Tiger will need a miracle just to get into contention at Torrey Pines, but he’s not played poorly so far in his 2019 debut.
Tiger Woods will need, as he put it, a “special weekend” to contend at the Farmers Insurance Open. It’s not that he’s played poorly through 36 holes, it’s that Justin Rose lit the place on fire pushing scoring records at this historic event. Rose went 63-66 and is at 15-under, a good three shots clear of Hideki Matsuyama. It’s also a good 11 shots clear of Woods, who will have to string together two low 60s rounds just to have a chance of chasing down Rose and others on this loaded leaderboard.
Tiger played the gettable North Course on Friday. This is traditionally the easier of the two venues, even after a Tom Weiskopf redesign that had closed the difficulty gap on the South Course. But the North is still much easier and where we saw all the leaders come from after 18 holes. Tiger needed to carve it up when he got his turn at it on Friday but we got just a 2-under 70 that, at times, had him flirting with the cut line.
Woods has not looked bad. There’s been a hiccup or two, but nothing like the scramble we’ve seen in the past. This may be the status quo we have to accept for the rest of the season. He’ll never be dominant like he was, but at least he’s making cuts and competitive again. This tournament had become the spot where some comeback attempt would immediately implode or he’d struggle just to break 75. Now he’s consistently in the red and all facets of his game look competitive.
Tiger’s driver got wild at times in his second round. He said he could get nothing to fall in with the putter, which is where you’ll typically blow scoring chances on a course that provides many of them. But no part of his game has looked bad. The biggest mess on Friday came via an approach shot that didn’t cut as much as he wanted and ended up dead in a bunker.
— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) January 25, 2019
That led to a double bogey that brought a missed cut into play. He’d get it back, however, with a couple of bonus birdies. The first a bombed-in putt at No. 3 (his 12th hole of the day) and the second a hole-out chip shot at No. 4. This would be Tiger’s last birdie of the day.
We’ve seen Tiger do some special things on the South Course, where he’s won eight times, including on a torn ACL. But it’s a different beast and he’s a different player. It’s not especially suited to his game any more, or more precisely, it’s just now better suited to so many other players’ games.
This event feels like sort of a gentle handshake to start the year for Tiger. Gone are the days of trying to win every single thing you enter. Now he’s just trying to get his “feels” back after two months off. Getting competitive reps should be the priority and with a made cut, he’ll have 36 more holes to do that this weekend.
Saturday’s Tee Times
The weekend may bring a smaller field, but they’re still sending them out bright and early and off split tees. That’s because we have limited daylight and we’re also going for a 6 p.m. ET finish on CBS. So while everything moves to the South Course for the weekend, we’re still going in groups of three and off two tees.
Tiger will be off No. 10 at 11:10 a.m. ET and 8:10 a.m. local. He will play with Scott Stallings and Mackenzie Hughes, two rank-and-file members of the Tour who have had some exposure to Tiger over the years.
This third round, however, may be the rare occasion when Tiger’s group is not the most compelling on the tee sheet. It would take a lot to bump Tiger’s trio off the top spot, but there is more interest in the other 11:10 a.m. ET tee time going off No. 1. That’s because the golf gods have smiled upon us and given us a Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth pairing in just the fourth event of the new year. The landed adjacent on the leaderboard after 36 holes. It’s the first time they will play together, and perhaps the first time they have talked if some of Reed’s late 2018 comments are any indication, since their messy Ryder Cup split. It was Reed, of course, who made it messy and awkward by napalming Spieth’s motivations in public to the New York Times. The unknown John Chin will be the third wheel in this spicy grouping. It’s an incredible turn to have it come so early in the season.
Here are some of your marquee tee times (all times ET):
11:10 a.m. — Scott Stallings, Mackenzie Hughes, Tiger Woods
11:10 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, John Chin, Patrick Reed
12:20 p.m. — Si Woo Kim, Sangmoon Bae, Rory McIlroy
12:30 p.m. — Jon Rahm, Billy Horschel, Joel Dahmen
12:40 p.m. — Justin Rose, Hideki Matsuyama, Ryan Palmer
Here’s the full tee sheet for Saturday’s third round.
Saturday’s third-round coverage
CBS joins the fray on Saturday for their first golf broadcast of the year and first since last August. Jim Nantz will squeeze in this week at the Farmers before going back to the NFL to call the Super Bowl next Sunday. Golf Channel and PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold will have the early coverage, which is really where the intrigue is on Saturday between Tiger’s round and that Spieth-Reed pairing. By the time CBS goes live, those two groups should only have a few holes left in their round. Here are all your media options for Saturday:
Television:
1 to 2:45 p.m. ET — Golf Channel
3 to 6 p.m. ET — CBS
Online streams:
10:30 a.m. ET— PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold starts with coverage from range and opening holes
- 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. ET — Free PGA Tour live stream on Twitter
Featured Groups (NBC Sports Gold)
- 11:10 a.m. ET — Jordan Spieth / Patrick Reed / John Chin
- 11:10 a.m. ET — Tiger Woods / Scott Stallings / Mackenzie Hughes
1 to 2:45 p.m. ET— Golf Channel simulcast stream, fuboTV (seven-day free trial)
3 to 6 p.m. ET — CBS simulcast stream
3 to 6 p.m. ET— Featured Holes (NBC Sports Gold)
Radio:
1 to 6 p.m. ET — PGA Tour Radio on Sirius-XM (Ch. 92/208 and streamed here)