TOUR Insider: Experience counts at FBR Open  PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent The love-in that is the FBR Open is known as the "Greatest Show on Grass," because it is the best-attended and highest decibel-laden event on the PGA TOUR, with more than 500,000 of golf's closest friends invited. The golf on display tends to be pretty good, too. The tournament begun in 1932 as the Phoenix Open returns to the Stadium Course at the TPC Scottsdale for the 21st time. Set in the Sonoran Desert, the par-71 Stadium Course, designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, is a spacious layout that can be out-muscled by big hitters. J.B. Holmes discovered this last year on his way to a seven-stroke romp. Only the wind can slow the decimation of the 7,216-yard course, which has yielded a score of 63 or better in six of the last seven years. J.J. Henry was the culprit in '06 with a 61 in the second round.  (Grayson/WireImage)
Cool temperatures and light winds (lighter even than last year's 7-12 mph zephyrs) predominantly out of the southwest are expected throughout the weekend, meaning the chances are high that the eventual winner will have to shoot something in the low to mid-260s aggregate. Only five times in the first 20 years has the champ failed to shoot four rounds in the 60s. Only three times has a winner won with one of his four rounds over par. Adding urgency to the go-low sentiment is the fact that 20 of the top 30 money winners from last year are entered in the 132-man field. Mediocrity simply won't do, but, then again, it never does. The love-in birdie-fest also could become a "shoe-in." Should one of the several players wearing the new TaylorMade-Adidas "PowerBand" shoes make a hole-in-one at the famed par-3 16th hole, TaylorMade will select 10,000 fans to receive a free pair of shoes. To have a chance to win, fans need to register at a Phoenix-area Van's Pro Shop. Worth knowing: • Rather than waiting until the Masters as he had planned, Phil Mickelson, the 1996 and 2005 FBR Open winner, unsheathed the new square-shaped Callaway FTI driver during the third round of the Buick Invitational. His driving distance average of 316 yards during a 1-over-par 73 was 20 yards farther than his average for the first two rounds. • Mickelson's finishes of 45th and 51st in his first two starts of the year marks the first time in his pro career he's begun the season without so much as a top-30 showing. The last time he began the season without a top-10 among his first two starts was 2005, and he went on to win his third event -- the FBR Open. • Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup stalwart Chris DiMarco, the 2002 FBR Open champion, makes his PGA TOUR season debut this week at TPC Scottsdale. His record in the event since 2000 includes four other finishes of 15th or better, including runner-up in '04. • Lee Janzen, who won the 1993 FBR Open for his first PGA TOUR title, received a sponsor's exemption to run his streak of appearances in Scottsdale to 17 in a row. Non-exempt this year after finishing 146th on the 2006 TOUR money list, the former two-time U.S. Open champion has three top-10s, the last coming in the '02 edition, when he tied for fourth. • In his seven appearances since 2000, two-time champ Vijay Singh has just three rounds over par at TPC Scottsdale and hasn't shot higher than 72 since the final round of the '00 edition when he carded a 76. • His back healthier and his game rounding into form in the last three weeks, Mark Calcavecchia, a three-time FBR Open champ who shot a then-record 256 in romping to the 2001 title, shouldn't be overlooked. Calcavecchia, who turns 47 in June, has top-10 finishes in his last two events (one more than all of last year) and he has finished in the top-10 in nine of 20 starts in the Phoenix area, including wins in 1989 and '92. • Experience counts at any venue, and those who have excelled at the TPC Scottsdale's Stadium Course can vouch for that. Since the event moved to the TPC layout in 1987, 11 winners have at least one other finish of sixth or better. Then again, Holmes became the ninth player to win the FBR Open in his first attempt. • Ryan Palmer might have been expected to contend again at this year's FBR Open after finishing in a tie for second last year, but his entry status is in flux. Palmer withdrew in the middle of the final round of the Buick Invitational to return to his home in Hurst, Texas, to be with his wife, Jennifer, for the imminent birth of the couple's first child. |
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