Fantasy Golf Tournament Preview- Waste Management Phoenix Open

OVERVIEW
The PGA Tour shuffles through the west coast swing and heads for a brief stop in the desert for the most fun they’ll have all year, at The Waste Management Phoenix Open. The course has a ton of history (including a Tiger hole in one), back-to-back wins by Hideki Matsuyama and Brooks Koepka’s first PGA Tour win. It also has a ton of Phil Mickelson history, but he’s decided to rub elbows in the Middle East this week instead of playing in front of “his hometown fans”. The course is a straightforward desert course with bunkering to navigate around throughout the course, but the main draw is the final three holes. #16 is the stadium Par 3, which only measures between 140 and 160 yards but depending on where the pin is placed, the bunkers in the front and sides of the greens come into play. #17 is a drive-able Par 4 which has a risk/reward aspect to it as there’s water that runs down the left side of the hole and wraps around the back of the green. Then there’s the 18th hole, which is a straightforward hole and even wayward drives on the right can result is average to below average approach numbers which can still result in birdie opportunities. Players are definitely looking to make birdie on two of the last three holes (as well as making birdie or better on the easy Par 5’s) so we’ll be focusing on our typical structure of strokes gained stats as well as bermuda grass putting and some approach numbers from some key yardages.

TOURNAMENT BACKGROUND

o The Courses
• TPC Scottsdale
• Par: 71
• Yardage: 7,300
• Greens: Bermuda
o Location: Phoenix, AZ
o Corollary Courses (Tournaments): Torrey Pines (FIO), PGA West Stadium (AMEX), Old Greenwood (Barracuda), TPC Summerlin (Shriners)
o Past Champions:
• 2019: Rickie Fowler -17 over Branden Grace
• 2018: Gary Woodland -18 in a playoff over Chez Reavie
• 2017: Hideki Matsuyama -17 in a playoff over Webb Simpson
• 2016: Hideki Matsuyama – 14 in a playoff over Rickie Fowler
• 2015: Brooks Koepka -15 over Hideki Matsuyama, Ryan Palmer & Bubba Watson

KEY STATS TO TARGET
o Strong Emphasis – SG: APP, P4 Scoring 450-500 yards, Birdie or Better
o Important – P5 Scoring, SG: OTT, Scrambling, APP 150-200+ yards

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