Tiger starts year at Torrey Pines, site of great success

SAN DIEGO — Rory McIlroy had a week to remember during his first trip to San Diego. He carried Northern Ireland’s flag during the opening ceremony of the Junior World Championship and later had a picture taken at Torrey Pines Golf Course with a certain Mr. Woods.

That was 20 years ago — and it was Earl Woods, Tiger’s father.

“Tiger was probably off winning majors,” McIlroy said with a laugh on the eve of his debut in the Farmers Insurance Open.

This week, McIlroy has seen enough of Torrey Pines’ South Course — he played 10 holes on Monday and the pro-am on Wednesday — to appreciate why this public course along bluffs on the Pacific Ocean has been known for years as Woods’ personal playground. Along with a Junior World Championship title as a teenager, Woods has won the PGA Tour event here seven times, though his most famous title at Torrey Pines was the 2008 U.S. Open for his 14th (and most recent) major championship.

“You need to be a tremendous ball striker. You need to be a great iron player (and have) a great short game,” McIlroy said. “And those have been the hallmarks of his game over the past 20-odd years. So I can see why he has done so well around here.”

Woods gets his next crack at success today when he makes his 2019 debut at Torrey Pines, with a chance to win consecutive PGA Tour starts for the first time in six years. Never mind that his last start was four months ago at the 2017-18 season-ending Tour Championship. All that did was ratchet up the expectations, a far cry from a year ago when expectations were replaced by curiosity. Woods started last season after recovering from a fourth back surgery, unsure how he would respond from gouging out of thick rough or how much he would be able to play early.

“Way different,” Woods said. “Last year was very fluid, and it was like trying to hit a moving target. It was quite interesting to try and figure it all out as the year progressed.”

Fresh off a second-place finish in the Desert Classic, Phil Mickelson is skipping his hometown event for the first time in 28 years, but there is no shortage of stars.

Among the big names joining McIlroy and Woods are Justin Rose, who remains No. 1 in the World Golf Ranking, sixth-ranked Xander Schauffele, seventh-ranked Jon Rahm, 10th-ranked Tony Finau and 15th-ranked Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion. McIlroy is eighth and Woods 13th.

All Four Baylor School graduates on the PGA Tour — Harris English, Stephan Jaeger, Luke List and Keith Mitchell — are in the field.