Let's Rage: Nothing Beats The People's Open At TPC Scottsdale

glorious photo credit: @barstoolbanks 

Damn. What I wouldn't give to be at TPC Scottsdale this weekend. The Waste Management is renowned for being the People's Open. The tournament that attracts the most fans and the rowdiest crowds on the entire Tour. Anyone who's been will tell ya it's a blast. It was the last sporting event I went to before that whole COVID thing showed up and I was left daydreaming about it for months. Still do, to be quite honest.

As the profile of the world's best has shifted younger and younger in the past decade, this tournament has gained a ton of steam. The Phoenix Open's stature among the world's best events was only cemented when the PGA Tour included it as an elevated event as part of their recent changes to the Tour's format. And why wouldn't it? It attracts a young crowd, an increasingly better field, and is exactly the type of event you want to market to the masses. It's even become synonymous with Super Bowl Sunday, and the fact that the big one is in town this year adds to the juice on the grounds at Scottsdale. Easy, easy pick for this to be an elevated event, and the purse reflects that. Last year's total purse was $8.2M, this year it's $20M. Quite a jump there.

Last year's WMPO was one of the best tournaments of the year. Absolutely jam packed leaderboard with big names at the top. Scottie Scheffler finally broke through for his first PGA Tour win, kicking off one of the great stretches in modern history where he won 4 times and capped things off with a green jacket. He actually had an opportunity to win this tournament on the 72nd hole outright with a 5'5" foot birdie putt, but pushed the putt by on the right side to give us a playoff.

Near misses like that had defined Scheffler's career to that point, whereas Patrick Cantlay had proven to be a cold blooded killer the year before in the FedEx Cup playoffs. The smart money was probably on Cantlay at that point, but it was Scheffler's 25 footer on the 3rd playoff hole that broke the seal for Scottie.

Last year's leaderboard and recent winners…

2022 Leaderboard

Advertisement

Recent Winners

The Course

Advertisement

The Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale is a Par 71 measuring 7,261 yards. It was designed by Tom Wieskopf and Jay Morrish and built in 1987 and has hosted the Waste Management Phoenix Open ever since. It was built with the same idea as TPC Sawgrass in that it was built for spectators - there are large mounds surrounding nearly every green and you can virtually see the entire golf course from wherever you're standing. That's a huge part of how this tournament became the massive success that it is. 

It's not a terribly long track and isn't terribly narrow either. If you go wayward off the tees you could find yourself in the desert waste area (or behind a boulder), but overall the rough is hardly punishing. It's your quintessential 2nd shot golf course that rewards ball-striking and positioning on approach. The large greens here run firm and fast and are protected by a lot of bumps and knobs and shelves. The Par 5 3rd green especially comes to mind when I think about how hitting the dancefloor here most definitely does not guarantee a 2-putt. There's also water lurking on 5 of the 18 holes, all of them on the back 9 which can make for a thrilling finish. The opportunities (like most courses on Tour) are on the par 5's. There's 3 of them and they are all extremely reachable for these guys. Gotta take advantage there and on the short par 4 17th. 

Best Hole - 16th 17th Hole Par 4, 332 Yards

Ben Jared. Getty Images.

Yeah yeah, I know. The 16th hole is iconic. It's a giggle of laughs. It's chock full of great moments and there's no experience like it anywhere in this entire sport. All of those things are great and I love that hole for it. But it's also about as straightforward of a golf hole as there is. I know, blasphemous. 

People don't appreciate what a gem the 17th hole is enough. They should build a BIGGER stadium around this bad boy. It's a short par 4 that's driveable for most with a fascinating green layout and water lurking left. It's extremely risky to go right at it because of the way the fairway slopes towards that water front left and the steep hill on the backside of the middle fairway bunker. But ultimately it's a fascinating opportunity for players to weigh risk/reward and try to pick up 2 strokes on their card. A lot of the field tends to bail out short right early in the week and leave themselves a good angle for a pitch. Especially when they put a pin in that back left peninsula, which they often do on Friday. Then you start to see guys take a rip at the green a little more on the weekend. I love a hole that can shake things up down the stretch in a tournament and this hole has it in spades. Feels like every year the tournament is won or lost here. It certainly was in 2021 when Brooks Koepka pitched in from just off the right of the green for eagle. It even has the Tour's only hole-in-one on a Par 4 in history. Pretty wild story where it actually banked off the putter of one of the players in the group ahead on the green. Crazy stuff. All in all this is one of my favorite holes on the entire Tour and I wish it got more of its proper due.

The Weather

Advertisement

Spectacular.

TV Coverage

The web browser version of the Tour's leaderboard page used to provide a really neat and concise summary of the coverage, but they've relaunched their website. It looks AWESOME for the record, but the little graphic I used to pluck and place here seems to have gone by the wayside. The above is from the PGA Tour's twitter banner and the media relations website. Not sure what I'll be using moving forward but one is clearly busier than the other.

Some featured groups for ya to get the blood flowing:

Obligatory Tiger Ace on 16 Highlights 

Some kind folks also moved a boulder for him on the par 5 13th… saw some folks on old cranky golf twitter crying about this ruling yesterday…

The Trophy

Tracy Wilcox. Getty Images.

Advertisement

It's… it's like a bird? Like a mallard? Actually some quick research says it's a crystal Thunderbird in honor of the Phoenix Thunderbirds' convention, tourism, and charitable organization. They're basically the hosts of this event. Since they've done a helluva job with all of that (and the fact that they may have had some hand in creating the beauty that is Old Town Scottsdale) I'm going to give them some love and give it a solid 7/10.

The Board 

Jon Rahm is your tournament favorite at +700 at the Barstool Sportsbook, narrowly edging out Rory McIlroy at +800. Is that an indication that handicappers see Rahm as the better player right now? Maybe… but this event has also been a staple for Rahm (an Arizona State grad), whereas Rory has only played this once. Rahm's 7 appearances (never finishing worse than 16th) has to be baked into that equation in some manner.

With that said, I'm going in on Cameron Young +2800. Much like Scottie last year, it's Cam's time to break through. He was knocking on the door last year with 7 Top 3 finishes and just finished runner-up last week at the Saudi International. He's been my FOMO guy for a short while and when those guys keep knocking, they tend to shorten their prices by the time they break through. The strong field in this event gives you a better payout for that inevitable breakthrough. He's gonna do it soon. And I'm gonna bet him at Riv next week either way, but 28/1 is too good to pass up as my official pick.

Other Plays

Cam Young Top 5 +600 - Have to make sure you collect when he inevitably finishes T-2 again.

Tom Kim To Win +2800/Top 10 +300 - Definitely seems like a guy who feeds off Scottsdale energy. Excited to see what kinda show he puts on.

Tony Finau Top American +1100/Top 10 +175 - Another former FOMO guy who actually should have won here already. Webb Simpson stole his soul in 2020 by burying a long one to force a playoff. Wouldn't be surprised if Tony wins, but I like +1100 Top American over +1600 outright given that it cuts out Rahm and Rory (among LOTS of others)

Hideki Matsuyama To Win +3300 - This is a sprinkle. This tournament used to belong to Deki. His first 4 years at Scottsdale he went T-4, T-2, WIN, WIN. He WD'd the next year and had some middling results since, but finished T-8 last year. I think he's priced correctly here given he hasn't been playing great, but I think it's worth a flyer in case he drums up that old magic.

Garrick Higgo Top 20 +500 - Higgo is regaining the form that saw him win so early in his career. He's Top 20'd in 2 of his last 3 events, and has a solo 3rd to his name this season.

Advertisement

To Be Decided In A Playoff (Yes) +350 - If it feels like this goes to a playoff and leaks into the Super Bowl every year, that's because it does. 5 of the last 7 have gone to a playoff. 

Hole in One on 16 in Round 1 (Yes) +750 - Gonna hammer this every day regardless of pin position. It's currently +750 for rounds 1 and 2, +800 for Saturday, and +900 for Sunday.

Hole in One on 16 In Tournament (Yes) +275 - After all the content they got out of Ryder and Ortiz last year, don't ya think they're gonna give these guys some gettable pins?

I'll leave you with that.

Thanks for reading. Hope you all enjoy reading these as much as I do writing em.

Enjoy the Waste Management Phoenix Open.