Farmers Open will have new CEO for 2020 tournament

The PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, staged each year by the Century Club of San Diego, will have a new CEO when the tournament is next played in 2020.

Peter Ripa, who has served as CEO and tournament director for the past eight years, is leaving to become tournament director of the Pelican Women’s Championship, a new LPGA Tour event near Tampa, Fla.

Ripa was the tournament director of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, for five years before arriving in San Diego. He previously was the chief operating officer and assistant executive director of the American Junior Golf Association.

The move will be a homecoming for Ripa, who attended high school and college (University of South Florida) in Tampa.

“The last eight years at the Century Club of San Diego have been the most rewarding of my career,” Ripa said.

Ripa replaced the retiring Tom Wilson as Farmers Open tournament director in 2012, following Wilson’s work on a transition in 2010 in which Farmers Insurance took the title sponsorship role from Buick.

In Ripa’s time with the tournament, the total purse rose from $6 million in 2012 to $7.1 million this year. According to 2018 tax filings by the non-profit Century Club, the tournament had total expenses of $15.08 million, with revenue minus expenses of $741,861.

In January 2019, Farmers signed a seven-year extension to sponsor the tournament through 2026. The PGA Tour has reported that the Century Club has contributed more than $20 million to organizations benefiting at-risk youth since 2010.

The Century Club said it is actively searching for Ripa’s replacement. According to tax filings, Ripa’s 2018 total compensation was $312,337.