The entrants for this week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines began arriving Monday morning, eager to get in practice rounds and their first glimpse of the golf course.
The PGA Tour pros were greeted by sunshine and a light breeze off the Pacific Ocean. Torrey’s North and South were an eye-rubbing green, the result of recent rains.
Sunshine is forecast throughout the week, with temperatures expected to be in the same range — the low 60s — that golfers aspire to reach on the course.
The pros weren’t the only ones getting a first look at the course.
Near the North’s 14th hole, four dozen seventh-graders from Millennial Tech Middle School also got their first look at the course.
For most of them, it marked their first look at any course.
The STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) students were invited to the First Green event put on by the San Diego Chapter of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
“How many of you have ever been on a golf course">
One hand went up.
And that student was referring to a miniature golf outing.
The students spent the three-hour outreach activity learning about such things as grass varieties and soil conditions, water usage and even how drone technology assists golf course superintendents.
They learned how holes are cut for the cups and how to use a stimpmeter to measure green speeds.
There was even a section learning about wildlife and the environment, which provided instruction on how on how to keep hazardous materials out of the ocean.
It was the opportunity to educate and maybe spark a young mind.
“It’s all about awareness of not only the game of golf, but that there are careers in golf as well,” said Leann Cooper, the GCSAA’s senior manager of chapter services. “It’s to encourage kids that science and math are in the world around them. It’s not just in the classroom.
“And that you don’t have to be a Nobel Prize-winning physicist to have a STEM career. There are STEM careers all around us, and they can take their careers in a lot of different directions.”
During a lunch break, pros Rickie Fowler and Michael Herrera shared their stories with the students, followed by a Q&A.
The kids cut to the chase.
“What is your current net worth?” one student asked.
“Throw out a number,” Fowler said. “I’ll tell you higher or lower.”
“$2,000,” said one.
“$300,000,” shouted out another.
Finally, when one kid said, “Three mil,” Fowler responded, “I’m going to take the over.”
Added Fowler: “If you make birdies, you can make a lot of money.”
Informed that the 2023 Farmers winner will receive more than $1.5 million, one student said: “Let me start playing golf.”
The players also were asked how old they were when they started playing. Fowler, a Murrieta native, started at 2 1/2. Herrera was 10.
Also, “Who’s the most famous person in your phone?”
Herrera said NFL Hall of Fame defensive back Ronnie Lott. Fowler said Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan.
The golfers also were asked if family and friends them when they wanted to turn pro.
“My family has always been ive with what I wanted to do,” said Herrera. “I had a couple of friends who thought I wasn’t ready. I think you’ve got to believe in yourself and have that system.”
While large crowds follow some of the game’s biggest names, there are others whose gallery won’t be much bigger than family and friends.
It should be a good walk this week.
While recent rain made San Diego soggy for a few days, it wasn’t enough to create any problems on the coastal course.
“The weather is really a non-story as far as impact for us,” Farmers tournament director Marty Gorsich said.
While the rain was consistent, it was not accompanied by high wind that can create problems. No temporary structures in place for the Farmers were damaged. Even more notable, no trees were lost.
“The intensity comes when you factor wind into the equation,” Gorsich said. “Trees don’t fall because of rain. Trees fall because the ground gets saturated and then the wind just pushes and pushes on them and the root systems give way.
“We didn’t have that crazy 50 mph coastal winds thing going on. That would have been a different story.”
San Diego is known for being “sunny and 72,” but Torrey Pines has seen its share of severe weather — driving rain, high winds, lightning and, of course, fog — during tournament week the past decade.
Look for blue skies this week.
“Everything we’re seeing now looks good,” Gorsich said.
Monday qualifiers
A pair of amateurs grabbed two of the final four spots in the 156-man Farmers field during Monday’s open qualifier event at Murrieta’s Bear Creek Golf Club.
Amateur Caleb Surratt was the medalist with a 3-under 69. Harrison Kingsley, a senior on the University of San Diego golf team from Murrieta, and pros Spencer Levin and Robert Garrigus all shot 71 to earn the other three spots.
Surrat, an 18-year-old freshman at Tennessee, was given a sponsors exemption to The American Express last week in La Quinta. He shot 71, 69, 69 to get to minus-7, but missed the final-round cut by three strokes.
