2023 Farmers Insurance Open fantasy golf rankings, picks, sleepers: Back Xander Schauffele, fade Justin Thomas – CBS Sports
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The PGA Tour’s West Coast swing makes its way through California this week for the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. The tournament gets underway on Wednesday, Jan. 25, and any event featuring Jon Rahm is well worth watching. The Spaniard is coming off back-to-back victories at the American Express and the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He’s also won four of his last six starts worldwide and he’ll certainly be ranked near the top of the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open fantasy golf rankings.
Luke List is the defending champion, but he’s listed as a massive 75-1 longshot to repeat according to the latest 2023 Farmers Insurance Open odds. Rahm is the 4-1 favorite on the PGA odds board, with Xander Schauffele (12-1), Collin Morikawa (12-1), Tony Finau (12-1) and Justin Thomas (13-1) next in line. Before setting your fantasy golf rankings or making any 2023 Farmers Insurance Open picks, you need to see the fantasy golf projections and lineup advice from SportsLine fantasy expert Jim Holliman.
Holliman has been a writer and editor for nearly 25 years and has been playing and following the game closely for more than three decades. The Florida-based writer knows what it takes to win on the PGA Tour and how the players’ games fit the courses. The golf expert has been on a roll on his picks since last season. And at the Sony Open, his bargain pick Matt Kuchar ($7,900) posted a top-10 finish and two more were in the top 15. Fading Hideki Matsuyama was also the right move, as the defending champion barely cracked the top 50. Last week, four of his selections finished in the top 26.
Last season, he nailed the Tour Championship, saying Rory McIlroy was the only player capable of making up a six-stroke deficit to get past Scheffler. “He has a lot of ground to make up,” Holliman said, “but he is the most well-rounded player in this field, so if anyone can do it, he can.” The Northern Irishman was actually down by 10 through two holes Sunday but stormed back to claim the title. Anyone who has followed Holliman’s predictions is way up on their golf picks.
Now, Holliman has ranked his top golfers from the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open field. You can only see his fantasy golf rankings and Farmers Insurance Open picks at SportsLine.
One shocking pick from Holliman: The expert is fading Thomas, one of the clear favorites behind Rahm. The two-time PGA Championship winner has two victories since the summer of 2020 and has finished T-40 and T-25 in his two full-field events this season. His last top-10 in such an event was last June at the RBC Canadian Open. The 29-year-old has shot 70 or worse in eight of his last 12 competitive rounds. Thomas ranks 127th in strokes gained total so far and is 180th in scoring average. He looks to be shaking off some rust, so Holliman will steer clear.
On the other hand, the expert is strongly behind Schauffele, who’s coming off a T-3 finish at the American Express. Schauffele is a California native and he’s had tremendous success at Torrey Pines in recent years. In fact, Schauffele secured a runner-up finish at the Farmers Insurance Open in 2021 and a T-7 finish at the 2021 U.S. Open, which was also played at Torrey Pines. He’ll enter this week’s event ranked first in strokes gained: around-the-green (1.227), third in scoring average (69.268) and 13th in greens in regulation percentage (75.31%), all of which will be key at the Farmers Insurance Open. You can see who else to back this week at SportsLine.
For the Farmers Insurance Open 2023, Holliman is backing a longshot who is listed at around 100-1. This golfer hits it a long way and has been piling up birdies. “He could be due for something special,” the expert says, and he is a must-play for your fantasy golf picks. You can find out who it is, and check out all of Holliman’s Farmers Insurance Open picks, only at SportsLine.
Who wins the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open? Who are the top PGA Tour players to target for your Farmers Insurance Open fantasy picks? And which overlooked players can help you win your league this week? Visit SportsLine now to get Jim Holliman’s Fantasy golf rankings for the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open, all from the fantasy expert with his finger on the pulse of the game, and find out.
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