The 2025 Genesis Invitational heads to Torrey Pines: 5 wild facts you didn’t know about the South Course
For the second time in the last four events, the PGA Tour is heading back to Torrey Pines as the San Diego venue stages the 2025 Genesis Invitational.
The Californian hotspot is renowned for its idyllic coastal views and rich history and is one of the most iconic stops on tour.
Harris English won the Farmers Insurance Open at the same course in January with a score of eight under, highlighting the difficult nature of the challenge.
The Genesis Invitational will host the world’s best, with a strong field including World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, who is chasing a second victory in as many 2025 events.
We’re becoming well accustomed to Torrey Pines, but here are five facts you may not have…
Torrey Pines is one of the toughest on the circuit
Videos have surfaced on social media this week, highlighting the depth of rough and the consequent peril that players will face if fairways are missed.
It’s renowned as being one of the most physically and mentally strenuous courses on the PGA Tour with long fairways and varied ocean winds often causing havoc for golfers.
A testing par five on the sixth hole that plays almost 600 yards and a course design featuring tough dog leg holes make concentration essential through 72 holes at Torrey Pines.
Home to one of the world’s rarest trees
The Californian course is known for accommodating some of the most famous golfers in the world, but it also plays host to one of the world’s rarest trees.
The Torrey pine tree grows naturally in only two places in the world, here and on Santa Rosa Island in the same state.
It thrives in coastal conditions and on rugged clifftops, only adding to the character of its namesake’s golf course.
It’s open to the general public
Torrey Pines is one of the PGA Tour’s few public golf courses where you don’t need a membership to play as it’s a municipal course.
San Diego residents can access heavily subsidised green fees with those travelling to play the famous course having to pay $250 a round – arguably worth it to walk the same fairways as Tiger Woods did in his incredible 2008 US Open victory.
A land rich with military history
Before being a world-leading golf course, the land of Torrey Pines Golf Course was a World War Two military base known as Camp Callan.
The base was home to the training of thousands of American troops before being transformed into a golf course in 1957.
It truly is a landmark rife with a history that’s not limited to golf.
The 18th hole brings drama
Every great golf tournament needs a challenging final hole that will separate the champion from the rest down the final stretch.
A par five 18th hole features a dogleg left that is littered with hazards that are capable of derailing 71 perfect holes.
The massive bunker and ominous water feature in front of the green make this hole one of the most entertaining climaxes of a golf tournament.
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