, California, this week as just two of the top 10 players in the world, Hideki Matsuyama and Ludvig Aberg, are making the trip. Notable absentees include Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele, who are both missing due to injuries, as well as Collin Morikawa (WD), Patrick Cantlay, and Justin Thomas.

While the field strength at Torrey Pines has varied over the years, the lack of star power in this year’s event is particularly noticeable. Scheffler and Schauffele are easy to understand, but the remainder of the field requires some more thought. To me, there are three main factors at play. One, the PGA Tour elevated The Sentry to a Signature Event and made it a free handout in Hawaii that is hard to pass up. Two, the Tour now requires that players add a new event to their schedule every five years. And three, TGL is taking place on a weekly basis in West Palm Beach, a long way from San Diego. Add the three together and you have a myriad of scheduling conflicts that eat away at Tour stops like Torrey Pines. While none of those three reasons are negatives on their own, they definitely hurt non-Signature Events in a meaningful way. And yes, LIV Golf’s existence takes away a few other possible participants.

With Farmers ending its sponsorship of the tournament in the near future and things only getting more complicated within the Tour schedule, it’s fair to wonder whether a dependable future is possible for the events on the bottom half of the PGA Tour totem pole. That’s not to say that an event at Torrey Pines is in danger. It still has strong on-site support from fans and people will tune into CBS for the views alone. But the Tour still needs a good on-course product and there is reason to be concerned that a busier PGA Tour means less dependable events on a week-to-week basis.

Oh and by the way, the tournament begins today and ends on Saturday in an effort to avoid the NFL’s Conference Championship weekend.


This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.