Sports Network Selections
- Pick To Win:
- Johnson Wagner
- Darkhorse
- Jeff Maggert
- Last Week's Pick To Win - Ben Crane
- Missed the cut
- Last Week's Darkhorse - D.A. Points
NOTES:
One of the players' favorite stops on tour takes place this week, as 10 of the
top-30 players in the world and eight former champions compete for the coveted
Waste Management Phoenix Open title in the Arizona desert. Webb Simpson is the
highest-ranked player in the field at No. 6 in the world. He is joined by
Dustin Johnson (9), Matt Kuchar (12), Nick Watney (14), Brandt Snedeker (15),
two-time champion Phil Mickelson (16), Ian Poulter (21), 2011 FedExCup
champion Bill Haas (22), Bubba Watson (24) and 2011 PGA Championship winner
Keegan Bradley (29). Snedeker captured the Farmers Insurance Open last week
in a playoff over Kyle Stanley, coming from seven strokes behind on the final
day.
This year, Mark Wilson is looking to become the sixth player to win
consecutive FBR Opens -- only Ben Hogan (1946-47), Jimmy Demaret (1949-50),
Lloyd Mangrum (1952-53), Arnold Palmer (1961-63) and Johnny Miller (1974-75)
have achieved the feat.
Last year, Wilson birdied the second playoff hole to defeat Jason Dufner and
win for the second time in 2011. He had captured the Sony Open in Hawaii in
January, 2011. Wilson and Dufner finished at 18-under-par 266.
In 2009, Kenny Perry holed a 23-foot birdie putt from just off the green to
win a playoff, collecting his 13th PGA Tour win at the age of 48. Perry and
Charley Hoffman needed three extra holes to decide the tournament, with Perry
finally ending things at the TPC Scottsdale's 17th hole. The players ended
regulation tied at 14-under-par 270. Perry became the oldest champion in
tournament history at 48 years, three months and 21 days old. The previous
oldest winner was Julius Boros, when he won in 1967 at 46 years, 11 months and
nine days old.
J.B. Holmes birdied the 18th hole in regulation in 2008 to shoot a final-
round, even-par 71 and force a playoff with Mickelson. Holmes, the 2006
winner, followed that closing birdie with a birdie on the first playoff hole,
No. 18, to win for the second time on the PGA Tour, with both wins coming at
this event.
In 2007, Aaron Baddeley capitalized on a late collapse by Jeff Quinney to win
by a shot. Trailing by three strokes with four holes to play, Baddeley made
three consecutive birdies from No. 15 and walked away with his second career
PGA Tour victory. He shot his second straight seven-under 64 in the final
round for the lowest weekend score in tournament history.
Holmes, then a 23-year-old PGA Tour rookie in 2006, won in only his fourth
start as a professional. Holmes fired a five-under 66 in the final round to
cruise to a seven-shot win. He finished at 21-under-par 263 and delighted a
record weekend crowd of over 536,000. Holmes became the first player to win
the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament and then win on the PGA Tour the next
season since Mike Weir won the 1998 Q-School and the 1999 Air Canada
Championship.
In 2005, Mickelson posted a three-under 68 in the final round to cruise to a
five-shot win. Mickelson finished at 17-under-par 267. He shot a career low
and tied the course record by firing a 60 in the second round. Mickelson's
previous best round was a 61 at the 2001 Greater Hartford Open, which he also
won.
Mickelson is the all-time leader in earnings at the FBR Open with $2,535,471.
Perry is second at $2,133,595, and Holmes is third with $2,034,270. With his
win in 2008, Holmes joined a select group of 14 multiple champions at this
event, which includes Hogan, Byron Nelson, Palmer, Miller, Vijay Singh and
Mickelson. In 22 appearances, Mickelson has two wins and nine top-10 finishes.
When Miller won the 1975 Phoenix Open, he posted the largest margin of victory
at this event with a 14-shot win over Jerry Heard.
Singh's final-round 63 in 2003 tied the lowest final round by a champion,
equaling the mark set by Mark Calcavecchia in 1992. Calcavecchia joined Palmer
and Gene Littler as the only three-time winners when he won in record fashion
in 2001. Calcavecchia set 72-, 54- and 36-hole marks and tied the course
record of 60. Calcavecchia has finished in the top 10 nine times since the
event moved to the TPC Scottsdale in 1987. Calcavecchia has won in three
different decades (1989, 1992, 2001).
The TPC Scottsdale has been the site of this event for the past 25 years.
Prior to the TPC Scottsdale, the event was held at Phoenix Country Club and
Arizona Country Club.
The PGA Tour moves to California next week for the AT&T Pebble Beach National
Pro-Am, where D.A. Points won last year. Tiger Woods is expected to make his
2012 PGA Tour debut.
01/31 13:40:48 ET