It has been referred to as the “biggest party in golf”
About the course: Designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish in 1985;
Par is 71 and the course ranked 36th out of 54 on the PGA Tour in 2009 and plays to 7,216 yards, with 72 sand bunkers and 6 water hazards. The course record is 60 shared by Grant Waite (1996), Mark Calcavecchia (2001) and Phil Mickelson (2005). Statistically, in 2008 the most difficult hole was the par 4 11th and the easiest the par 5 13th. Only 47 birdies were recorded at the 11th and zero eagles while the 13th saw 11 eagles and 167 birdies. The most entertaining and raucous hole is the 16th, a par 3 that is entirely surrounded by fans and often referred to as the “coliseum”. There have been 18 aces recorded at the FBR Open with 7 of them coming at the 16th.
About the field: 4 of the Top 10 players in the world will play including Phil Mickelson, Geoff Ogilvy, Anthony Kim and Camilo Vilegas (AK did not play last week due to a shoulder injury and is questionable). Also in the field are Zach Johnson, Pat Perez, John Merrick, David Toms, Brian Gay, Steve Stricker, Sean O’Hair, J. B. Holmes, Aaron Baddeley, Mark Calcavecchia, Rocco Mediate, Chris DiMarco, Paul Azinger, Jesper Parnevik and Tom Lehman. Some of the Majors winners not previously listed are Freddy Couples, David Duval, Justin Leonard, Steve Elkington, Mike Weir, Ben Curtis and Angel Carbrera.
The Purse: $6 million, the winners share a paltry $1,080,000.00
Coverage will be provided by the Golf Channel Thursday and Friday and on CBS Saturday and Sunday. 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM daily.
I look for Phil Mickelson to come out with a strong showing (his 2009 debut), as well as AK (provided the shoulder is healed), J. B. Holmes (2 time winner of the event), Ogilvy and Johnson to both play well and keep earning those Fed-Ex Cup points.
The crowd at the 16th was still as prominent as ever though. Kudo’s to the Thunderbirds, FBR Open and PGA Tour on their charitable donations, that is great.
The Arizona Republic reports that “cooler weather” led to smaller crowds at the FBR. Cooler Weather? Cooler Weather? The low was 40 and the high was 70! That’s not cooler, that’s perfect! Of course when the normal high temperature is 800 degrees Celsius, I guess 40 Fahrenheit is cooler.
“FBR Open Tournament hosts, The Thunderbirds, have contributed a PGA TOUR record $7.8 million to hundreds of charities over the past year, thanks to the success of the 2007 FBR Open. The $7.8 million in charitable donations represent the largest amount ever announced by a PGA TOUR event, and is $1 million more than The Thunderbirds and FBR Open donated following the tournament in 2006 ($6.8 million). “Since we announced our partnership with FBR four years ago, our goal has been to be the number-one ranked tournament in charitable giving on the PGA TOUR,” said Pat McGinley, Big Chief of The Thunderbirds. “We are very grateful to our title sponsor FBR, our many other corporate partners, our golf fans, volunteers and the professional golfers that play in our event.” Since October 2003, when FBR became the title sponsor of the event. The Thunderbirds and the FBR Open have raised more than $25 million for charities. In its history, the FBR/Phoenix Open has raised more than $53 million for charities in Arizona. “Being a good corporate citizen has the added benefit of also being good for business, ” offered Eric Billings, Chairman and CEO of FBR. “We are extremely proud to have achieved our mutual goal with The Thunderbirds of being number one on the TOUR for charity, and we couldn’t be happier knowing that the FBR Open is truly making a difference.”