2016 Waste Management Phoenix Open
Tournament: The PGA Tour makes its way to one of its most popular venues this week, TPC Scottsdale. The Waste Management Phoenix Open is the next stop on the PGA Tour’s West Coast Swing. The original Phoenix Open was first played in 1932 and has been a staple on TOUR ever since. The tournament moved to the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale in 1987, where its affectionately known as “The Greatest Show on Grass.” The most popular hole will be the Par 3 16th. Where you are assured to be boo’d if you miss the green and you just may bring the house down with an ace. This stop in Arizona is the most attended tournament on TOUR and you can usually expect crowds of over 500,000 on hand throughout the week..
Course: TPC Scottsdale underwent some renovations two years ago that didn’t seem to change the course too much. The course is a Par 71 measuring just around 7,200 yards. There will be a lot of birdie opportunities on the course and we will try to identify those players who can take advantage of the conditions here.
Field: Great field here this week as we will have Fowler, Phil, Bubba, Sneds, and defending champion Koepka all teeing it up. I expect big excitement in Phoenix:
What to Look For: When we look back at this tournament, a few things stand out. One is that it is held at a TPC course. Many have similar scoring conditions and we can take a look at players performance on similar TPC courses. Those include TPC at Summerlin and TPC Boston. Great Green in Regulation (GIR) players are surely at an advantage here. Hitting greens is crucial to scoring and last years leaderboard reflects both strong iron play and a strong off the tee game. 3 of the top 5 players here last year finished the season in the top 25 in ball striking.
Picks:
Bubba Watson to win – I’m very surprised Bubba has not found the winners circle here yet. With four top 10 finishes in just nine starts, it’s clear that he likes the track. He’s also finished runner up the last two seasons so he has to have confidence knowing he can win here. I think this price is too high in a field that doesn’t sport Spieth, Rory, or Day.
Kevin Na e/w – I almost went with J.B. Holmes here as he is a two time winner at this event and played well last week but he finished near the back of the pack in ballstriking and that certainly isn’t a strength of his game. Na is not as powerful off the tee as we’d like but he’s on an excellent run (four top 3 finishes in his last six starts) and he’s amassed four top 5 finishes at this course. He won in Las Vegas in the past so desert golf might be Na’s calling card.
Gary Woodland e/w – Woodland is off to a very good start to the season. He is striking the ball extremely well and has some decent finishes. He was not a good par 5 player last season so that is a big concern. But the big hitting Woodland should prove a fit at a course that has been kind to bombers in the past.
Robert Streb e/w – Strebber got us off to our first win last season and he is still a very underrated player. Many players who have won here have had early season success just before their victory. Streb isn’t off to a great start, but a top 20 finish last week is nothing to gloss over. Streb plays the par 5’s well and makes a lot of birdies.
Hudson Swafford e/w – Swafford claimed that this is his year to win. Obviously that doesn’t hold a ton of weight because most golfers are confident, but Swafford is a young talent that has the game to win on the PGA TOUR for sure. And after posting two top 15 finishes in the past three weeks, I’ve got a close eye on Mr. Swafford. He’s never teed it up here which isn’t ideal, but neither had defending champion Brooks Koepka.
4u Bubba Watson to win @ 12/1
1.5u Kevin Na e/w* @ 32/1
0.75 Gary Woodland e/w* @ 66/1
0.75u Robert Streb e/w* @ 66/1
0.50u Hudson Swafford e/w* @ 150/1
11u Total @ Stake
*If your book does not offer e/w betting, place 1 bet of the stated unit on the golfer to win and 1 bet of the stated unit on the golfer to place top 5
Chris Munney
munneypicks 
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