Get ready for some party holes. The PGA Tour plays its annual Super Bowl week event at TPC Scottsdale, famous for the stadium seating at the par-3 16th hole, while LIV Golf promises a spectacle in Las Vegas — site of Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Wyndham Clark)
THIS WEEK: WM Phoenix Open, Scottsdale, Ariz., Feb. 8-11
Course: TPC Scottsdale, Stadium (Par 71, 7,261 yards)
Purse: $8.8M (Winner: $1.584M)
Defending Champion: Scottie Scheffler
FedEx Cup Leader: Matthieu Pavon
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 4-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday, 9:15 a.m.-8 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @WMPhoenixOpen
NOTES: Scheffler is attempting to become the first player to win the same event three consecutive years on tour since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic from 2009-11. He’s one of five of the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Rankings in the field. … This is the only designated event from 2023 that was not made a signature event for the 2024 season. … Pavon leads the Aon Swing 5 standings for players to earn spots in next week’s Genesis Invitational who are not otherwise exempt. The next four are Grayson Murray, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Kevin Yu and Stephan Jaeger. They are followed by Jake Knapp, Nate Lashley and Justin Thomas, who will be in next week’s field by virtue of his top-30 world ranking. … Bud Cauley is making his first PGA Tour start since the 2020 Fortinet Championship. He is playing on a major medical extension with 27 starts available.
BEST BETS: Scheffler (+500) hasn’t won an official stroke-play event since The Players last year. The two-time defending champion of this event is coming off a T6 last week. … Justin Thomas (+1000) finished fourth last year and has displayed strong form of late with five consecutive top-5 finishes worldwide. … Jordan Spieth (+1600) stumbled to a T39 last week following a solo third at The Sentry to open 2024. He finished T6 in Scottsdale last year. … Max Homa (+1600). … Sam Burns (+1600) … Clark (+2800) is a career-best sixth in the world following his victory at Pebble Beach and finished T10 in Phoenix last year. … Cameron Young (+3300) finished third in Dubai last month before a subpar 71-74-70 at Pebble Beach. … Hideki Matsuyama (+5000) has failed to reach the weekend in four of his past nine starts and hasn’t won in more than two years. However, he’s a two-time event champion who has also tied for second.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The Genesis Invitational, Pacific Palisades, Calif., Feb. 15-18
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: LPGA Drive On Championship (Nelly Korda)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Race to the CME Globe leader: Lydia Ko
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Honda LPGA Thailand, Feb. 22-25
PGA Tour Champions
LAST TOURNAMENT: Mitsubishi Electric Championship (Steven Alker)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Alker
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Chubb Classic, Naples, Fla., Feb. 16-18
LIV Golf League
LAST TOURNAMENT: Mayakoba (Individual: Joaquin Niemann; Team: Legion XIII)
THIS WEEK: Las Vegas, Feb. 8-10
Course: Las Vegas Country Club (Par 70, 7,089 yards)
Purse: Individual: $20M (Winner: $4M); Team: $5M (Winner: $3M)
Defending Champion: Inaugural Event
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday, 1-6 p.m. ET (CW app); Friday-Saturday, 1-6 p.m. (CW Network)
Streaming: LIVGolf+, YouTube
X: LIVGolf_League
NOTES: This is the second of 14 events on the 2024 LIV Golf schedule. The shotgun start will begin at 1:15 p.m. ET on Friday and Saturday and 12:35 p.m. on Sunday. … The league has expanded to 13 teams and 54 players, including wild cards Laurie Canter and Hudson Swafford. … Jon Rahm’s new entry, Legion XIII, captured the team title in its debut at Mayakoba, while Rahm himself tied for third after a bogey-bogey finish Sunday.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, March 1-3
–Field Level Media