4 Reasons why you care about the Waste Management Phoenix Open

 

1. Insanity at the 16th- Where Ian Poulter gave the fans the finger. Where people threw beer at Tiger after he aced it. Where people chant the players name, alma mater, the name of their dog, and the size of their underwear. Where the fans do more funnels than pars are made on the hole.
2. The gang is all here—all the story lines from last week’s Farmers Insurance Open are in the field.   Jhonattan Vegas, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Rickie Fowler and Anthony Kim.
3. Reruns—Seriously, how many reruns of past SB’s can you watch?
4. Drinking Games—how about shots for every green hit on the 16th during the telecast. You’ll be surely primed for the pigskin party by then.

Frost delays WMO

First the Pro-Am was canceled, now the Players at the Waste Management Open are looking to tee their balls up at 1:10ET.

Goose loose in the desert

Round 1 Qatar Masters

 

Retief Goosen leads after the first round of the Qatar Masters. The story behind the story has Westwood at plus one and Kaymer at plus five for the the battle for number one. Kaymer continues to struggle on at the Doha GC. Steve Stricker accepted a six figure appearance fee ($200,000), but may not even be around for the weekend. He's well behind the pace also at four over par.

T1        GOOSEN, Retief       -3

Notables:

T2        KARLSSON, Robert             -2

T10      POULTER, Ian                       Par

T18      OOSTHUIZEN, Louis           +1

T12      JIMÉNEZ, Miguel Angel       +1

T24      WESTWOOD, Lee                 +1

T34      CASEY, Paul                          +2

T69      STRICKER, Steve                 +4

T84      KAYMER, Martin                  +5

15 Fantasy picks for the Waste Management Open

1.      Jonathan Byrd: One win already at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions

2.      Vaughn Taylor: Tied for 25 at the Hope

3.      Phil Mickelson: Playing in the “House that Phil Built.” One stroke shy of a playoff at the Farmers Insurance Open

4.      Brendon de Jonge: Two top 25’s at the Sony and Hope 

5.      Mark Wilson: Win at the Sony and will rebound after his hangover at the Hope

6.      Jerry Kelly: T9 at the Sony and T13 at the Hope

7.      Brian Gay: T5 and T13 at the Sony and Hope  

8.      Jhonattan Vegas: On fire

9.      Anthony Kim: Seems to have his priorities in order with a T6 at the Farmers

10.  Bill Haas: Three starts, three top tens  

11.  Jimmy Walker: looking for a break out year 

12.  Ryan Palmer: T4 at the Hope

13.  Alex Cejka: Missed cut last week; ranked 47 in scoring average

14.  Marc Leishman: Consistent start to the year  

15.  Charles Howell III: Has improved every start this year

Can Haas handle the heat?

There is simply no reprieve for Haas. Just one week after withering away in the Farmers Insurance Open, tournament directors at the Waste Management Phoenix Open have decided to pair Bill Haas with Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson. Two weeks ago, Haas lost in a three man playoff to upstart “Johnny Vegas” at the Hope. Last week Haas started with and lost the lead on the very first hole of the Farmers Insurance Open. Haas followed up a week high of 31 putts on Saturday with another 31 putts on Sunday to shoot 75 and fall quickly from contention. Now he’s playing the first two rounds with two formidable foes. It will be interesting to see if Haas has the moxy to rebound from his poor Sunday performance. What will 40,000 fans chant when he gets to the famed 16^th hole?

Thought of the day

"Johnny" Vegas is getting a lot media play these days and he deserves every bit of it. He's a humble kid who knows where he came from, but Peter Kostis hit the nail on the head on what separates him from a lot of others on tour.

Here's what Kostis said on air during final round coverage of the Farmers Insurance Open in reference to Vegas:

"There is a big difference between wanting to play well and having to play well." 

Now this is a courtesy car

Who needs a Mercedes Benz when you can drive to the course in a 1967 Sheby GT500. Aaron Baddeley goes to work in style. This car was meant to be parked diagonally, taking up two spaces.

 

Picture courtesy of the the statesman.