Day: February 8, 2022

Horses for Courses: WM Phoenix OpenHorses for Courses: WM Phoenix Open

February 8, 2022February 8, 2022| 17:00

If you’re wondering if crowds are “back” on TOUR, this week should answer that question LOUDLY! RELATED: The top 5 aces at TPC Scottsdale’s 16th | The First Look TPC Scottsdale will host the 86th WM Phoenix Open as it has since 1987 with eager fans set to create an atmosphere like no other. The famous 16th hole will be rocking as always with what are historically some of the largest crowds of the year. Tom Weiskopf’s 2014 redesign stretches to just 7,261 yards (Par-71) and has been dinged between 19-under and 17-under the last five editions. There have only been five winners in the seven events since the redesign as Hideki Matsuyama and Brooks Koepka have both won twice. Defending champion Koepka returns to lead the field of 132. Phil Mickelson (not entered) is the last player to post 60 (2013) and shares the course record. He also shares the tournament record of 256. Statistically we need eyes on precision players given six of the last seven winners ranked sixth or better in Ball-Striking and five of the last six were first or second in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. Let’s find some horses for courses! Horses for Courses Odds sourced on Tuesday, February 8 at 1 p.m. ET. For live odds visit betmgm. Recent Event Winner Stats Extra Credit (players entered this week only) 2021 Winner Brooks Koepka trailed by six after 54 holes before a 65 on Sunday claimed his second WMPO title. … Koepka played the final six holes 15-under for the week. … KH Lee (T2) T4 GIR and only five bogeys. … Xander Schauffele (T2) shared the 54-hole lead after 64-65 in Rounds 2 and 3. … Carlos Ortiz (T4) closed with the low round of the day (64) and led field in birdies (24). … Jordan Spieth (T4) posted the low round of the week (61) and led field in SG: Approach the Green. … Matthew NeSmith (T7) led after 18 holes with 63 and closed with 66 on debut. … Andrew Putnam (T7) was bogey-free for the week! … Scottie Scheffler (T7) holed almost 400 feet of putts (T2). … James Hahn (10th) picked up his third T25 or better in his last four here. … Louis Oosthuizen (T11) backed up his solo 3rd from 2017 after posting 63 in Round 3. … Defending champ Webb Simpson (T42) opened with 73. 2020 Winner Webb Simpson birdied the final three holes, including the first playoff hole, to win for the 6th time on TOUR. … Simpson played the final 54 holes 17-under (63-64-69). … Tony Finau (P2) made just two bogeys all week and posted 62 on Saturday to lead after 54 holes. … Nate Lashley (T3) followed with a T17 in 2021 and has posted all eight rounds in the red (67.75). … Justin Thomas (T3) closed with 65 and has never cashed worse than T17 in five weekends here. … Bubba Watson (T3) picked up his third podium and sixth top 10. … Max Homa (T6) signed for his best finish in three trips. … Scott Piercy (T6) sat three off the 54-hole lead. … Adam Long (8th) MC the year before and the year after. … Daniel Berger (T9) sat T1 Putting but MC the year before and the year after. … Branden Grace (T9) backed up solo second in 2019 in just his second appearance. … Billy Horschel (T9) is on a current streak of seven straight with this the best of the bunch. … Jon Rahm (T9) has never MC in six tries but his best finish is T5 as a student at Arizona State in 2015. … Hudson Swafford (T9) sat just two back after 54 holes before closing with 74. … Defending champion Rickie Fowler cashed T37. 2019 Winner Rickie Fowler sat 20-under after 54 holes and closed for his fifth win on TOUR. … First winner since 1983 to have a triple and double on the card in the final round. … Lost a playoff in 2016 and finished second in 2010. … Branden Grace (2nd) was one of just three players to post all four rounds in the 60s and did so on debut. … Justin Thomas (3rd) was second in Proximity. … Chez Reavie (T4) backed up his playoff loss in 2018 with another top five. … Bubba Watson (T4) ranked T7 Fairways and T4 GIR. … Matt Kuchar (T4) was 16-under after 54 holes and trailed by four! … Defending champion Gary Woodland (T7) has MC-T40 the last two years. … Russell Knox (T10) only squared five bogeys for the week. … Jon Rahm (T10) to this day has 23 of 24 rounds in the red for a 68.17 scoring average. … Xander Schauffele (T10) has never MC and his worst finish is T17. … Harold Varner III (T10) shared the 18-hole lead with Fowler and Thomas after a 64. Notes • Two winners have defended since 1970 (Johnny Miller, Hideki Matsuyama). • Mickelson is the only wire-to-wire winner this century (no ties, sorry Rickie). • Only two 54-hole leaders have won since 2013. • Just three international winners since 2000, including ZERO Europeans. • JB Holmes (not entered), Kyle Stanley (2012) and Brooks Koepka (2015) are the only three first-time winners on TOUR since 2000. • Kenny Perry (48) is the oldest winner and Matsuyama and Holmes (both 23) are the youngest. • Wyndham Clark opened with 61 in 2020 to tie Spieth for the post renovation low round. • Matthew Wolff made his professional debut here in 2019. • Charles Howell III will make his 600th start this week and cashed 13 of 15 here. His last visit was T24 2016. • Matt Kuchar has cashed nine straight with four top 10s. • Brian Harman has cashed six straight, but none inside the top 20. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2020-2021 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week • Of the last seven winners, six are 6th or better Ball-Striking. • Of the last six winners, five finished 1st or 2nd Strokes-Gained: Tee to Green. • The last six winners were 1st, 2nd or 3rd Par-Breakers. • Rickie Fowler is the only winner since 2015 to be in the top 10 Strokes-Gained: Putting.

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Expert Picks: WM Phoenix OpenExpert Picks: WM Phoenix Open

February 8, 2022February 8, 2022| 16:00

How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s WM Phoenix Open in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create a team, click the “LEAGUES” tab. Then click on “FEATURED,” and then on the PGA TOUR Experts league that populates. SEASON SEGMENT

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Sleeper Picks: WM Phoenix OpenSleeper Picks: WM Phoenix Open

February 8, 2022February 8, 2022| 13:33

Brian Harman (+333 for a Top 20) … Before you think that the 35-year-old lefty slotted 61st in the Official World Golf Ranking is low-hanging fruit for this prop, consider that none of his seven paydays in eight appearances resulted in a top 20, and only one (T24, 2017) went for a top 30. Still, the upshot is that his experience on the course is as invaluable as his firepower. He’s 6-for-6 since the renovation (2015-present) and he recently connected for a T3 at The American Express. Branden Grace (+400 for a Top 20) … The South African knows a little about summering in February, just not on this side of the equator. He’s been nails in the dry heat of Scottsdale with a runner-up finish here in 2019 and a T9 in 2020. His scoring average in those eight rounds is a sporty 67.75. The tournament arrives at a time when he really needs it, too. Since a T7 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP three-and-a-half months ago, he’s just 1-for-4 with (the guaranteed payday of) a T33 at Kapalua to open 2022. Also sat out the Tilt-A-Whirl of the last three weeks and eight courses in California, so he’s rested. Sahith Theegala (+550 for a Top 20) … Not unlike last week’s endorsement in Draws and Fades for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, there’s something to be said again this week of a young professional who still can feel the thrills of playing in college. The 24-year-old former stud at Pepperdine now gets to experience the joy, the rush and the unknown of navigating the hoopla at TPC Scottsdale for the first time. He and Greyson Sigg are the only rookies to open 2022 with four cuts made in as many starts, but Theegala is in the WM Phoenix Open on a sponsor exemption. As of Monday night, he’s the only rookie in the Korn Ferry Tour graduate reshuffle category in the field. Kevin Chappell (+1400 for a Top 20) … While he and Patrick Cantlay never overlapped at UCLA, it still was fitting that the duo was paired together for three rounds at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. After all, it might have been Chappell’s final stop on the PGA TOUR in his home state. In what also promises to be compelling for at least two rounds this week, the WM Phoenix Open is poised to be his last start via a Major Medical Extension. for which a solo fifth-place finish is what’s necessary to retain status for the remainder of the season. (It’d also yield an exemption into THE PLAYERS Championship.) Short of that, he’d need no worse than to finish alone in 34th place to secure conditional status for the remainder. In eight prior trips to TPC Scottsdale, he failed to crack a top 20, but he’s managed a trio of top-31 finishes. For more detail on his targets, click or tap here. Preston Summerhays (+2000 for a Top 20) … Let’s face it, a cut made would be a relative win, so it’s unfair to attach an expectation such as this prop onto the 19-year-old amateur who lives a short longboard ride from TPC Scottsdale and represents the maroon and gold of Arizona State University. He’s just 72nd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and doesn’t even qualify for the Velocity Global Ranking at PGA TOUR University. Rather, this is a personal celebration worth watching even though it’s already his third TOUR start. (He missed the cuts at the 2020 U.S. Open and 2021 Barbasol Championship.) Yes, he has the pedigree. His father and former TOUR member, Boyd, is the only coach he’s ever had and will be on his bag this week. Uncle Daniel is a veteran of 215 PGA TOUR starts, including a pair of runner-up finishes. And Preston prevailed at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship in 2019, a rare moment when he wasn’t shadowing family friend, Tony Finau, who also is in the field at the WM Phoenix Open. Preston isn’t expected to rise for a top five like Jon Rahm did as an amateur straight off the ASU campus in 2015, but this week will serve as a building block for a legacy that also will be worth watching. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022. For live odds, visit betmgm.

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