Justin Rose highlights unfair advantage at farmers insurance Open

Justin Rose is in complete control at the Farmers Insurance Open, making Torrey Pines look easy.

The 45-year-old is showing no signs of slowing down, using his wealth of experience to carry a four-shot lead into the weekend’s action at 17-under par.

Since then, he has shown plenty of signs that he’s nowhere near done. He came second at The Open Championship in 2024, lost a playoff to Rory McIlroy at The Masters, and beat JJ Spaun to win the St. Jude Championship.

And he’s carried that momentum into 2026 as well, coming off a Ryder Cup where he played an important role in Europe’s victory. He could be set for his second PGA Tour win in just six starts.

But he was given an unfair advantage at Torrey Pines, which gave him a head start over half the field.

Justin Rose gained an edge by starting on the North Course

Photo by Kate McShane/Getty Images

The Farmers Insurance Open is played across two courses at Torrey Pines: the North Course and the South Course. Half of the field begins on the North, while the other half starts on the South, switching over for Friday’s round.

After that, all players who make the cut spend the weekend rounds on the South Course, which is known for being tougher and has hosted major championships in the past.

Rose took advantage of this setup. He started on the North and shot a 10-under round. While he had to play well to achieve that score, starting on a less demanding course helped him ease into his next three rounds on the more challenging South.

This approach has paid off for many recent winners of this tournament. Six of the last seven champions began their week on the North Course, with Marc Leishman in 2020 being only one exception. Rose also benefited from this arrangement during his win at Torrey Pines back in 2019.

Short of reducing field size or standardising course assignments each day, there’s not much that can be done about it. But it’s still notable how one of the PGA Tour’s key events seems to hinge so much on something as random as where you start.

Justin Rose would choose to open on the North Course at Torrey Pines

After his superb second round, where he shot seven-under on the challenging South Course, Rose was asked about the benefit of starting on the North.

He acknowledged that if given the option, he’d prefer to open on the North Course but added an interesting perspective that complicates the perceived advantage.

“If you shoot 1 under by being a bit scratchy on the North, it’s hard to then get the 7 on the South that you’re going to need to get into contention.

“So, you know, it swings and roundabouts on that one. But yeah, if you had your choice, you’d play well on the North and then you would focus everything for three days and get momentum going again.”

A player with Rose’s experience knows exactly which start he’d prefer, but it was up to him to capitalise once he got it. He did just that with a strong showing on Friday followed by a brilliant round on day two.

Now we wait to see whether he can carry that momentum through the weekend.

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