LA JOLLA — You would think some adjustment in expectations is mandatory when the PGA Tour moves from the Coachella Valley desert to the shores of the Pacific. But maybe not so much.
A week ago in La Quinta, the first-round leaderboard at the American Express was peppered with 62s, 63s and 64s, thanks to typical birdie harvest conditions
Wednesday at Torrey Pines, the first-round leaderboard at the Farmers Insurance Open was … a 64, a couple of 65s and a bunch of 66s. The marine layer might have made a difference, but not that much.
And no, Patrick Cantlay said after his 7-under 65, the adjustment is not terribly drastic.
“I grew up in southern California so I’m kind of used to the difference,” said Cantlay, the pride of Los Alamitos, Servite High and UCLA. “The golf courses are definitely different and scoring this week … especially with the rough how it is, it will be a lot more difficult than it was last week.”
To be sure, the rough at Torrey Pines is real high grass, and not the dead scrub that passes for rough on the desert courses. It might not be as diabolical as the rough was at the 2021 U.S. Open on this track, but it’s rugged.
“When the rough is as wet as it is, it makes it more difficult,” Cantlay said. “It’s harder to get the golf ball to go because the water gets in the way. But the rough is classically long here. I don’t think I’ve played this golf course ever really when the rough’s short. There’s definitely a penalty for missing the fairway and, like I said, today I played a lot from the fairway, so (I) hope to keep that up.”
Kevin Yu seized the first-round lead with that 8-under 64, after birdies on two of the last three holes. Cantlay birdied three of his final four holes during his 65, a number matched by Ryo Hisastune.
All three – and, in fact, the top seven and 14 of the top 15 on the leaderboard – played Torrey’s North Course on Wednesday, with the only outlier Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard (a 5-under 67 on the South Course). Everybody switches courses Thursday, so if there is any overcorrection in the second round it won’t be hard to figure out why.
Yu, who was born in Taiwan and played golf at Arizona State, is coming off a tie for third at La Quinta at 27-under. A missed 2-foot putt for par on 18 on Sunday cost him a tie for second with Christiaan Bezuidenhout – and a share of the $1.512 million winner’s purse that amateur Nick Dunlap, the tournament winner, couldn’t accept and that Bezuidenhout accepted as runner-up.
Ouch.
“But yeah, I’ve been playing very good and, like, just keep building momentum,” Yu said Wednesday. “I was just trying to play my best today, just trying to hit a lot of fairways, trying to make as many putts as I can. Greens (are) a little bumpy, but I’m just trying to hit like the best stroke I can out there, which I did today. So I feel really good, really looking forward to tomorrow.”
(Incidentally, after the emotion and commotion of Alabama sophomore Dunlap’s American Express victory, as well as the speculation over whether and when he would turn pro, he decided Monday to back out of the Farmers and return home. That was probably wise.)
There are different sorts of adjustments. Højgaard (pronounced HOY-garr) played last weekend in Dubai, tying for seventh behind winner Rory McIlroy … and the winning score in the United Arab Emirates was 14-under. His Sunday round was followed by a 20-plus hour flight, traversing 12 time zones in the process, to get to San Diego for a start one day earlier than usual.
Again, ouch.
“There’s definitely some stuff to be aware of and trying to push yourself during the day to stay awake and to change the rhythm a bit,” Højgaard said. “Overall, it’s going all right. I mean, obviously I feel like at the end of the rounds I’m getting tired during the day, but in the morning I feel fresh. And you probably can see a bit on the score as well, (that he’s) coming out fresh in the morning and then slowly drops a bit in energy.
“In the end it’s, yeah, I’m just excited to get going. I’ve been looking forward to starting the season here in the States and doing it at this iconic golf course, these two iconic golf courses, is pretty cool. I’ll just push myself until we feel like the jetlag’s gone.”
He’s going to play on this tour for the next three months, he said, so that should be enough time to get acclimated. He’s exempt as a “top 125 non-member,” and it could have been even better if his twin brother, Rasmus, had earned his 2024 PGA Tour card as well. Alas, Rasmus missed out during the final DP World Tour event last November, finishing one spot shy of qualifying.
For Michael Kim, this is home. He attended Torrey Pines High School before playing golf at Cal, and he started out Wednesday with a 5-under 67 on the North Course that included a bogey on 18. Otherwise, he would have ended the day tied for fourth.
He believes there’s some adjustment in coming here from the desert, where he tied for sixth last weekend at 25-under, and “it can be” drastic.
“For me, I’m so used to this marine layer, so if anything it might be more of an adjustment at the desert than it is here,” he said. “I feel really comfortable, I feel like I know what to do. It hasn’t felt like too big of an adjustment for me.”
Anyway, he said, there are other challenges that we might not ordinarily consider, especially since he played the Sony Open in Hawaii the week before the American Express.
“Just a lot of lotion (is needed), because of how dry the desert is,” he said. “When it’s that dry I usually get a couple nosebleeds, so (it’s) making sure I’m hydrated and all that, more so than the golf.”
Hey, golf is a game of adjustments.