2025 Farmers Insurance Open Preview and Free Picks

This week marks the start of the fourth tournament of the 2025 PGA Tour season, the Farmers Insurance Open, for the fourth time, the tournament will run from Wednesday to Saturday to ensure the final round does not overlap with the NFL Conference Championships on Sunday.

This tournament features a unique setup with both a North and South Course. Golfers are divided and play the first 36 holes across both courses, with the final 36 holes taking place on the South Course. The North Course measures 7,258 yards, while the South Course is longer at 7,765 yards, with both being par-72 layouts.

Last year, Frenchman Matthieu Pavon claimed victory with a score of 275 (-13), edging out Danish golfer Nicolai Højgaard by one stroke. Tiger Woods has won this tournament seven times, including four consecutive titles, and set the tournament record in 1999 with a score of 266 (-22).

2025 Farmers Insurance Open Betting Odds and Info

2025 Farmers Insurance Open Top Contenders

After the recent withdrawals of the top two contenders, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa, due to injury and unknown reasons, respectively, and with the previously confirmed absences of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama emerges as the favorite.

Matsuyama has already claimed a title this year, winning The Sentry, the season’s first tournament, and finished 16th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He skipped last week’s The American Express tournament, giving him some additional rest. This victory marked his 11th PGA Tour title and 20th professional win.

Last year, Matsuyama placed 13th in this tournament, with his best performance being a third-place finish in 2019. In 2023, he secured a 9th-place finish, which, along with 2019, are his only top-10 finishes in the event. In 2015 and 2016, he failed to make the cut.

The other top-10 golfer competing in this edition of the Farmers Insurance Open is Swedish player Ludvig Åberg. The European golfer’s lone PGA Tour title was the 2023 The RSM Classic, and his only appearance this year was at The Sentry, where he finished fifth.

While Åberg did not claim any titles in 2024, he delivered an impressive year with three runner-up finishes, including the Masters Tournament, where he lost by four strokes to Scheffler. His other second-place finishes were at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the BMW Championship. He also had six additional top-10 results, including the Hero World Challenge and the Farmers Insurance Open, where he finished ninth.

Lastly, there’s American golfer Keegan Bradley, who this year placed sixth in the Sony Open in Hawaii and 15th in The Sentry. The 38-year-old has claimed seven titles in his career, with his most recent victory being the BMW Championship at the end of August last year.

In 2023, Bradley secured a second-place finish at this tournament, losing by two strokes to Max Homa. He will be seeking revenge in 2025, having previously earned two other top-5 finishes at this event: 4th in 2017 and 5th in 2018.

2025 Farmers Insurance Open Outside picks

One of the locals is Sahith Theegala. The Orange County, California native hasn’t had the best start to the season, finishing 36th at The Sentry and 37th at the Sony Open in Hawaii, but he comes in motivated, aiming for the second title of his career on a course where he placed fourth in 2023.

Another contender is South Korean golfer Sungjae Im, who had a strong start to the season, finishing third at The Sentry, though he missed the cut in the third round of The American Express last week. The Asian golfer boasts two PGA titles: the 2020 The Honda Classic and the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open. He also placed fourth in this tournament in 2023 and sixth in 2022.

Lastly, we have to consider the defending champion, Matthieu Pavon, the Frenchman earned his first PGA Tour title last year on this very course, marking the first win for a French golfer since 1907, with a score of 275 strokes. Pavon finished 48th at The Sentry this year, but in 2023 beyond his title, he secured four other top-10 finishes, including a fifth place at the U.S. Open.

2025 Farmers Insurance Open Podium Betting Picks

Hideki Matsuyama

Ludvig Aberg

Sungjae Im

Prize bag

This PGA Tour event features a total purse of $9.3 million, the champion will take home a prize of $1,674,000. Additionally, the winner will earn 500 FedEx Cup points.