The Phoenix Open (branded as the WM Phoenix Open for sponsorship reasons) is a professional

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

tournament on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

, held in late January/early February at TPC Scottsdale in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

. The tournament was originally the Arizona Open, but was known for most of its history as the Phoenix Open until the investment bank Friedman Billings Ramsey became the title sponsor in October 2003, and it was known as the FBR Open for the next six editions. Waste Management, Inc. began its sponsorship in 2010. The event's relaxed atmosphere, raucous by the standards of professional golf, has earned it the nickname "The Greatest Show on Grass" and made it one of the most popular events on the PGA Tour calendar.

History

The Phoenix Open began in 1932 but was discontinued after the 1935 tournament. The rebirth of the Phoenix Open came in 1939 when Bob Goldwater Sr. convinced fellow Thunderbirds to help run the event. The Thunderbirds, a prominent civic organization in

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

, were not as enthusiastic about running the event as he was, leaving Goldwater Sr. to do most of the work in getting a golf open started. The event was played at the Phoenix Country Club in Phoenix both in its earlier incarnations and after Goldwater resuscitated it. Beginning in 1955, the Arizona Country Club (also in Phoenix) alternated as event host with Phoenix Country Club; this arrangement lasted until Phoenix Country Club took The Arizona Country Club's turn in 1975 and became the event's permanent home again. The tournament moved in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

to its current home, the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale, northeast of downtown Phoenix. The approximate average

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of the course is above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

Popularity

The five-day attendance of the tournament is usually around a half million, the best-attended event in golf. In 2016, it set a PGA Tour and Phoenix Open single day attendance record with 201,003 fans in attendance on Saturday, February 6 and set a tournament week attendance record of 618,365 fans. The most popular location for spectators is the par-3 16th hole, nicknamed "The Coliseum." One of the shortest holes on tour at , it is enclosed by a temporary 20,000-seat grandstand. The hole could be described as "one big party," with many students from the nearby Arizona State University in Tempe in attendance. Poor shots at the 16th hole receive boos, because the hole is very easy by the PGA's standards. Good shots, however, are cheered loudly. Players who make holes in one at the 16th will cause the gallery to erupt, leading to beverages and other objects being tossed in celebrations;

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. * * * Woods is widely regarded as ...

(1997),

Jarrod Lyle Jarrod Lyle (21 August 1981 – 8 August 2018) was an Australian professional golfer. He won twice on the 2008 Nationwide Tour. He played a number of seasons on the PGA Tour; his best finish being tied for 4th place in the 2012 Northern Trust O ...

(2011), and

Sam Ryder Sam Ryder Robinson (born 25 June 1989) is a British singer, songwriter, producer, composer and social media personality. He rose to prominence in 2020, after posting music covers on TikTok, during the first UK lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic ...

(2022) have each aced the hole on Saturday, creating raucous celebrations at the hole. The anger of a poor shot can lead to tempers flaring, as

Justin Leonard Justin Charles Garrett Leonard (born June 15, 1972) is an American professional golfer. He has twelve career wins on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1997 Open Championship. Early years Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Leonard graduated ...

gave obscene gestures to the gallery after a poor shot one year. After 2013, the PGA Tour banned the practice of caddies racing the from the tee box to the green, citing injury concerns. Former

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

players are very popular at the Phoenix Open, with many often wearing a

Pat Tillman Patrick Daniel Tillman Jr. (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004) was an American professional football player in the National Football League (NFL) who left his sports career and enlisted in the United States Army in May 2002 in the afterma ...

jersey when entering the 16th hole stadium.

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970), nicknamed Lefty, is an American professional golfer who plays for LIV Golf. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six major championships: three Masters titles (2004, 2006, 2010), two ...

and

Jon Rahm Jon Rahm Rodríguez (born 10 November 1994) is a Spanish professional golfer. He was the number one golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for a record 60 weeks and later became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, first ac ...

are popular there for that reason. In addition to the golf, there is a concert/party held in the Scottsdale area called the Birds Nest, at which music artists like Huey Lewis and the News play. The Thunderbirds are still highly active in the organization of the tournament. Portions of the proceeds are used by the Thunderbirds to fund

Special Olympics Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities and physical disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in ...

activities in Phoenix.

Conflicts with the Super Bowl

Since

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

, the Phoenix Open has been played on the weekend of the Super Bowl. In 1976, coverage of the tournament aired immediately after CBS's coverage of Super Bowl X. In 1996, it was played Wednesday through Saturday, as Super Bowl XXX was held at Sun Devil Stadium in nearby Tempe. In 2009, the tournament overlapped with

Super Bowl XLIII Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champions Pittsburgh Steelers and the National Football Conference (NFC) champions Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League (NFL) champ ...

in Tampa,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, when

Kenny Perry James Kenneth Perry (born August 10, 1960) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He won 14 PGA Tour events and has won nine PGA Tour Champions events including four senior major championships: the 201 ...

and Charley Hoffman went to a playoff. That denied the spectators a chance to watch the beginning of the game on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, which featured the local Arizona Cardinals. Because of the Super Bowl weekend status, the PGA Tour's television contracts with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and

include an alternating tournament. Usually a CBS tournament, the Phoenix Open airs on NBC when CBS has the Super Bowl, and NBC's

Honda Classic The Honda Classic is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in south Florida. It was founded in 1972 as Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic, and prior to a schedule change in 2021 was frequently the first of the Florida events in late winte ...

airs on CBS in Winter Olympic years.

Records

Waste Management Phoenix Open by Gage Skidmore

The tournament's lowest 72-hole score was set by

Mark Calcavecchia Mark John Calcavecchia (born June 12, 1960) is an American professional golfer and a former PGA Tour member. During his professional career, he won 13 PGA Tour events, including the 1989 Open Championship. He plays on the Champions Tour as well a ...

in 2001 with 256 (–28), which was matched by Mickelson in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

. In the second round Calcavecchia scored a 60 (–11), which equalled the lowest score at the Phoenix Open (by

Grant Waite Grant Osten Waite (born 11 August 1964) is a New Zealand professional golfer. Waite was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand. He has one PGA Tour victory, the Kemper Open in 1993, and finished second to Tiger Woods at the 2000 Bell Canadian O ...

in 1996) and subsequently matched by Mickelson in 2005 and 2013. Calcavecchia had 32 birdies in the tournament, which was also an all-time record. There have been only two double eagles in the history of the Phoenix Open. Tom Pernice Jr. made the first one on the par-5 15th hole in 1990. Andrew Magee scored the second on the par-4 17th hole in 2001, and was the first-ever ace on a par-4 in PGA Tour history.

Winners

''Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.''
Sources:Phoenix Open – Winners
– at golfobserver.com

Multiple winners

Fifteen men have won this tournament more than once. * 3 wins **

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Dating back to 1955, he won numerous ev ...

: 1961, 1962, 1963 (consecutive) **

Gene Littler Gene Alec Littler (July 21, 1930 – February 15, 2019) was an American professional golfer and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Known for a solid temperament and nicknamed "Gene the Machine" for his smooth, rhythmical swing, he once said ...

: 1955, 1959, 1969 **

: 1989, 1992, 2001 **

: 1996, 2005, 2013 * 2 wins **

Byron Nelson John Byron Nelson Jr. (February 4, 1912 – September 26, 2006) was an American professional golfer between 1935 and 1946, widely considered one of the greatest golfers of all time. Nelson and two other legendary champions of the time, Ben Hoga ...

: 1939, 1945 **

Ben Hogan William Ben Hogan (August 13, 1912 – July 25, 1997) was an American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He is notable for his profound influence on golf swing theory an ...

: 1946, 1947 (consecutive) **

Jimmy Demaret James Newton Demaret (May 24, 1910 – December 28, 1983) was an American professional golfer. He won 31 PGA Tour events in a long career between 1935 and 1957, and was the first three-time winner of the Masters, with titles in 1940, 1947, and ...

: 1949, 1950 (consecutive) **

Lloyd Mangrum Lloyd Eugene Mangrum (August 1, 1914 – November 17, 1973) was an American professional golfer. He was known for his smooth swing and his relaxed demeanour on the course, which earned him the nickname "Mr. Icicle." Early life and family Mangrum ...

: 1952, 1953 **

Johnny Miller John Laurence Miller (born April 29, 1947) is an American former professional golfer. He was one of the top players in the world during the mid-1970s. He was the first to shoot 63 in a major championship to win the 1973 U.S. Open, and he ran ...

: 1974, 1975 (consecutive) ** Miller Barber: 1971, 1978 **

Bob Gilder Robert Bryan Gilder (born December 31, 1950) is an American professional golfer. He won six tournaments on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the Champions Tour, where he has ten wins since joining in 2001. Early years Born in Corvallis, Oregon ...

: 1976, 1983 **

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( hif, विजय सिंह ; born 22 February 1963), nicknamed "The Big Fijian", is a Fijian professional golfer. He has won 34 events on the PGA Tour, including three major championships: one Masters title (2000) and two ...

: 1995, 2003 ** J. B. Holmes: 2006, 2008 **

Hideki Matsuyama is a Japanese professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He is the first-ever Japanese professional golfer to win a men's major golf championship the 2021 Masters Tournament. As of January 2022, Matsuyama has 17 worldwide wins, eight car ...

: 2016, 2017 (consecutive) **

Brooks Koepka Brooks Koepka (, born May 3, 1990) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LIV Golf tour. In October 2018, he became world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking for 47 weeks after winning the 2018 CJ Cup. He won the U.S. Ope ...

: 2015, 2021

Notes

References

External links

*
Coverage on the PGA Tour's official site
{{PGA Tour Events PGA Tour events Golf in Arizona Sports in Phoenix, Arizona Sports in Scottsdale, Arizona Recurring sporting events established in 1932 1932 establishments in Arizona Annual sporting events in the United States