When 66 Isn’t Good Enough
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- Category: Inside Golf
- Published: 2018-01-31
The TPC Scottsdale Course Will Be Not Be This Serene When The Waste Management Phoenix Open Gets Underway Thursday - Image Courtesy SCVB
By Alfie Lau
The Waste Management Phoenix Open is The Greatest Show On Turf for the 132 golfers lucky enough to tee it up on Thursday.
Sure, there will be four Canadians in the field, evenly balanced with two Abbotsford boys, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin, along with two Ontario products, Mac Hughes and Ben Silverman.
The first three knew they were in the field in Phoenix as they came east from San Diego, with Hadwin and Hughes having won on Tour last season and Taylor finishing in the top 125 last year.
For Silverman, he had to wait and see if his priority number was high enough to get into the field which has 24 fewer golfers than the Farmers Insurance, mainly because it’s only contested on one course instead of two.
Silverman was scheduled to play in the Monday qualifier at McCormick Ranch on Monday, but breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday when he learned he wouldn’t have to play because he had gotten into the Phoenix field.
No such luck for another Web.com grad, Ontario’s Corey Conners, who could have secured a Phoenix spot with a top-10 finish in San Diego. That didn’t happen and Conners had to play Monday, where his (-3) 69 was three strokes short of where he needed to be. If Conners could have bottled that 69 and put it on his scorecard 24 hours earlier, he would have earned T4 money.
For two Canadian golfers at opposite ends of the golfing spectrum, even par rounds of 72 at McCormick Ranch simply weren’t close to where they needed to be.
Former Arizona State University golfer and Kimberley, BC native Jared du Toit now lives in Scottsdale and has status on both PGA TOUR Canada and PGA Latino America, but both are two steps from where du Toit eventually wants to be. Du Toit had shot a great round of 64 last week in a pre-qualifier just to get into the Monday qualifier so he has the ability to go low; he just needs to go low all the time because that’s how tough it is to be a professional golfer.
The other 72 came from a Sandy, UT native named Michael Weir. Yes, shorten the first name and you realize that’s the 2003 Masters Champion, still trying to find his game and places to play. Weir has past champion’s status on the PGA TOUR, but that doesn’t get him into many tournaments, so he has to try to Monday-in with the rest of the hopefuls.
As for the actual winners of the McCormick Ranch Monday qualifier, Las Vegas’ John Oda made it two-for-two in Monday qualifiers with a (-7) 65. Oda also made it through in Honolulu earlier this month and got to rest easy Monday night, knowing he could play practice rounds on Tuesday at TPC Scottsdale.
For the three golfers who shot (-6) 66, it was a restless night because their playoff for the two final spots started at 8 a.m. Tuesday. And it didn’t take long for University of Washington grad Richard Lee and PGA TOUR journeyman Cameron Tringale to claim those spots, leaving Edward Olson to lament what could have been.
And what could have been is best told by the experience of a 2015 Monday qualifier, Vancouver’s Cory Renfrew.
Renfrew, now a club professional at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club, not only earned one of the three spots in 2015, he made the cut and cashed a nice cheque for more than $13,000 US in February 2015. Not bad for six days of work.
As for the actual tournament itself, the weather is nothing short of spectacular here in Phoenix, with temperatures in the low 80s all week and some expectations the all-time attendance record of 655,434, set last year, will be broken and could even get to within reach of 800,000.
Phoenix is also the start of a new era on the PGA TOUR, with pro-am partners getting not one, but two pros during the course of their 18 holes. Professionals now play 9 holes with their amateurs before passing them off to another professional.
For Phil Mickelson, that meant an early start and early finish, as he gave way to Brandt Snedeker on the 10th tee
“It gives Brandt the chance this morning to come out and work on his game, it give me a chance this afternoon to go get ready for the tournament,” said Mickelson. “I think it’s a win-win for everybody . . . It also isn’t just using the same 50 guys every week, it’s using over 100 pros, so I hope that it takes hold a little bit more, because I think it’s a good thing for everybody involved.”
About The Writer:
Alfie Lau has been a contributor to Inside Golf for several years and is making his annual pilgrimage down the coast for the PGA TOUR's West Coast Swing. He can be reached at www.twitter.com/AlfieLau