Featured Groups: DEAN & DELUCA Invitational

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The Waste Management Phoenix Open prides itself on being a zero-landfill event, with cardboard receptacles marked “Recycleâ€� and “Compostâ€� all over the TPC Scottsdale course. Now, it seemed, Rickie Fowler was throwing away the tournament. Or was it being taken from him, ripped out of hands by the golf gods? Heads shook. Jaws dropped. Minds reeled. And it fell to the PGA TOUR Vice President of Rules and Competition Slugger White to explain that Fowler, who was cruising toward certain victory, had just made a bizarre triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 11th hole, changing everything. “I hope I never have to go through that again,â€� Fowler said when it was over, and he had secured his fifth TOUR win and the first witnessed by his father, Rod, and maternal grandpa, Taka. On a course where he has sometimes seemed cursed, Fowler survived a shocking calamity the likes of which no one could remember, making clutch birdies on 15 and 17 to gut out a final-round 74 and beat Branden Grace (69) by two. Justin Thomas, Fowler’s friend and roommate for the week, shot 72 to finish third. In breaking a nearly two-year win drought, Fowler moved to 7th in the FedExCup; qualified for the Sentry Tournament of Champions; and bucked a trend that had seen him convert only one of his last six 54-hole leads/co-leads to victory on TOUR. When people remember this WMPO, though, they’ll remember the craziness at the 11th hole. MUST READS: Round 4, Waste Management Phoenix Open Winner’s Bag: Rickie Fowler, 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open Miller’s retirement week includes Cheez Whiz story Champ marks Black History Month with black, white shoes Lyle memorial brings perspective to rowdy 16th hole “Pretty much everything that could go wrong went wrong,â€� Fowler said. Well, almost everything. His caddie, Joe Skovron, could have fallen in the water, too. The saga began when Fowler’s approach to the 483-yard hole came up short. He got too aggressive with his third, which skidded through the rain-soaked green, trickled down the hill behind it, and tumbled in the pond. “The ball looked like it was on ice,â€� he said. The shot was overdone, but slightly unlucky. Had the ball veered just a touch to the right, it would have caught the sand, from where he might’ve gotten up and down for bogey. Fowler took a drop at water’s edge and walked up the hill to look at the green. Then, as he says on one of his TV commercials, things got weird. With the rain intensifying and Fowler having turned his back, the ball that was at rest rolled down the hill and into the water. After some discussion with White, it was determined that Fowler would be penalized one more shot for the ball going in the water. He hadn’t hit it there, but it had been in play. “That’s an interesting one,â€� Fowler said of the Rules of Golf, which the governing bodies have tried to simplify and make more user-friendly. “We did nothing to cause it to happen, and it’s a one-shot penalty.â€� He dropped again, chipped his sixth shot onto the green, and rolled in a 17-foot putt for 7, or what he later called “a really good triple.â€� Grace birdied the 13th hole, Fowler bogeyed 12, and just like that he’d gone from five ahead to one behind in less than an hour. It was all slipping away again. With his mom and dad, Lynn and Rod, and maternal grandparents, Jeanie and Taka, watching again, this was going to be the day Rickie exorcised the demons of his crushing runner-up to Hideki Matsuyama in 2016. That day Fowler knocked his drive over the par-4 17th and into the water in regulation, and hooked a 3-wood into the water on the same hole in the playoff. He’d choked back tears afterward, so badly had he wanted to win in front of his dad and grandpa. He’d finished runner-up to Hunter Mahan in 2010, too. Last year Fowler had had a chance to win yet again but bogeyed three of the last four holes and finished T11. All those close calls? All that craziness this time around? “To have it end the way it did today was unbelievable,â€� said Fowler’s father, Rod. “I think that made it even more special.â€� This time, Fowler played to win instead of not to lose. He reached the green in two at the par-5 15th, his second shot from 239 yards clearing the hazard and leaving him with an easy two-putt birdie from 50 feet. He was tied with Grace, who was beginning to falter ahead of him. Fowler saved par from just right of the 16th green. He drove the green on 17, the hole that had tormented him for years. Again, he needed only two putts for another birdie. He was back to 17 under, two ahead of Grace, who’d bogeyed 17. “To hit the shots that he did on those holes, after everything that had happened, was amazing,â€� said friend Aaron Baddeley, who lives five minutes from the course and had driven over with his wife and four of his five kids to see Fowler win. (Baddeley had done the same thing last year and in 2016, only to wind up giving condolences instead of congratulations.) Friend Thomas said he believed Fowler’s win, under such harsh conditions and with bad breaks, will do more to steel him for future battles than had he coasted to victory. “It was insane,â€� Thomas said of the events at the 11th hole. The winner didn’t dispute that, or the fact that everything had turned out in the end. He flipped the winning ball to grandpa Taka, who caught it and beamed as grandma Jeanie captured the moment on her iPhone. “Cheers,â€� Fowler said, raising a glass of Champagne as he met the media afterward. “I finally got it done.â€�

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The Florida Swing is in full effect and Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge is the next challenge, the second of four consecutive weeks in the Sunshine State. An invitational field of 123 will try to tame The King’s Par-72, 7,466 yard playground as Bay Hill hosts for the 43rd time. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | The First Look Dick Wilson laid out the original in 1961 but Palmer started the major renovations in 2009 and regrassed all of the greens with TifEagle Bermuda in 2015. Those massive greens average 7,500 square feet, 1,500 square feet larger than last week at The Concession. Prepped to run 12 feet, the flat stick will definitely have a say in who takes home the biggest prize. Big targets off the tee and into the green reward those who find the short grass. Missing those large targets will come with large penalties, including 84 bunkers and water in play on half of the course. Keeping it off the beach and out of the drink isn’t as easy as it sounds with three inches of over-seeded Bermuda rough. The invitational field, similarly to Genesis, will enjoy an elevated prize pool of $9.3 million with the winner taking home $1.674 million and 550 FedExCup points plus a three year exemption. Even though the field is reduced, the top 65 and ties will need to qualify to play the weekend. The weather forecast this week is a mixed bag, especially on the weekend. Keep an eye on it moving forward because if the wind is up, this place will show all of its teeth! Recent Event Winners Stats 2020: Tyrrell Hatton (-4, 284) Picked up his first TOUR win in his 60th start as he won by one. … Didn’t break 73 on the weekend but won by a shot. … Led by two after Saturday, his first 54-hole lead on TOUR. … Shared the 36-hole lead for the first time on TOUR. … Entered the week leading the TOUR in Strokes-Gained: Approach the Green. … Becomes the fifth consecutive international champion. … Of the last 15 victors, nine are internationals. … Fifth consecutive winner T4 or better Par-3 scoring. … First Englishman to win. … First on TOUR since Geoff Ogilvy (2006 U.S. Open) to play BOTH rounds on the weekend over-par and win. … Won in his fourth attempt. … T6 in his previous start on TOUR (WGC-Mexico Championship). … Picked up T4 in his debut here in 2017. Notables: 2107 champ Marc Leishman (2nd) beat Hatton by a shot on Sunday. … Sungjae Im (3rd) winner the previous week at Honda bettered his 2019 debut (T3). … Bryson DeChambeau (4th) was the only other player under-par for the week. … Joel Dahmen (T5) MC in perfect weather in 2019. … Danny Lee (T5) cashed his best finish in his eighth start. … 2018 winner Rory McIlroy (T5) began the final round just two back but signed for 76. … Keith Mitchell (T5) cashed his second consecutive T6 paycheck. … 2019 runner-up Matthew Fitzpatrick (T9) was the only player on THE WEEKEND to post a number in the 60s (69). … Sung Kang (T9) shared the 36 hole lead before 78-74 on the weekend. … Harris English (T9) cashed his best payday in his ninth start. … Only 10 rounds under par on Sunday. … 2016 winner Jason Day (WD) is one of two players (Fred Couples) to go wire-to-wire. … The last champion to defend, Matt Every 2014-15, opened with 65 to lead after Round 1 but shot 83 (MC) in Round 2. … Hardest course on TOUR in 2020, including majors, as it played 2.106 shots over par. … Saturday played 3.913 shots over par. … Wind gusts played havoc all week, just four bogey-free rounds. 2019: Francesco Molinari (-12, 276) Closed with bogey-free 64 to win by two. … Sat five back after 54 holes. … Posted the low round of the week in Round 4. … Won in his seventh attempt. … Never MC in seven tries. … Led the field Strokes-Gained: Off the Tee. … 51-under lifetime at Bay Hill. … Made an ace in Round 1. … Only made two bogeys on the weekend. … Picked up his third win in last 12 TOUR starts. Notables: Matthew Fitzpatrick (2nd) led by one after 54 holes and was the first round leader in 2017. … Tommy Fleetwood (T3) was the 36-hole co-leader by four. … Sungjae Im (T3) posted all four rounds under-par on debut. … Sung Kang (T6) picked up his first of two consecutive top 10 finishes. … Rory McIlroy (T6) began Round 4 just one back. … Keith Mitchell (T6) won The Honda Classic the previous week and led the field in birdies with 21. … Englishman Matt Wallace (T6) posted all four rounds in the red on debut. … Byeong Hun-An (T10) improved on T14 from 2018. … Luke List (T10) backed up his T7 from 2018. … Adam Long (T10) played the weekend 69-67 on debut. … Cut was 1-over 145. … Wind didn’t factor. … Only nine bogey free rounds. 2018: Rory McIlroy (-18, 270) Started the two year trend of posting bogey-free 64 on Sunday. … Won by three for his 14th TOUR victory. … Began the final round two back. … Posted his career best Strokes-Gained: Putting. … Only needed 100 putts. … 54 from 54 inside seven feet. … Won in his fourth attempt. … Best US result entering the week was T20. … MC week prior at Valspar. … On a Bay Hill run of T6 or better in his last four visits. Notables: Bryson DeChambeau (2nd) shared the 36-hole lead and played in the final group. … Justin Rose (3rd) led the field with 24 birdies. … Orlando resident Henrik Stenson (4th) led or co-led after 18, 36 and 54 holes. … 2017 winner Marc Leishman (T7) closed with 67 in his defense. … Patrick Reed (T7) posted 22 birdies, T2 behind Rose. … Patrick Rodgers (T7) closed 68-69. … Played the easiest of the three years at 72.023. … 14 bogey free rounds. … Talor Gooch (T26) and Aaron Wise (T41) both opened with 65 on their debuts. … Last first-timer to win here was Matt Every in 2014. … Cut was 1-over 145. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. * – Top 10 finish here since 2016 Horses for Courses

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