McIlroy, Day and Woods to return at Torrey Pines

While some of the world’s top players have already kicked-off their seasons in Hawaii, others have chosen to enjoy a longer break.

Amongst those who made the most of the holiday season were Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Jason Day, who have all confirmed they will begin their year at the $7,500,000 Farmers Insurance Open, which gets underway on January 23rd at Torrey Pines.

Jason Day with the 2018 Farmers trophy (Credit: PGA Tour)

World No. 2 McIlroy will bring plenty of confidence with him to California having claimed his 18th PGA Tour title at the WGC-HSBC Champions in November along with a T3 finish in Japan behind Tiger Woods and an outright 4th place at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

McIlroy finished in a share of 5th in his debut at the tournament last season.

Two-time winner Jason Day will also make his first start of 2020 following a couple of months off due to a recurring back injury. The Queenslander missed the cut at the Mayakoba Classic in November last year and then announced that he was withdrawing from the Presidents Cup team to rest and work on his fitness.

Day has not won on Tour in 18 months and now sits in 37th place in the world rankings – his equal lowest year-end mark since 2012.

Tiger Woods, who has won at Torrey Pines a remarkable eight times, announced his inclusion in the field on Twitter.

“Excited for this season to begin @FarmersInsOpen @thegenesisinv…see you soon west coast,” tweeted Woods.

Woods will be eyeing off a record 83rd PGA Tour victory after equalling Sam Snead’s record with his victory at the ZOZO Championship late last year in Japan.

He has won the Farmers title seven times beginning way back in 1999 when it was known as the Buick Invitational and also famously took home the 2008 US Open title here in his epic battle with Rocco Mediate while suffering from a knee injury.

Also confirmed are defending champion Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson and Xander Schauffele.