A year after missing the Farmers Insurance Open for the first time in his pro career, San Diegan Phil Mickelson will back playing at Torrey Pines in late January.
Century Club of San Diego CEO Marty Gorsich confirmed that Mickelson has officially entered the tournament that will be played Jan. 23-26.
Last week, it was announced that Mickelson was skipping for the first time the Waste Management Phoenix Open, scheduled the week after the Farmers, to play in the Saudi International.
With Mickelson turning 50 in June and becoming eligible to play the PGA Tour Champions, it’s possible the Farmers appearance could be his last. In a Twitter exchange last week, Mickelson wrote: “Given that I turn 50 this year, there’s a good chance I’ve played my last Phoenix Open.”
Before last year’s Farmers Open, Mickelson hinted his schedule for 2019 might be altered, and that proved to be the case when he ed on playing at Torrey Pines, where he’d competed for 28 consecutive years.
Three of Mickelson’s 44 career tour wins came in the tour event at Torrey Pines, but his last victory here was 2001, in the final staging of the event before the South Course was redesigned.
In last year’s West Coast Swing, Mickelson played the Desert Classic, Phoenix Open, AT&T Pebble Beach, and though he said he would also skip Riviera in Los Angeles, he decided after winning at Pebble to enter the Genesis Open.
Mickelson, who has dropped to 61st in the world rankings, has played four times thus far in the wraparound 2019-20 tour season, with his best finish a tie for 28th in the WGC-HSBC Champions in early November.
He will begin his calendar golf year the week before the Farmers in the newly named American Express tournament in La Quinta, for which he has become an official host.
Justin Rose won the 2019 Farmers Open, and beyond Mickelson, players who have committed for next month include San Diegan and world No. 9 Xander Schauffele, 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and two-time Farmers champ Brandt Snedeker.
Bubba Watson, who won the 2011 Farmers, will play at Torrey for the first time since 2014.
Five players from this week’s International squad in the Presidents Cup have committed: Hideki Matsuyama, C.T. Pan, Joaquin Niemann, Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun An.
Not yet on the committed list is seven-time Farmers champion Tiger Woods, who has thus far only committed to the Genesis Open, for which he is a host. Woods has won the San Diego tournament seven times and also captured the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
