Waste Management Phoenix Open: Course and current form stats

The Waste Management Phoenix Open has annually been the best attended event on the PGA Tour.

It holds the record, by quite some margin, for both tournament visitors and single-day attendances.

The figures peaked in 2018 when 719,179 fans came through the gates over all four days, including a record 216,818 on Saturday.

Day three is usually the noisiest and rowdiest, with Sunday witnessing a smaller number of spectators, as the tournament is traditionally held during Super Bowl week.

However, in 2021, the players will have to get used to a much smaller attendance, restricted because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Organisers have agreed to allow 5,000 fans visit each day, which means there'll be a much-less boisterous atmosphere at TPC Scottsdale's world-famous par-three 16th, nicknamed The Coliseum. The grandstands at the 16th have a total capacity of 20,000 - but most seats will remain vacant this coming week.

Quality field

Despite the absence of many top Americans - who are teeing-up this week in Saudi Arabia - half of the world's top 10 are in Arizona, as well as 12 of the leading 25.

World No 6 Rory McIlroy makes his Scottsdale debut while another four-time major winner, Brooks Koepka, will hope to kick start his 2021 campaign following a brace of missed cuts.

For world No 13 Koepka, this is where his American dream began in 2015 when he collected his maiden PGA Tour title.

Check out the latest betting ahead of this week's Waste Management Phoenix Open

Xander Schauffele, the third highest-ranked player in the field, continues his remarkably consistent rise up the standings.

The 27-year-old Californian has not finished outside the top-25 in any of his most recent 14 starts, and tied-second in San Diego on Sunday - which bodes well for his US Open chances in June.

Daniel Berger combines a solid course history with good current form, and has an impressive round-by-round Birdie Average of 4.88, which puts him sixth in this PGA Tour category.

A little further down golf's food chain is up-and-coming Will Zalatoris.

The 24-year-old star from last year's Korn Ferry Tour opened his 2021 account with a tie-for-seventh at Torrey Pines. And there should be plenty of interest in him this week.

Course details

Surrounded by the rugged Sonoran Desert, and nearby McDowell Mountain range, Scottsdale's Stadium Course was opened in 1986 and within a year had taken over as host of the Phoenix Open.

Laid out approximately 1,500 feet above sea level, the Stadium Course was designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, and is generally considered to be a big-hitters' paradise - although this didn't prevent Webb Simpson from winning the tournament last year.

With generous fairways and less trouble than most PGA Tour venues, this layout certainly encourages the pros to blast it long and be aggressive. The dry desert Arizona air will also help the ball travel further.

That said, there may come a time when all that changes. Weiskopf was called in to carry out an upgrade in 2014 when, among other things, he planted around 250 trees. These, when fully grown, may restrict the current freedom off the tee.

This $12m renovation also involved resurfacing of greens and re-building of bunkers.

The average winning 72-hole total at Scottsdale since 2000 is 266, while a single round of 60 has been posted four times. The highest winning score this Millennium is 270.

And excitement is never far away. Over the last 14 years there have been seven play-offs while, only twice, has the winning margin been greater than one stroke.

Eighteen of the last 22 winners have been American, with the home nation also dominating the runner-up positions too.

Latest odds for the year's opening major championship at Augusta National in April

Course Comparisons (2016-20)

Driving Accuracy (%)
73.88: Sea Island (RSM Classic) (1/29)
57.63: TPC Scottsdale (Phoenix Open) (22/29)
52.24: Torrey Pines (Farmers Insurance) (29/29)

Greens in Regulation (%)
75.98: Sedgefield (Wyndham) (1/29)
68.32: TPC Scottsdale (Phoenix Open) (14/29)
58.99: Innisbrook (Valspar) (29/29)

Putting (GiR)
1.664: PGA West (host) (American Express) (1/29)
1.766: TPC Scottsdale (Phoenix Open) (23/29)
2.668: Augusta National (Masters) (29/29)

Key: Above stats are for all 29 courses which staged four or more PGA Tour events between January 1st, 2016 and December 31st, 2020. To qualify for a ranking (between 1 & 29), tournaments must have a minimum of 50 players competing over the final two rounds of the event. Averages do not include players who failed to complete at least 54 holes.

TPC Scottsdale Data (2016-20)
DA: (T10 - 59.67%); (Cat10 - 69.45%)
GiR: (T10 - 71.88%); (Cat10 - 77.06%)
Putts: (T10 - 1.721); (Cat10 - 1.656)
Key: T10 (Average for Top-10 finishers); Cat10 (Average for Top-10 in Category)

Twitter: Andy Swales@GolfStatsAlive

Note: List Contains Leading Reserves