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Tournament Stats:
FBR OpenJanuary 31 - February 3, 2008
TPC Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Par: 71 / Yardage: 7,216 Purse: $6 million with $1,080,000 going to the winner
Defending Champions: Arron Baddeley
List of Champions & Scores
Results & Scores of 2007 FBR
Results & Scores of 2007 FBR
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:256 (Mark Calcavecchia in 2001)
54-Hole Record:
189 (Mark Calcavecchia in 2001)
36-Hole Record:
125 (Mark Calcavecchia in 2001)
Low round of tournament:
60 (Phil Mickelson in 2005, Mark Calcavecchia in 2001, Grant Waite in 1996)
Tournament information:
This will be the 70th edition of the Phoenix Open, which started in 1932 at the TPC of Scottsdale, the site of the tournament since 1987. The first two years the tournament was played as the Arizona Open, then took its present name in 1935. The only older tournaments on the PGA Tour are the British Open (1860), U.S. Open (1895), Western Open (1899), Canadian Open (1904), PGA Championship (1916), Texas Open (1922) and the Nissan Open (1926),Course information:
The TPC of Scottsdale was designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, with Howard Twitty and Jim Colbert serving as player consultants. The course opened in 1986 and has some interesting features like desert between the holes and fairways with many plants from the surrounding area. The layout also features mounding for spectators. The course can easily accommodate almost 100,000 spectators. The average green size is 6,770 square feet, which is a little over the average on the PGA Tour. The course has 72 bunkers and six water hazards.
Surrounded by spectacular mountain views, the course was designed specifically to host the FBR Open and the aforementioned mounding promises an excellent view to all of the the 500,000+ in the galleries. Hole No. 16 will always be remembered as the site of Tiger Woods' hole in one in 1998. Hole No. 17 will be remembered for the first and only hole in one on a par four during a PGA TOUR event, which was recorded by Andrew Magee in 2001. For a more comprehensive look at the course, look at this map and a hole by hole on PGA Tour.Com.
The Buzz:
After a week of cold weather and rain by the ocean at Torrey Pines, the Tour returns to the Phoenix desert. Unfortunately the weather won't be up to the standards of past years, as cool temperatures are expected this week. Look for temperatures in the high 30s in the morning with the high not getting above 67 on any of the four days of the tournament. The long-term forecast also calls for clouds and a chance of rain on Sunday.
| Desert Foxes, those that have made the most money in the desert: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player | Starts | Wins | Top-Tens | Earnings | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Mickelson | 49 | 7 | 21 | $5,218,053 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mark Calcavecchia | 71 | 3 | 22 | $3,349,308 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jim Furyk | 36 | 3 | 11 | $2,771,918 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chris DiMarco | 35 | 1 | 7 | $2,690,717 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Scott Verplank | 59 | 0 | 9 | $2,653,866 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Justin Leoanrd | 37 | 1 | 9 | $2,466,863 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Jesper Parnevik | 34 | 2 | 6 | $2,286,971 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bob Tway | 81 | 1 | 21 | $2,128,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Even with the cool temperatures and drab weather this week the sunny side of things is that the 132-player field won't have to contend with Tiger Woods as he is 8,000 miles away in the Dubai desert. So with the world's No. 1 player out of the mix, what will be the big news.
First of all the Super Bowl is being staged just down the road at the new University of Phoenix Stadium. So for the fans of Phoenix, they will have the best of both worlds this weekend and on Sunday they'll get to see a winner crowned at the TPC Scottsdale and then about a half hour later watch the start of the Super bowl. We have seen this scenario before. Back in 1996 the Super Bowl was played in Tempe, but the big difference was that the FBR ended on Saturday so that it wouldn't conflict with the Super Bowl. One player who likes Super Bowl Sunday is Mark Calcavecchia, who has won three times on the day of the NFL's championship game.
One player who is always interested in pro football is Phil Mickelson. Last year he missed the cut in this event, which he has won twice and has collected a total of just under $2 million at. After last week's slow start in San Diego, Phil will be looking to gain some early speed this week. After starting with a 70-73 at the Buick, Mickelson finished strong and ended up T-6th.
Another strong finisher last week was Justin Leonard, who shot 76-68 to make the cut by two shots. He was lucky because for those that made it on the number they had to go home with $9,800 thanks to the new cut rule. But Leonard showed why the new cut rule shouldn't exist as he shot 65-72 and climbed into fifth place, cashing a check for $208,000. So he comes into the FBR with some momentum in an event has won once and also placed T-8th, second and fifth.
In other news, Kevin Streelman, who made a big splash in San Diego last week when he played in the last group on Saturday, came down to earth over the weekend shooting 75-77 and finished T-29th. Since he didn't get a Top-10 finish he was forced to play in the Monday qualifier this week. After driving most of Sunday night to get to Scottsdale, Streelman shot 73 and didn't make the field. The good news is that he will get to play next week at Pebble and then at L.A. and Mexico so it's not a total loss. On the other end of the spectrum is Steve Allan, Brett Rumford and Doug LaBelle II who shot 63 in Monday qualifying and get into the FBR Open. Allan, who is playing on a medical extension, will be making his first start of the season while Rumford will be starting his third event of the yearafter a T-10th finish at the Hope. LaBelle is also playing in his third event, including a T-10th at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Some players making their first starts of the season include Brett Quigley and Trevor Immelman, both coming back from surgery. Quigley was forced out of the Buick last week with an injury. He is suffering from a painful tailbone after recovering from knee surgery last September. Quigley has good memories of the FBR, where he finished T-14th last year. Immelman is also coming back from injury. After winning the Nedbank Golf Challenge last December he started having discomfort around his ribcage and found it hard to breath. He went to a doctor and it was discovered that he had a lesion approximately the size of a golf ball on his diaphragm. It was diagnosed as a calcified fibrosis tumor. After more tests they discovered that it was benign. Luckily for Immelman this was not career-ending. He tried to play last week, but had to withdraw before the first round.
Two other players making their 2008 debut are Andres Romero and David Toms. Romero is a bit of a surprise because I thought that he would be in Dubai instead. But he is playing in the FBR, thanks in part to his third-place finish in the British Open and a T-6th in the Bridgestone that helped him earn enough to gain his Tour card. Lastly, Toms, who has played well in the FBR in the past, is making his 2008 debut this week. Toms had a decent year in 2007 with the exception of not winning, the first time he has gone through a year without a victory since 2002.
Lastly, with cool weather and the expected lack of wind the TPC Scottsdale could be defenseless, bringing up the possibility of a sub-60 round. We haven't been close to one this year like we were last year when Brandt Snedeker shot lights out in the first round at Torrey Pines, but you have to think that something like this could happen at the TPC Scottsdale, especially with the par being at 71. If you look at the all-time lowest 18 hole scores on this course, three have shot 60, one shot 61 and seven shot 62. Of these 11 rounds, nine of them were in 1996, 2001 and 2003 years that the rough was cut down
Here are some things to look for this week:
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The TPC Scottsdale is a links-style course in the middle of the
desert. It's just over 7,200 yards with more than 70 bunkers scattered
around. That, along with six holes on the back side that play next to
water, require a placement of shots. Since the tournament was first played
at TPC of Scottsdale in 1987, the winners include those that play well
on U.S. Open-type courses. A perfect example of this was last year's
champion Aaron Baddeley, who was near perfect for 54 holes at the U.S.
Open and finished in the Top-10.
Several changes were made
to the course in 2004. First. more than 200 yards were added with new tees at the
sixth, ninth, 14th and the 15th holes. These changes were put
into effect because it seemed the course was getting too easy. In 2003
the average score was 69.133. After all of those changes, scoring went
up a stroke and a quarter in 2004 and another full stroke in 2005 when
it was 71.574, the most difficult it had played since 1999 when
the average was 73.24. With some milder conditions and the players
getting used to the changes, scoring averages went back down to 70.344 in
2006 and 69.846 last year. If this trend keeps up, look for lower
scores this year, especially with the lack of wind that is expected.
Here are some keys to playing well at the FBR
Open:
- Key stat for the winner: Those with a hot putter seem to
dominate. Other than Vijay Singh's victory in 2003, every winner since
1997 has been in the Top-10 in putting, with eight of the winners being
in the top five. Phil Mickelson was second in putts in 2005, averaging
26.00 per round while J.B. Holmes led the event in 2006, averaging 27.00
putts per round. Last year Aaron Baddeley led with just 104 putts and
was second in putts per greens hit.
Another important fact is that birdies have to be made on par 4s. This is one of those events in which scoring is lower on the par 4s than the par 5s, In 2004, Jonathan Kaye was the the only champion in the last nine years that played better on the par 5s than the par 4s. In 2005 Mickelson was 9-under on the par 4s and 5-under on the par 5s while in 2006 Holmes was 11-under on the par 4s and 9-under on the par 5s. Last year Baddeley was 8-under on the par 4s and 9-under on the par 5s.
- One unimportant stat: Even though the course is in the desert and it would seem that the long hitters would dominate, that isn't the case. Since 1997 only two of the last 10 champions have been in the Top-10 of the driving distance stat and three of the winners were not in the Top-25. In 2005 Phil Mickelson averaged 307.8 per drive and was 12th in the field while in 2006 J.B. Holmes drove it 308.0 yards and was 13th. Last year Baddeley followed the trend as he was 15th in driving distance at 296.6 So you don't have to hit it long to win in Phoenix.
- Four of the last eight champions have had a Top-10 finish within two weeks before they won the championship, so look for someone that is playing well to win. Ironically, the two winners didn't fit this mold, but Holmes did finish T-10th in Hawaii three weeks before.
- Players can't be afraid of a lot of people watching, considering as many as 100,000 will be in attendance over the weekend.
- Players must hit lots of greens and make lots of birdies. In the last 11 years the winners have averaged hitting 71% of the greens and averaged 23 birdies for the week.
