Jon Rahm eagled his first hole and took off there.
The 24-year-old Spaniard added another eagle and seven birdies to shoot 10-under-par 62 on the North Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course www.torreypinesgolfcourse.com in La Jolla and held a one-stroke lead over top-ranked Justin Rose of England and rookie Doug Ghim after one round of the 67th edition of what is now the Farmers Insurance Open.
“Definitely, this course suits my strengths,” said the seventh-ranked Rahm, who won the Farmers two years ago. “I’m consistent with my driving and my iron game is improved, so I’m not going to shoot too high whether I putt good or bad. I just hope to make a few putts.
“I took super advantage of the par-5s (5-under). Starting the day with an eagle gave me a lot of momentum and I ended up making a lot of birdies. Hopefully, I can keep it going the rest of the week.”
Rose, who has finished in the top 10 the last two years in the Farmers, sank a 25-foot eagle putt on the 10th hole of the North Course and added three of his seven birdies on his last five holes in a bogey-free 63.
Ghim, who was the top-ranked amateur in the world in the middle of last year and was the 2018 Ben Hogan Award-winner as the best player in college golf at Texas, had five straight birdies on the front nine of the North and caught Rose at 63 with an eagle at No. 17.
“I have new everything—hats, clothes, clubs—and it was something I’ve wanted to do for a while,” said Rose, who won the Turkish Airlines in November to cap last year. “I hit the driver a long way and took advantage of the par-5s (4-under). The greens are rolling true and I putted well enough to shoot 9-under.
“This is one of my favorite places on Tour and it was nice to get the North Course out of the way and shoot a good score. Now I’m looking forward to going over to the South for the last three days.”
C.T. Pan of Taiwan collected 10 birdies on the North and is two shots back in fourth, followed by Jordan Spieth, who birdied four of his last six holes in a 65 on the North that left him in solo fifth.
Brandon Hagy of Westlake Village, who won the 2014 Byron Nelson Award while playing at Cal, chipped in for an eagle on the fifth hole of the South Course in a 66, which put him in a tie for sixth with Bud Cauley (North), Chris Stroud (South), Charles Howell III (South), Ricky Werenski (North), Billy Horschel (North), John Chin (North), Hideki Matsuyama (North) of Japan and Joaquin Niemann (North) of Chile.
Defending champion Jason Day of Australia is tied for 15th after a 67 on the North Course, while sixth-ranked Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State shot 69 (South) and is in a tie for 19th that includes 10th-ranked Tony Finau (South), and eighth-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is tied for 74th at 71 (South).
Tiger Woods, who has won eight times at Torrey Pines, totaled 70 on the South Course in his first competitive round of 2019 and is tied for 53rd.
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