Professional golfers are finicky creatures.
They want to control every aspect of their games, from the swing to equipment. If a driver is half a degree of loft off, they’ll change it. If there’s too much or too little tape under their grips, they notice immediately. Pre-shot routines? Don’t expect them to waver, whether playing great or poorly.
That’s why Thursday at the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open was something out of the ordinary. Strong Santa Ana winds rushed from the mountains and swallowed Torrey Pines’ North and South Courses in La Jolla, California, during the second round, sending golfers scrambling to hit shots between gusts, measure how the wind was affecting putts and question nearly every single swing. The winds were blowing so much so that there was an 86-minute suspension of play, meaning the second round and cut won’t come until Friday morning.
The North Course at Torrey Pines played nearly five shots harder Thursday than it did during Wednesday’s first round. The South Course played nearly three shots harder.
“Just a crazy day, for sure,” said Danny Walker, who got into the field as an alternate and will make his first cut on the PGA Tour, sitting at 5 under heading to the third round. “One of those days where you can’t even think about what you’re shooting, just got to do your best to hit every shot and just accept whatever happens. So much of where the ball’s going to go is just out of your control.”
Walker, who opened in 7-under 65 on the South Course, shot 2-over 74 on the North on Thursday in a round that featured five birdies, six pars and seven bogeys. And as he explained, Thursday’s wind was unpredictable.
“What made it really hard is usually when it’s that windy, it’s kind of constant but it was just super gusty, so at times it would lay down and then it would pick up,” he said. “You just didn’t really know what you were going to get when you hit the shot. You just have to be a little bit more conservative for that reason.”
The cut line when the day started was projected to be 1 under. When the horn sounded, the line had moved to 1 over and could go to 2 over come Friday morning.
Eric Cole, who heads to the weekend at 3 under, was one of the 15 players who finished their second round before play was suspended. He was looking forward to relaxing while watching the carnage.
“It was extremely difficult. It started really blowing on like our second or third hole, so we had a solid six holes of really heavy winds,” Cole said. “Very tricky and very unique. I know it can blow here a little, but it just seemed like extra gusty and kind of switching directions for a little, so it made it tough.”
Ludvig Aberg shot 9-under 63 in the opening round, but his group, including Keegan Bradley and Sahith Theegala, played during the windiest part of the afternoon and finished just after the horn halted for the day. Aberg signed for 3-over 75 Thursday on the South Course and is tied for first with Lanto Griffin at 6 under for the tournament heading to Friday’s third round.
“Glad I’m done,” Aberg said. “It was hard, it was good. 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.”
Round two of the Farmers Insurance Open was suspended at 5:15 p.m. PT due to darkness. The second round will resume at 7:30 a.m. The following players withdrew after play was suspended:
Philip Knowles
David Lipsky
Max McGreevy
Paul Peterson
Kevin Roy— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) January 24, 2025
Jackson Koivun, the No. 2 golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, will make the cut at even par and earn his 18th point in PGA Tour University Accelerated, putting him two away from a PGA Tour card. And making the cut to earn a point was far from easy, calling it one of the most difficult rounds of his life.
“I had a couple balls, I would be over them on the green and they would roll back and I had to call in a rules official,” Koivun said. “I think that happened to me twice and one of my playing partners once. I think it was really mentally tough for me because I felt like I hit a lot of good shots that I didn’t get the results I wanted.”
The wind is one of the few things left that can truly challenge professional golfers in the age of modern equipment. On Thursday at Torrey Pines, the wind was up and it created hectic theater along the Pacific Ocean.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Crazy winds make their mark Thursday at Farmers Insurance Open 2025
