Farmers Insurance Open tees off as the PGA Tour schedule hits a pivotal early-season stretch at Torrey Pines

The Farmers Insurance Open begins Thursday, January 29, 2026 ET at Torrey Pines, putting the PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing back in the spotlight with a strong field, a demanding venue, and a bigger-than-usual layer of business and politics around the edges. The tournament runs through Sunday, February 1, 2026 ET, using both the North and South courses for the first two rounds before shifting to the South Course for the weekend.

For fans scanning the PGA Tour schedule, this week matters because it sits at the front end of a crowded run of high-profile events in February, and because Torrey Pines is one of the rare stops that can expose a player’s entire game in four days.

What’s happening at the Farmers Insurance Open this week

The headline draw is a mix of course fit and storyline gravity.

Torrey Pines typically rewards players who drive it long, launch it high, and stay patient when par feels like a win. That profile is part of why the field is attracting attention, and why early-round groupings are being watched closely.

A notable early pairing features Brooks Koepka grouped with Ludvig Åberg and Max Homa, with their opening round scheduled for 12:32 p.m. ET Thursday. Koepka’s start is especially scrutinized because it marks his return to PGA Tour competition after several seasons away from the circuit. Åberg arrives with questions about recent illness after withdrawing last week, while also being one of the most recent winners on this same course from a separate event held at Torrey Pines last year.

Defending champion Harris English also returns, bringing an immediate reference point for what it takes to close on this layout when the weekend pressure rises.

The purse is set at $9.6 million, with $1.728 million to the winner, which adds extra edge to a week that already has plenty of it.

Where the Farmers Insurance Open sits on the PGA Tour schedule

The bigger picture is momentum. This tournament is a launchpad into a February calendar that can reshape the early FedExCup standings and set the tone for the spring.

Next on the PGA Tour schedule after Torrey Pines:

• WM Phoenix Open: February 5–8, 2026 ET

• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: February 12–15, 2026 ET

• The Genesis Invitational: February 19–22, 2026 ET

That sequence matters because it compresses opportunities. Players who start slowly can feel pressure to chase points quickly, while players who start hot can turn a good month into a season-long advantage in access, confidence, and scheduling freedom.

Behind the headline: incentives, stakeholders, and why the event feels bigger than four rounds

This year’s Farmers Insurance Open carries an added layer: 2026 is expected to be the final edition with Farmers Insurance as title sponsor, ending a long run. That changes the incentive structure for everyone involved.

For the tournament organization and the local host partners, this week becomes both a showcase and an audition. A smooth, compelling event helps attract the next sponsor and protects the tournament’s place on a crowded calendar.

For the PGA Tour, it is another chance to demonstrate stability and star power at a moment when player movement, eligibility pathways, and competitive fragmentation remain a constant subtext in men’s golf.

For players, the incentives are immediate and personal: a tough course that can separate contenders quickly, a meaningful payout, and 500 FedExCup points that can either settle nerves early or create a hole that’s harder to climb out of later.

What we still don’t know

Even with the opening round underway, several missing pieces will decide how this story lands by Sunday night:

• Whether Koepka’s game travels immediately back to four-round PGA Tour contention form, or looks rusty under tournament pressure

• How fully recovered Åberg is, and whether his health holds across multiple rounds

• Whether the North Course setup yields scoring separation, or simply delays the real test until players hit the South

• How the sponsor transition conversation evolves after this edition, including what the next title identity looks like

Second-order effects: what this week can change beyond the leaderboard

A Torrey Pines week often changes narratives because it reveals strengths and weaknesses in a way that shorter, softer setups can hide. A strong performance here can validate offseason work on driving, ball flight, and scrambling. A poor week can trigger equipment tweaks, schedule reshuffles, or a strategic pivot toward courses that better fit a player’s current form.

On the business side, a final-year title sponsorship can also shift how aggressively the tournament and tour sell the fan experience, hospitality, and media presence. The event is not just staging golf; it is signaling value to the next partner.

What happens next: realistic scenarios and triggers to watch

• A star-driven Sunday finish
  Trigger: big names stay within a few shots heading into the back nine on the South Course.

• A course-fit winner separates early
  Trigger: one player dominates driving and distance-control, building a cushion that survives the weekend.

• A return-to-tour statement
  Trigger: Koepka plays the weekend and contends, turning a comeback narrative into a scoreboard fact.

• Sponsor-transition becomes the post-tournament headline
  Trigger: concrete movement on a new title partner emerges immediately after the final round.

The Farmers Insurance Open is always a test, but this year it is also a hinge point on the PGA Tour schedule and a marker in the tour’s changing business landscape. By Sunday evening ET, it will likely have delivered both a champion and a clearer sense of what the next month of the season could look like.