Course: TPC Scottsdale, measuring at 7,200 yards. If you can get past the cheers and the boos of the crowd throughout the week, you should be able to make a bunch of birdie on this course. Winning score won't be as low as it was last week, but expect it to be upper teens. If someone gets really hot, they could break -20.
Strength Of Field: B+. European Tour pros are still waiting to make their PGA Tour debut, but all of the top American players are here. The only notable missing from the tournament is Jimmy Walker. This is the first high profile tournament of 2015.
Extra Tidbits: The story will be Tiger Woods, who is playing this event for the first time in 14 years. He is making his 2015 debut. Also making their 2015 debut are Rickie Fowler and Jordan Speith...While the crowd will be bigger this year than it ever was, don't expect the shenanigans you have seen in recent years. The PGA Tour has banned caddie races, as well as giving away free merchandise to the crowd on the 16th...Last year's champion Kevin Stadler will not be defending this year after suffering an injury...Robert Allenby will be competing for the first time since his incident in Hawaii...Phil Mickelson attended school at Arizona State, so he is the crowd favorite at this event. A win will make Lefty the all time leader of wins in Phoenix with four.
Fantasy Four:
(NOTE: No sleepers this week. My tradition of taking sleepers will pick back up next week.)
Hideki Matsuyama - Finished T4 last year in his first appearance in the event. Has top 25s in four out of six events in the PGA Tour season. Took a week off after his worst finish of the year in Sony. Still think he will be a multiple time winner this season, and this is a perfect spot to sneak away a victory.
Charley Hoffman - On an absolute tear lately. T2 last week was his third straight top 25, including a victory in Mexico at the end of 2014. Playing the best golf of his career. Finished 2nd in this event in 2009.
Rickie Fowler - First event of the year. Ended up with ten top 10 finishes last year, which is an incredibly insane number. His only start this season is a T3 finish in China. Fowler needs to start collecting trophies in order to follow up on his fantastic 2014 season, and this is his first opportunity to do so.
Patrick Reed - Winner of the Tournament of Champions. Every time the world wants to crown Reed, he seems to go into a slump, and whenever people start laughing at him, he starts to win again. Most seem to expect Reed to have a big year, even bigger than last year, but I want to see him string together a few good tournaments now that he is in the spotlight once again. Still, a top 25 last year in his only appearance in this event, and a crazy crowd seems to be the kind of environment Reed loves to compete in.
Last Weeks Team:
Patrick Reed: T24
Scott Piercy: T30
Jason Bohn: T30
Justin Thomas: T7
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