WM Phoenix Open
Course: TPC Scottsdale (7,261 yards, par 71)
Purse: $9,600,000
Winner: $1,728,000 and 500 FedExCup Points
Tournament Preview
Quite simply the WM Phoenix Open is unlike any other event in golf. It is a full-on party that happens to also have a tournament going on at the same time. It is the most attended golf event every season, including the major championships. The best players are able to embrace the chaos and use it to propel themselves to the top of the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon.
TPC Scottsdale is a favorite among a lot of the players. The course is always in spectacular condition and allows for big swings, particularly on the back-nine. The closing stretch features a pair of reachable par-5s (No. 13 and 15) and a drivable par-4 (No. 17) alongside very difficult holes like 11, 12 and 14. Then of course you have the caldron that is the par-3 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open. It is a very straightforward par-3, but it sits right in the middle of an enclosed stadium built up several stories on all sides. That simple little 9-iron becomes anything but when you got 20,000+ people yelling.
Scottie Scheffler returns to the WM Phoenix Open coming off a victory at The American Express a couple weeks ago. He is a two-time winner in Scottsdale, including his first PGA Tour victory back in early 2022 when he outlasted Patrick Cantlay in a playoff. In many ways this was the tournament that started it all for Scheffler. He was close several times before, but once he got that confidence that he could win at this level, he has not looked back. Just four years later he is sitting on 20 PGA Tour wins including four major championships, a FedExCup and an Olympic gold medal.
Brooks Koepka is another two-time winner at TPC Scottsdale in the field this week. Koepka also scored his first PGA Tour victory at this event back in 2015, and then picked up his last on the PGA Tour here in 2021 before leaving for LIV Golf in 2022. Koepka was able to make the cut last week at Torrey Pines in his much anticipated return to the PGA Tour, but was never a factor on the weekend.
There are plenty of other notables teeing it up this week with 11 of the Top 20 in the OWGR in the field. Xander Schauffele will be hoping to bounce back after his 72-event made cut streak came to an end at the Farmers Insurance Open. Hideki Matsuyama is another two-time winner of the WM Phoenix Open hoping to collect his first top-10 finish on Tour since his win at The Sentry in 2025. Viktor Hovland will make his season debut as he looks to surge back towards the Top 5 in the OWGR. Si Woo Kim will be making his fourth start in as many weeks to begin the 2026 season. He has gone T11-T6-T2 in the first three. Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Sam Burns, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler make up some of the other notables.
This will also be the final event to determine the Aon Swing 5. The five highest FedExCup point earners who are not otherwise exempt will be given entry into the Signature Events the next two weeks at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Feb. 12-15) and The Genesis Invitational (Feb. 19-22). The Aon Next 10 was determined based on the FedExCup Fall standings for positions 51-60. After strong starts to 2026, Pierceson Coody, Matt McCarty, Patrick Rodgers Ryo Hisatsune and Andrew Putnam hold the spots in the Aon Swing 5. Sahith Theegala and Jake Knapp are not far away, however.
After a perfect weather week in San Diego that ending up yielding the lowest 72-hole score in tournament history from Justin Rose (23-under-par), we are set for another beautiful forecast in Scottsdale. Temperatures will reach into the upper-70s during the afternoon, and apart from midday Thursday the winds should again be pretty mild. Thomas Detry's 24-under-par total last year was the lowest 72-hole score we've seen at TPC Scottsdale since Phil Mickelson tied the tournament record at 28-under-par back in 2013. Detry did have an all-time performance, however, as he won the event by seven strokes. Normally this tournament is always extremely close down the stretch through a very volatile stretch of holes.
Recent Champions
2025 - Thomas Detry (-24)
2024 - Nick Taylor (-21)
2023 - Scottie Scheffler (-19)
2022 - Scottie Scheffler (-16)
2021 - Brooks Koepka (-19)
2020 - Webb Simpson (-17)
2019 - Rickie Fowler (-17)
2018 - Gary Woodland (-18)
2017 - Hideki Matsuyama (-17)
2016 - Hideki Matsuyama (-14)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR percentage
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
- Birdie Average/Scrambling
Champion's Profile
With the elevation around 1,500 feet at TPC Scottsdale, we are going to see plenty of long drives, especially with the warm conditions. Driver usage at this course is also well above the Tour average. That's because the fairways are pretty spacious, and even if you miss the penalty for hitting the rough is not all that significant. What can be a little more challenging is getting your numbers adjusted on approach considering the elevation. While there is a decent amount of players that call the Phoenix area home, many are used to playing much closer to sea level in Florida, Georgia and Texas.
I'm not expecting the type of scores we saw in Palm Springs, but make no mistake there will be plenty of birdies and eagles this week. As such the biggest keys are hitting greens and sinking putts. Last year Thomas Detry led the field in SG: Approach and GIR, but was also second in SG: Putting. Two years prior when Nick Taylor outlasted Charley Hoffman in a playoff he ranked first in SG: Putting, first in scrambling, T2 in GIR and second in putts per GIR. Hoffman as also second in SG: Approach, second in SG: Putting, T2 in GIR and first in putts per GIR. Distance and a strong short-game are helpful, but iron play and putting have won out the most lately at TPC Scottsdale.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Scottie Scheffler ($15,400)
Well clearly the $14,600 Scheffler was at The Amex wasn't enough. FanDuel has now bumped that up $800 to try to make it even more difficult to create a lineup with the clear No. 1 player in golf. It's honestly hard to make a case that he isn't still worth this number given his history at TPC Scottsdale with two wins among four top-10s in six starts. Scheffler was great with the putter in Palm Springs, continuing a very strong trend with the flatstick over the last year. Oh yeah he's also so far ahead of everyone from tee to green it's not even funny.
Hideki Matsuyama ($11,600)
Matsuyama is coming off two straight top-15 finishes to begin his 2026 season where he ranked among the leaders in SG: Approach. Iron play and short game have always been the highlight of his abilities. Last season he was top-20 in SG: Approach, SG: Around-the-Green, proximity and scrambling. Matsuyama has shown improvements with the putter the last six months culminating with his win at the Hero World Challenge. Other than a WD in 2018, Matsuyama has made the cut here in every appearance to go along with two wins, five top-10s and nine top-25s.
Ben Griffin ($10,900)
Griffin I think is getting a little overlooked this week. He might not have had his best stuff in his first two starts of the year, but two straight top-25s is nothing to knock him about. Griffin proved last year that he is a complete player ranking top 60 in all strokes gained categories en route to three victories and 16 top-15s. There's no reason why TPC Scottsdale shouldn't be a great setup for him given the iron play and putting combination.
The Middle Tier
Jake Knapp ($9,800)
Knapp is coming off a T11 at the Sony Open and a T5 at the Farmers Insurance Open to kick off his season. At Torrey Pines he ranked fourth in SG: Off-the-Tee, sixth in SG: Putting, ninth in scrambling and third in putts per GIR. Knapp is certainly much more than a guy with big-time clubhead speed. He now has seven top-15 finishes in his last 18 starts on the PGA Tour. Knapp has only played at TPC Scottsdale twice before, but he was strong on approach and on the greens both times.
Pierceson Coody ($9,500)
Many are trying to find their footing early in the new season, but Coody has not bee one of those players. He has gone T13-T18-T2 through the first three events. That brings him up to six top-25 finishes in his last eight PGA Tour starts. Coody hits it a mile and has been a really strong putter over his career. This year the short game has followed suit as well, leading to perhaps some more consistency. While he has never played this event before, Coody is simply too hot right now to shy away from at this price.
Daniel Berger ($9,400)
TPC Scottsdale has been one of Berger's better courses on Tour. He has finished T11 or better five times in his career, including a T2 last year. Berger has made the cut in both of his starts so far this season, including a T6 at Waialae where he excelled on approach and with the putter. Berger is a low-ball hitter, which is typically easier to adjust when you go to a place at high elevation. That's probably a reason why he's had so much success here over the years.
The Long Shots
Matt McCarty ($8,900)
McCarty has been a very consistent player since getting off to a slow start in 2025. Over his last 23 starts he owns five top-10s and 13 top-25s. McCarty's best result was a T2 finish a couple weeks ago at The Amex. The lefty is from the Scottsdale area and still practices out there. McCarty was a top-20 putter on the PGA Tour last season and has seen steady improvements with the approach play over the last six months.
Jacob Bridgeman ($8,400)
Bridgeman usually makes for a strong DFS play given his high upside. He has five top-5s and 10 top-20s since the start of 2025. Bridgeman ranks top 25 this season in SG: Approach and SG: Putting. He is also third in birdie average. I was surprised at this price given a lot of those numbers, but Bridgeman is to me the best option in the $8K range this week.
Sami Valimaki ($7,900)
I'm trusting the traits on this one. Valimaki has missed his first two cuts this season, but there's two things he does well; approach play and putting. At this point hopefully the importance of both of those for TPC Scottsdale have been highlighted enough. Last year Valimaki was 18th in SG: Approach and 10th in SG: Putting en route to ranking 27th in birdie average. There's not a lot of comfortable options in the $7K range, but Valimaki presents solid upside given his profile.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
The first question is obviously whether or not you want to roster Scheffler. If you do that leaves DFS players an average of $8,920 to spend over the final five golfers. Many weeks that is a concern, but this week I think there are a lot of strong options in the $8K and $9K range. Some others not mentioned above that deserve to be pointed out are Jordan Spieth ($9,700), Kurt Kitayama ($9,600), Sepp Straka ($9,200), Nick Taylor ($9,100), Garrick Higgo ($8,900), Akshay Bhatia ($8,600) and Michael Kim ($8,500).
On the other hand you could stack three players $10,500 and up to leave you with just under the $8,920 price per player that was created when you only took Scheffler. The Scheffler route is predicated on him winning or at the very least finishing on the podium, otherwise the value probably isn't there. That said, the course fit is so strong that in many ways it does feel a little inevitable that Scheffler will come out on top by week's end.
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