Sportsnaut
Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Tom Hoge)
THIS WEEK: Waste Management Phoenix Open, Scottsdale, Ariz., Feb. 10-13
Course: TPC Scottsdale (Par 71, 7,261 yards)
Purse: $8.2M (Winner: $1.476M)
Defending Champion: Brooks Koepka
FedEx Cup Leader: Hideki Matsuyama
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6:30 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
PGA Tour Live: Four live feeds per day on ESPN+
Social Media: @WMPhoenixOpen (Twitter)
NOTES: The field includes six of the top 10 players in the world rankings, the most at the event since 2003. … Koepka is trying to become the first player since Matsuyama in 2016-17 to successfully defend at the Phoenix Open. … Reigning FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay will make his debut in the event. … Arizona State freshman Preston Summerhays is in the field as a sponsors exemption along with Sahith Theegala, Austin Eckroat and Patrick Rodgers. … The scoring average at TPC Scottsdale last year was 69.455. … Bubba Watson, who finished second in Saudi Arabia last week, will make his 2021-22 season debut. His last PGA Tour event was The Northern Trust to open last season’s playoffs. … Charles Howell III will make his 600th career start on tour. … The 72-hole scoring record of 256 is shared by Mark Calcavecchia (2001) and Phil Mickelson (2013). … The famous par-3 16th hole played to a scoring average of 2.98 last year and featured two holes-in-one. … Kevin Chappell is making his final start on his major medical extension. He has made only 35 tour starts since back surgery in November 2018.
BEST BETS: World No. 1 and Scottsdale resident Jon Rahm (+600 at DraftKings) attended nearby Arizona State. He has finished T9 and T13 the past two years. … Justin Thomas (+1000) leads the tour in birdie average (6.44) and has 14 career wins on tour, tied with Adam Scott for the most in the field. … Matsuyama (+1200) is already seeking his third victory on tour this season. He is a combined 88-under par at TPC Scottsdale since the start of the 2013-14 season, best of any player. … Viktor Hovland (+1600) has three wins and a T4 in his past five worldwide starts, but missed the cut in his only previous start at TPC Scottsdale in 2020. … Jordan Spieth (+1600), coming off a runner-up at Pebble Beach, shared the 54-hole lead last year after firing a 61 on Saturday. … Xander Schauffele (+2000) tied for second last year and is still seeking his first stroke play victory since 2018. … Koepka (+3500) is a two-time winner of the event (2015, ’21).
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The Genesis Invitational, Pacific Palisades, Calif., Feb. 17-20
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: LPGA Drive On Championship (Leona Maguire)
THIS WEEK: Off.
Race to the CME Globe leader: Danielle Kang
NEXT TOURNAMENT: HSBC Women’s World Championship, Singapore, March 3-6
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Mitsubishi Electric Championship (Miguel Angel Jimenez)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Chubb Classic, Naples, Fla., Feb. 18-20
–Field Level Media
