Winds were up Thursday at the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open and so were the scores. With both the North Course and South Course at Torrey Pines yielding a scoring average north of 75.50, players held onto their hats as they jostled for weekend positioning on the coast of La Jolla, California, with Ludvig Åberg and Lanto Griffin standing atop the leaderboard at 6 under.
“We got a good break with the wave. I wasn’t aware of that,” Griffin said. “The North greens are a little crustier, a little dried out, so I could definitely notice with these dry conditions today it would have been really hard to putt. That’s crazy that it played tougher because it felt like the South played brutal.”
Round 2 action was mostly wrapped up following a delay of 1 hour and 26 minutes due to high winds, but a few groups will have to return to the golf courses Friday morning to complete their second rounds and confirm the projected cut line of 1 over.
While there was plenty of movement up and down the leaderboard, Åberg, who slept on his first career opening-round lead on Wednesday, will go back to bed Friday night still holding the top spot. The Swedish superstar has been in the position before as he held the advantage at the halfway point of last year’s U.S. Open before backtracking down the stretch.
Torrey Pines played like a U.S. Open setup, which may give him some comfort, but the brutal conditions should subside over the last 36 holes leaving this wide open leaderboard ripe for the taking.
Sungjae Im surged to the first page of the leaderboard thanks to some stellar play on the unusually difficult North Course on Thursday, while amateur Luke Clanton came roaring up one stroke behind him at 3 under. Major champions like Hideki Matsuyama, Jason Day and Keegan Bradley all punched their tickets into the weekend and are within a half dozen as well.
The leaders
1. Ludvig Åberg, Lanto Griffin (-6)
Åberg has gotten around Torrey Pines in pretty standard fashion through two rounds. After firing a 63 on the North Course in Round 1, the Swede struggled with the putter around the South Course in Round 2 en route to a 75. Where he did shine, however, was on the par 5s as he continued to gobble up those scoring chances where he is now 7 under across the eight par 5s he has played. The putter will need to steady, but if he continues to make birdies on those “birdie holes,” then he will be a difficult man to beat.
“Glad I’m done, number one. It was hard; it was good,” Åberg said. “We knew it was going to be hard coming in. Obviously, the South course is pretty hard even when you play it in 75 and no wind at all. Adding some 30-mile-an-hour gusts and sustained 15, it makes it pretty difficult. Felt like we hung in there quite well and gave ourselves a chance over the weekend.”
Other contenders
3. Danny Walker (-5)
T4. Hayden Springer, Chris Gotterup, Sungjae Im (-4)
T7. Eric Cole, Joel Dahmen, Wesley Bryan, Kris Ventura, Luke Clanton (a), Will Gordon (-3)
There is a clear divide on this leaderboard with those who played the North Course in Round 1 and the South Course in Round 2 in a much better position. The difference in scoring average was roughly 2.50 strokes, and it is apparent on the first page where nine of the top 13 players have experienced the easier rotation.
One who did not is Im. he quietly made his way up the leaderboard playing the North Course on Thursday. Coming off a surprising missed cut at the American Express where he opened with a 77, the two-time PGA Tour winner has quickly turned things around this week. While he has consistently cashed top-10 finishes and trips to the Tour Championship, Im is without a PGA Tour win since the fall of 2021. That could change this weekend if the play that showed up the first two days continues to show up across the last two days.
Amateurs chasing PGA Tour cards
Golf fans have become familiar with Clanton’s game over the last year as he entered 2025 with four top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in just eight starts, but he isn’t the only amateur with a chance to lock up full-time playing privileges this week. Both Clanton and Auburn’s Jackson Koivun entered the week with 17 points in the PGA Tour University Accelerated program that affords underclassmen a pathway to the PGA Tour.
Needing 20 points to secure their cards on the PGA Tour, Koivun and Clanton added to their total by making the cut. A top-10 finish would add to that number, and a top-five finish would give them the required 20-point total needed to earn their memberships on the PGA Tour.
“I may have been kind of struggling to make the cut, but I’m even par for the tournament, and I think 4 under is top five,” Koivun said. “It’s not too far out of reach. I think if I give it my all, play good the next two rounds, I can maybe sneak in that top five, but just trying to go out and have fun this weekend.”
2025 Farmers Insurance Open updated odds, picks
- Ludvig Åberg: 2-1
- Sungjae Im: 17/2
- Lanto Griffin: 12-1
- Luke Clanton: 18-1
- Hideki Matsuyama: 20-1
- Danny Walker: 25-1
- Harris English: 28-1
It is anyone’s ball game with two rounds to play given the condensed nature of this leaderboard as just seven strokes separate the leaders from the projected cut line. Åberg appears to be a strong front runner, but a name like Matsuyama at 1 under draws a ton of interest given his form and history at this golf course. There is also still some belief in Keegan Bradley at 80-1 six strokes off the lead. If he drives it better over the next two days, the captain can make up the difference.
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