The PGA Tour’s “West Coast Swing” nips inland this week for the Waste Management Phoenix Open, home to the loudest hole in golf.
The par-three 16th at TPC Scottsdale is fully enclosed by grandstands and massive crowds generate a raucous atmosphere, so much so that tournament organisers are promoting a tagline which reads: “Respect the game. Respect the players. Respect the fans.”
Tiger Woods famously made a hole-in-one there in 1997 but with the former world number one competing on the European Tour in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, the focus is on the players who have been in far better form this season.
Spain’s Jon Rahm is seeking back-to-back wins after his stunning success in the Farmers Insurance Open and will have the benefit of “home” support as a graduate of Arizona State.
Despite Justin Thomas doing it in Hawaii last month, winning two events in a row is notoriously difficult, Rahm has lived up to expectations since turning professional last year and can be backed at 18/1 for an event where he finished fifth in 2015 while still an amateur.
Thomas returns to action after a few weeks off and is tough to back at 12/1, so the preference is for the man he beat into second place in the tournament of champions, world number five Hideki Matsuyama.
Matsuyama (10/1) was seeking a fourth straight win in Hawaii and although he has since cooled off with finishes of 27th and 33rd, the Japanese star has remarkably shot 14 under par on each of his last three trips to Phoenix – finishing fourth in 2014, second in 2015 and then beating Rickie Fowler in a play-off 12 months ago.
Tony Finau almost gave us a 50/1 winner at Torrey Pines, sharing the lead on the back nine on Sunday before a bogey on the 15th and Rahm’s stunning finish meant he had to settle for a share of fourth.
However, Finau’s price has only dropped to 40/1 and he deserves another chance to claim his second PGA Tour title in Phoenix.
Last but not least, Ireland’s Shane Lowry was sixth at TPC Scottsdale 12 months ago and comes into the event on the back of a closing 68 at Torrey Pines, so could be worth an each-way investment at 66/1.
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