It has become quite a tradition – the massively attended golf tournament in the Arizona desert at TPC Scottsdale, serving as the pre-party for America\’s SuperBowl Sunday. In 2016, a record 618,365 fans turned out for The Waste Management Phoenix Open to watch Hideki Matsuyama win in a playoff over Rickie Fowler. The signature party spot for this golf gala is the Par 3, 16th hole. Grandstands and corporate hospitality suites nearly surround the entire hole and throngs of fans cheer and jeer with every shot. “Golf claps” are a rarity at The Phoenix Open. Rather it is more like a football match with roars, heckling, and libations a plenty. It is quite an event and very entertaining to see a golf tournament take on this kind of vibe.

Inside the ropes, this tournament can also be a party but of birdies rather than beers. Like other desert golf tournaments in the states, scores are often low and in Phoenix, they have regularly been better than 20-under par. Former Open Champion, Tom Weiskopf and Jay Moorish designed TPC Scottsdale and came back for a makeover just a few years ago. The changes were not colossal but the winning scores have dipped into the teens since Phil Mickelson won here at 28-under par in 2013. Never the less, sub 60-rounds and birdies in bunches are in play this week.

As far as winning a few wagers this week, one will want to look at golfers that can go low and fire birdies.. and to stay ahead of the field, one will need to do it on the Par 4\’s. Greens In Regulation is always an important stat week to week but it has proven to be monumental here in Phoenix most recently with the majority of your tournament winners and Top-10 finishers, all ranking inside the top-10 in that category for the week, alongside in which one of our Green Listed Bookamkers has the best odds.

Market Leaders

Jordan Spieth (10-1 via Bookmaker)

Jordan Spieth won The Australian Open last Fall and started off the new year in Hawaii with two straight 3rd place finishes, yet he has dropped to number 6 in the world rankings. He finished 7th here in 2015 in his only appearance. Spieth is currently number one on The PGA Tour in Greens In Regulation.

Hideki Matsuyama (10-1 via Bookmaker)

Matsuyama had been on an incredible run the last few months before finally finishing 27th at The Sony and 33rd last week in San Diego. But let\’s not sleep on him here as in his only three trips to the event he has finished 1st (last year), 2nd (2015), and 4th (2014).

Justin Thomas (15-1 via Bookmaker)

Thomas took the baton from Matsuyama as far as golfers on quite a run when he won in back to back weeks in Hawaii the first two weeks of January, and shot a 59 in the process. Thomas missed the cut in Phoenix last year and took 17th in his debut in 2015.

Second Favourites

The young and super talented Spaniard put it all together last week in La Jolla and made Torrey Pines home to his first PGA Tour victory. Rahm has been knocking on the door for a while now and has only missed the cut twice in the 17-Tour events he\’s played in his young career. He went to University at Arizona State so he is no stranger to TPC Scottsdale. In his only other appearance here, he finished 5th in 2015. 

Phil Mickelson (26-1 via 5Dimes.eu)

Lefty has won this event three times and holds both the course and tournament scoring records. Like Rahm, Mickelson also went to ASU and is extremely familiar with this course. After sports hernia surgery in the offseason, Phil has been playing great golf in his return to action with a 21st at The Career Builder and a 14th last week at Torrey Pines. Phil has not won a golf tournament since the 2013 Open Championship.

Ryan Moore (35-1 via Bookmaker.eu)

As a United States Amateur Champion, we expected Ryan Moore to burst onto the scene quickly but it is really just now, years later, that he is becoming a serious player in a very crowded golf market. He was a hero for the U.S. side at The Ryder Cup, finished 3rd at Kapalua to start his 2017 season and has finished 11-17-6-and-4 here in Scottsdale the last four trips to town. As an aside, Moore is also one who has gone on record saying, he absolutely loves the raucous crowds at this tournament.

Long Shots

Gary Woodland (42-1 via 5Dimes.eu)

Woodland made our column as a long shot last week as well and he finished 20th. This is indicative of the way this guy has been climbing for the past couple of seasons, on his way very soon possibly to becoming a regular in the “Second Favourite” category. He only has one Top-10 here in Phoenix but he\’s also only missed one cut.

Tony Finau (50-1 via 5Dimes.eu)

Big hitting Tony Finau is off to a great start in 2017 with three Top-20 finishes in three events, including a 4th last week at The Farmers. He was cut in this event last year but took 22nd as a debutant. He is very strong in the stats – except with the putter. He\’ll need that to convert his high finishes into wins.

Scott Piercy (70-1 via 5Dimes.eu)

The Las Vegas native has a very good track record in Phoenix and on desert courses for that matter. Piercy has three Top-10\’s and two Top-15\’s at TPC Scottsdale. The bad news is since Weiskopf\’s tweaks, he\’s finished cut and 45th. He has three Top-10\’s this season, all coming back in the Fall of 2016.

The Selection

Keegan Bradley (66-1 via 5Dimes)

The former USPGA Championship winner struggled mightily the last couple of years on Tour but since being recently married, he seems to have found his comfort zone on the golf course once again. Bradley finished 7th at The Shriner\’s in Las Vegas back in November, another desert golf course were birdies are the rule. He was 25th two weeks ago at another desert venue, The Career Builder Challenge, and posted a very impressive 4th last week at Torrey Pines. He\’s always been a very good driver of the golf ball and now he\’s converting it into scores. With four Top-25 finishes here in five visits, I\’m going to give Keegan Bradley a punt this week and see if we can cash a big ticket.