WM Phoenix Open
The WM Phoenix Open is an event unlike any other on the PGA Tour. It feels like a party where there happens to be a golf tournament going on at the same time. It is easily the most attended event every season on the PGA Tour and fans are encouraged to let their voices be heard. That all seems to culminate at the par-3 16th hole that is enclosed in a stadium-like setting with 20,000+ people going crazy from dawn to dusk.
This event comes at an interesting point on the calendar. This will be the fourth straight regular PGA Tour event before next week we begin the first of four Signature Events in a five-week span. Even if after this week you have four missed cuts in the first four events, you are very much still in the hunt because there is so much more money up for grabs. A win at a Signature Event is essentially worth about 2.5 regular event wins. That same ratio holds pretty true all the way down the leaderboard as well in terms of payouts for positions.
Suffice to say, it's far too early to panic and far too early to feel good about yourself in OAD.
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Course Tidbits
- Course: TPC Scottsdale (7,261 yards, par 71)
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
- Purse: $9.6 million ($1.728 million to winner)
- Defending Champion: Thomas Detry (-24)
- 2025 Scoring Average: 69.96
- 2025 Cut: -2
- Average Winning Score Last 5 Years: -19.8
TPC Scottsdale is a course where scores are out there, especially when the weather cooperates like it looks like it will this week. Thomas Detry's 24-under-par winning score last year was the lowest 72-hole score since Phil Mickelson tied the tournament record score of 28-under-par back in 2013. It a shootout the keys are typically really strong iron play and really strong putting. Detry was first in SG: Approach and second in SG: Putting last year, while in the 2024 WM Phoenix Open that featured a playoff between Nick Taylor and Charley Hoffman, they were the top two players in SG: Putting, GIR's and putts per GIR for the week.
TPC Scottsdale is a course that any length of player can competed on. It checks in at a little over 7,200 yards, but plays much shorter thanks to being around 1,500 feet above sea level. That combined with the warm temperatures this week should send a lot of balls flying and really shorten this course up. This is still one of the most driver-heavy usage courses on Tour thanks to the spacious fairways and a lack of rough. The best wedge players should be able to thrive.
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RotoWire One and Done Tools
WM Phoenix Open: One and Done Picks
For the second consecutive week I'm going to go ahead and just go with the popular play. Matsuyama hasn't had a high-end finish here in a while, but he has won this event multiple times, so if he's in contention on the weekend, he'll know how to close here. His form is also strong entering this event, with a pair of top-15s in his past two starts. Matsuyama definitely has value down the road at a Signature Event, but I think the best to use him is right here. --Greg Vara
If you're going to use Fowler in One and Done, it's difficult to find a better spot than Phoenix. The 2019 event champion has seven top-15s at TPC Scottsdale including a pair of runner-up finishes. Fowler's an easy guy to forget about considering he didn't play any events in the fall of 2025, but played well in the playoffs with back-to-back top-10s to close his year. He then started this year with a top-20 at the AMEX. He lacked the elite results last year but is playing well enough to work his way into contention more often this year, and I think it starts this week. --Ryan Pohle
I'm not going to overthink this one. Matsuyama has perhaps the best record at TPC Scottsdale of any player in the field with two wins, five top-10s and nine top-25s. This has historically also been a course with very sticky course history. Matsuyama is tremendous both on approach to the greens and around the greens. The one real weakness over the last year has been the driving, but he'll be able to throttle back if he needs to and there's not a huge penalty for missing these fairways. Matsuyama finished top 15 in his first two starts this year and has confidence from a recent victory at the Hero World Challenge where he out-dueled Scottie Scheffler on the weekend. --Ryan Andrade
Everyone, close your eyes and make believe Scheffler won't win this week. Okay, ready? ... Young has finally proven he can win (2025 Wyndham), has shown he can go low, which will be required this week (22-under at the Wyndham), has become an elite putter (ranked seventh on Tour in SG: Putting last season) and has done quite well at TPC Scottsdale (tied for 12th last year and for eighth the year before). --Len Hochberg
Sometimes it's as simple as riding the hot hand, especially when they're playing like the second-best player in the field despite likely not being someone you need to save for later. Coming off a T2 at the Farmers Insurance Open for his 10th consecutive top-25 finish worldwide, Kim is No. 1 in the key Prox: 150-200 range over his last 36 rounds, and he's second in SG: Tee-to-Green within this frame as well. He's yet to post a top-10 at TPC Scottsdale through 10 WMPO appearances, but Kim has finished T26 or better in four straight outings here. --Bryce Danielson
While his game isn't quite what it used to be, TPC Scottsdale suits an elite ball-striker like Spieth, whose course history boasts five top-10s including a T4 last year. His success is driven by standout strokes-gained splits (1st in SG: Approach, 4th in SG: Tee-to-Green) and steady ball-in-play numbers, ranking him 4th in GIR% and 9th in Good Drive %. Plus, his tee ball has been trending upward in SG: Off-the-Tee over his last 50 rounds (+0.44), placing him among the top 15 in this field. Most interesting is the drought narrative: Spieth is 1,388 days removed from his last win (RBC Heritage, 2022), but formerly snapped a 1,351-day skid in 2021. He's due. With his Warming Up episode dropping on YouTube this week and a steady T24 at the Sony to open the season, Spieth will have the high-energy WM crowd fully in his corner. I'm riding the momentum before any lingering wrist issues reappear. As he would say, "Go get that." --Lauren Jump
It seems only a matter of time before Kim finds himself back in the winner's circle, as he has been ripping off top-10s around the globe for months — and in each of the last two weeks on the PGA Tour. Kim does not have a top-10 in his 10 Phoenix Open appearances, but he finished no lower than T23 the last three years and has plenty familiarity with the raucous surroundings. Kim ranks top-5 early this season in both SG: Tee-to-Geen and Approach, and a quality week on the greens could push him over the top. --Kevin O'Brien
WM Phoenix Open: One and Done Fades
This could be a tricky spot for Hovland as it will be his first start on American soil this season and it's at a venue where he's had little success. Hovland has teed it up at this event three times and made the cut just once. That made cut resulted in a T42, so he's got some work to do in figuring out this course. Hovland is set up to have a good season, but I don't think it will start this week. --Greg Vara
I think a lot of people will ride the hot hand with Kim, who has started the year off with three consecutive top-15s including a T2 last week. But he's also played this event 10 times and is still in search of a top-10. The other piece here is that Kim is emerging as a top-10 player in the world, after all, he has 10 straight top-20 worldwide finishes, meaning we're probably better off saving him for the one of the signature events due to the increased purses. --Ryan Pohle
Morikawa has just one top-10 finish over his last 16 starts and that was a T8 at the Rocket Classic last June. The big improvements he made both with the putter and short game back in 2024 seemed to have fallen through the cracks. Morikawa is back to being one of the worst putters on Tour heading to event where you are going to need to make a lot of putts to be up there. His only two starts at the WM Phoenix Open where a T25 in 2020 and a MC in 2023. I think Morikawa will figure it out eventually, but this is certainly not the spot you want to use him. --Ryan Andrade
I'm a little concerned about Spaun, who I thought would maintain his top-10 ranking in 2026. It's only two tournaments, but he's been far from sharp. He tied for 40th at the Sony and missed the cut at the Amex. He is ranked outside the top-100 in SG: Approach and outside the top-150 in SG: Putting. --Len Hochberg
Although this event draws a lot of attention, and plenty of household names have won in the past, the eventual champion's payout remains less than $1.8M, so you don't need to burn a signature/major option here, especially given Scheffler's chances of coasting to victory. Matsuyama figures to earn OAD ownership based on his status as a two-time WMPO winner that's coming off a pair of top-15s to begin his 2026 campaign, but lately his off-the-tee play has been concerning and the putter has been flat-out bad. Putting is naturally more volatile, but I'd like to see legitimate improvements with the driver before deploying a valuable asset like Matsuyama in OAD this season. --Bryce Danielson
Hovland's just 1-for-3 on made cuts at this event with shaky recent history (two straight WDs, last finish was T43 in 2023). Since he's making his 2026 TOUR debut this week, I'd rather not pay the OAD tax while rust is still possible, especially on an iron-driven course where his approach form hasn't stood out. Even with a recent T14 in Dubai, I'm waiting for a cleaner spot with a higher payout once he looks fully dialed. --Lauren Jump
I could end up with egg on my face for this one given that he's far more accomplished than before and seemingly live in any event, but Gotterup missed the cut in Phoenix in both 2023 and 2024 and is not as accomplished on approach as some other players, so I'd hold off on him this week. There will be plenty more chances to deploy him before the season comes to a close. --Kevin O'Brien
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