The fourth annual APGA Tour Farmers Insurance® Invitational will again be held at Torrey Pines Golf Course in conjunction with the PGA TOUR’s Farmers Insurance Open. The event is part of Farmers® ongoing commitment to the Advocates Professional Golf Association (APGA) Tour and its work to grow diversity in golf. Helping to remove the financial burden associated with the game and providing playing opportunities are top priorities for both Farmers and the APGA. The organizations are also focused on ensuring players have access to the tools and support they need, allowing them to better focus on their career path and development in the game.
DATE: January 28-29, 2023
SITE: Torrey Pines Golf Course
January 28 – North Course
January 29 – South Course
PURSE: $100,000
FORMAT: 18 players, two-day, 36-hole stroke-play competition, no cut
WINNERS: 2022 – Patrick Newcomb
2021 – Landon Lyons
2020 – Tim O’Neal
TEE TIMES (PT): Round 1, January 28 – North Course: 8:00-8:50 AM
Round 2, January 29 – South Course: 9:40-10:30 AM
TV BROADCAST: Following last year’s broadcast of the Farmers Insurance Invitational, which was the first-ever APGA Tour event to be broadcast on live television, the final round will again be broadcast on GOLF Channel on Sunday, January 29 from 4:30-7 PM ET.
The broadcast will once again feature a diverse group of on-air talent with Damon Hack calling play-by-play and Will Lowery providing commentary and swing analysis from the broadcast booth while Doug Smith will serve as the on-course reporter. Both Lowery and Smith have a history of playing on the APGA Tour in addition to their careers and efforts in golf media.
FIELD INFORMATION: 18 players; per APGA Tour regulations, players in APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational field must be full-time members of the 2023 APGA Tour unless otherwise stated below:
Top player in the season-ending 2021-22 APGA Collegiate Rankings (May 23, 2022)
- Quinn Riley
Top six (6) eligible players from the final 2022 Lexus Cup points list (Aug. 10, 2022)
- Kamaiu Johnson
- Marcus Byrd
- Daniel Augustus
- Joe Hooks
- Andrew Walker
- Kevin Hall
Top three (3) eligible players from the final 2022 Farmers Fall Series standings* (Nov. 10, 2022)
- Michael Bradham
- Wyatt Worthington II
- Christian Heavens
Top player in the 2022-2023 APGA Collegiate Rankings as of Nov. 18, 2022**
- Greg Odom, Jr. (a)
Top player from the 2022 APGA Cisco Junior Series presented by APGA Tour and Cameron Champ Foundation final ranking (Nov. 18, 2022)
- Matthew Vital (a)
Six (6) APGA Tour players as nominated by APGA Tour and approved by the APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational exemption committee (Nov. 18, 2022)
- Toks Pedro
- Ryan Alford
- Joey Stills
- Jarred Garcia
- Aaron Grimes
- Davin White
Additional Criteria:
*not otherwise qualified through the above Lexus Cup standings
**players are eligible to receive this exemption one time during their college career
(a) Player is an amateur
FIELD SUMMARY
Included in the field are 2022 APGA Tour Lexus Cup Champion Kamaiu Johnson who won three times in 2022 as well as 2022 APGA Farmers Insurance Fall Series winner Marcus Byrd.
Johnson won his third event of the season at the APGA Charlie Sifford Centennial at the Clubs of Kingwood just two months after winning the APGA Mastercard Tour Championship and the season-long Lexus Cup Points race. The Tour Championship win also earned Johnson full-time status on the PGA TOUR LatinoAmérica series where he made the cut in two of the first three events of the season in December. Johnson now has five APGA Tour wins in the last three years having also won the Tour Championship in 2020 and the APGA Tour’s Las Vegas stop each of the past two years.
Byrd won the second Fall Series event at the APGA Tour Valley Forge for his first win of the season and followed with a runner-up finish at the APGA Charlie Sifford Centennial. After finishing 5th in the 2022 Lexus Cup Standings, went on to win the Fall Series standings. He also finished T2 at the Butterfield Bermuda APGA Championship. On the year, Byrd played in 14 APGA Tour events and had 11 top-10 finishes including 8 top-3s and five runner-up finishes to go along with his victory in August. In his last seven starts on the APGA Tour, he had finishes that included T2, T2, T5, 1st, T2 and 2nd.
Daniel Augustus, who finished 6th in the Lexus Cup standings has 8 top-10 finishes and two runner-up finishes on the APGA Tour this year. Earlier this year, Augustus conducted an interview with Golf Digest and the Fire Pit Collective revealing a childhood of tragedy and abuse.
Quinn Riley came to the APGA Tour mid-season after finishing No. 1 in the 2021-22 APGA Collegiate Ranking. Since joining the APGA Tour this summer after a strong college career at Duke University, he had three top-10 finishes.
Wyatt Worthington II enters the event having qualified for the 2022 PGA Championship as a PGA professional and winning the John Shippen Invitational, which granted him an exemption to play in the PGA TOUR’s Rocket Mortgage Classic earlier this year.
Andrew Walker is in his first full season on the APGA Tour and captured his first APGA Tour win at the APGA Cisco Invitational at Baltusrol in August.
Ryan Alford teed it up at the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA TOUR and stuck around to caddie for Byrd, his good friend, in the APGA Farmers Insurance Invitational. A two-time APGA Tour winner in 2021, Alford struggled through health-related COVID-19 complications and looks to rebound in 2023.
Thanks in part to victories this fall at the River Run Collegiate and USF-Howard Intercollegiate, Greg Odom, Jr., overtook Michigan State’s Troy Taylor III for the top position in the most recent APGA Collegiate Rankings, putting Odom in the field standings. Odom’s Howard University teammate Everett Whiten Jr. sits in third place.
FARMERS SUPPORT OF THE APGA TOUR
In 2022, Farmers announced a five-year extension of its relationship with the Advocates Pro Golf Association (APGA) Tour and the renewal of sponsorships for APGA Tour players Kamaiu Johnson and Willie Mack III. In addition to its sponsorship of the APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational, Farmers annually sponsors the four-event APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Fall Series, which included a $30,000 bonus pool in 2022 with $10,000 going to the winner, Marcus Byrd.
For the past three years, Farmers has also awarded an APGA Tour player with a sponsor exemption into its PGA TOUR event, the Farmers Insurance Open, which takes place at Torrey Pines Golf Course in conjunction with the APGA Tour Farmers Insurance Invitational. Michael Herrera has earned this exemption in 2023.
Farmers executives have taken time to listen to APGA Tour players, APGA Tour leadership, industry leaders and many others throughout the golf industry, and learned of the need for additional support on the collegiate level, resulting in Farmers recent sponsorship of the Black College Golf Coaches Association (BCGCA) and their HBC events. Recognizing the importance of growing golf and increasing access at every level, Farmers has also expanded their relationship with the APGA Tour and the APGA Foundation to help provide assistance for players at all stages of their journey.
ABOUT THE APGA TOUR
The APGA Tour was established in 2010 as a non-profit organization with the mission to bring greater diversity to the game of golf. The APGA Tour Board of Directors works to accomplish this by hosting and operating professional golf tournaments, player development programs, mentoring programs and by introducing the game to inner city young people. In addition to conducting an expected 18 tournaments awarding close to $1 million in prize and bonus money in 2023, the APGA has organized a Player Development Program to aid young minority golfers as they work to chase their goals in professional golf.
