The PGA Tour hops from California to Arizona before heading back to the Golden State for Pebble Beach next week. The Waste Management Phoenix Open is a Tour staple, a break from the stuffy, stodgy traditionalism of most professional golf events, and a reminder that the game actually is quite fun and exciting. With spectators limited to 5,000 fans per day, this year's WMPO will be far more subdued than most years but will still be one of the only PGA events with fans in attendance since play was paused last March.
The Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale is the host -- a 7,261-yard par 71 that is most famous for its grandstands and iconic par 3 16th. Last year, Webb Simpson took down Tony Finau in a playoff, and as usual, the leaderboard was absolutely loaded with top-tier golfers. Ballstriking leads the way here, with the top players battling it out, and whoever gets either the luckiest or the hottest with the putter ends up hoisting the trophy.
After a rain-soaked Farmers Insurance Open, weather should but just about perfect this week. Temperatures are expected to top out in the low 70s and as of Sunday night winds are expected to be single digits all week.
Let's dig into the course and see what stats we can use to build our daily fantasy lineups this week.
Course and Tournament Info
Course: TPC Scottsdale
Par: 71
Distance: 7,261 yards
Fairways/Rough: Bermudagrass overseeded with perennial ryegrass and fine fescue
Greens: TifEagle Bermudagrass overseeded with velvent bentgrass, poa trivialis, and perennial ryegrass
While past winners would point us toward approach play as the key strength here, all of them drove the ball well. Most of the field is bombing it with abandon here, and the course routinely averages over 300 yards per drive and is in the bottom third in accuracy percentage. More drivers lower the variance and allow the best off the tee players to gain an advantage over 72 holes.
The greens are fast, which means the best putters' advantage is mitigated somewhat, and we've seen some outlier performances with the short stick be the difference here. When filling out our betting cards or DFS lineups, we'll want to target ballstrikers across the board but be mindful of putting stats. Good putters are obviously welcome but look also at golfers who are high variance putters, who maybe have middling stats but huge swings week to week.
We mentioned TPC Scottsdale in our American Express writeup, and the desert vibe at both courses and premium on shot-making, especially absent the La Quinta cakewalk this year, The North Course at Silverado Resort & Spa (Safeway Open) is another West Coast course that is not some behemoth yet still requires excellent off the tee play to contend.
On the other side of the country, Bay Hill Club and Lodge requires excellent ballstriking and putting and exposes golfers' weaknesses much as Scottsdale rewards only the strong. Firestone Country Club (formerly WGC-Bridgestone) is off the Tour a few years now but still shows itself as a good indicator here.
Key Stats
These stats will be the keys to success in the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
| Key Stats for the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale |
|---|
| Strokes Gained: Approach |
| Strokes Gained: Off the Tee |
| Birdies or Better Gained |
| Strokes Gained: Par 5s |
| Proximity Gained 150-175 yards |
Approach still rates out as our top stat here, and for all our gushing over the driver this week, it's what the field does on their second shot that makes all the difference. Having a wedge in hand makes the calculus a whole lot easier, though, and we'll look at both ballstriking stats to see who is consistently performing both off the tee and on approach.
Birdies or better gained are going to pair well with the par 5s, as all three are big-time opportunities, and none put up much of a challenge at between 540 - 560 yards depending on the tee placement.
None of the par 4s are over 500 yards, so the key proximity range here is from 150-175 yards. According to statistics from Fantasy National Golf Club, more approaches come from this range than any other 25-yard bucket. Find golfers who have been dialed in from this distance recently.
Course History Studs
The Waste Management Phoenix Open is a commonly cited example of a course where history matters. Like Torrey Pines last week and the correlated Augusta National, TPC Scottsdale continues to churn out winners who have played well here either before or since. Each of the past five winners -- Simpson, Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland, and Hideki Matsuyama in both 2017 and 2016 -- had a top-five finish here prior to their win.
A slew of other golfers have multiple top 10s without a win over that span, including Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson, Byeong-Hun An, Matt Kuchar, Martin Laird, Daniel Berger, and Chez Reavie.
Mike Rodden is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Mike Rodden also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mike_rodden. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.