Why is the Farmers Insurance Open 2024 starting on Wednesday? Schedule and more explored

Modified Jan 24, 2024 13:11 GMT

Farmers Insurance Open - Final Round — Max Homa is the defending champion at the Farmers Insurance Open

The Farmers Insurance Open is set to begin at the Torrey Pines Golf Club on Wednesday, January 24. Unlike the regular PGA Tour events, this week's event will begin a day earlier than usual and end by Saturday evening. This has not been the case in history, and the decision to schedule it from Wednesday to Saturday was taken only a few years ago.

In 2021, a few months before the start of the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open, it was decided to schedule the event a day earlier moving forward. This was done to avoid conflict with the NFL games, especially on Sunday, which dominate the ratings in the US. As per the Sports Business Journal's report, 96 of the 100 most-watched sports events in the US were NFL matches. The Masters was the most-watched golf event, and it ranked 131st.

In the last two years, the Torrey Pines Golf Club event has clashed with the NFL's championship weekend. To avoid this, it was decided to pull the golf event a day earlier. CBS, one of the broadcasters of this week's event, will also televise the American Football Conference (AFC) final.

Not only the PGA Tour but even LIV Golf is adopting the same strategy as the Las Vegas event, scheduled from Thursday to Saturday, to avoid clashing with the NFL Super Bowl, set to take place at Allegiant Stadium.

Here's the schedule for the Farmers Insurance Open: