Waste Management Open (Phoenix)

[bigbuck]

from tourney web site

Kaymer joins Quiros and Karlsson from European tour.
Nice to see those guys here after playing those desert courses in the Middle East.
All three should play well.


Martin Kaymer, currently ranked No. 6 on the Official World Golf Ranking, has received a Commissioner’s Foreign Exemption for the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Kaymer’s full-time status on the European Tour requires him to play under an exemption in PGA TOUR tournaments. His high world ranking and desire to compete in the upcoming Waste Management Phoenix Open led PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem to grant this exemption for Kaymer.

“Martin is a tremendous talent with surprisingly strong ties to Scottsdale,” said 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open Tournament Chairman David Rauch. “He has an apartment just down the road from the TPC Scottsdale and is a member at Whisper Rock Golf Club. We are really excited for him to make his debut here in Scottsdale and hope this will lead to more PGA TOUR appearances.”

A full-time member of the European Tour, the 25-year-old German vaulted from 14th to 6th on the Official World Golf Ranking after his win at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, his second victory in three years at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

In 2007 Kaymer became the first German to win the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award, and in just three-plus seasons he has accumulated five European Tour wins.

Kaymer finished 3rd in the 2009 European Tour Race to Dubai final standings despite missing two months after breaking three bones in his foot last summer. He currently ranks 2nd in the 2010 European Tour Race to Dubai standings.

In the United States, Kaymer has played in 19 events, with his best finish coming at last year’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine, where he finished T6.



2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open Tournament Chairman David Rauch announced today that Sweden’s Robert Karlsson and Spain’s Alvaro Quiros received the fifth and sixth sponsor exemptions for the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Billy Mayfair, Rickie Fowler, Jonathan Kaye and Rocco Mediate received the first four tournament exemptions. Rauch and the tournament host Thunderbirds will hand out a total of eight sponsor exemptions for the tournament, scheduled to be played at the TPC Scottsdale, February 22 – 28.

Karlsson is currently ranked 17th on the Official World Golf Ranking and second on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai standings. He has 10 International victories, and had the best year of his career in 2008, winning two European Tour events on his way to becoming the first Swede to win the European Order of Merit. That year he also became the only player to earn top-10 finishes in his first three Major Championships (T-8 Masters, T-4 U.S. Open, T-7 British Open).

Karlsson missed four months in 2009 due to a problem with his vision, but came back quickly in 2010 with a victory over Quiros in the Commercialbank Qatar Masters in January.

Quiros currently ranks 32nd on the Official World Golf Ranking and fourth on the European Tour Race to Dubai standings. The longest hitter on the European Tour, Quiros has three European Tour victories under his belt, including a win at the 2007 Alfred Dunhill Championship in his first European Tour start as a full-time member. He finished runner-up to Karlsson while defending his title at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters earlier this year.

“Robert and Alvaro are extremely talented golfers who have had great success playing on the European Tour,” Rauch said. “They will add a lot to our field and I’m sure that our fans will enjoy seeing these guys in action.”

[bigbuck]

Steve Stricker, a seven-time winner on the PGA TOUR and the world’s 3rd-ranked golfer; and Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champ and the 23rd-ranked golfer in the world, are among the latest to commit to the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open, which will be played Feb. 22-28 at the TPC Scottsdale.

Other commitments received include four-time PGA TOUR winner Chad Campbell and two-time winner Paul Goydos.

Zach JohnsonWith the tournament date a month later this year, tournament officials are expecting one of the strongest fields in years. To date, 16 of the top-30 and 92 of the top-125 money leaders from the 2009 season have committed. A field of 144 players will vie for the $6 million purse, the $1,080,000 first place check and highly-coveted FedEx Cup points.

Phil Mickelson (No. 2) and Stricker (No. 3) are the highest ranked players on the Official World Golf Ranking currently in the field. Other top-ranked players who have committed include Kenny Perry (13th), Robert Allenby (15th), Sean O’Hair (16th), 2009 U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover (22nd), Johnson (23rd), Camilo Villegas (25th), Hunter Mahan (28th) and Nick Watney (29th).

PGA TOUR members have until 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19, to commit to play in the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Eligible players are assigned one of 34 PGA TOUR priority ranking categories based on their past performance on TOUR. The field will continue to change as players with higher priority rankings commit to play in the Open.

Other notables to commit include three-time Phoenix Open champion Mark Calcavecchia, 12-time PGA TOUR winner Justin Leonard, 12-time PGA TOUR winner David Toms, former University of Arizona golfer Rory Sabbatini; eight-time PGA TOUR winner Stuart Appleby, 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis and 2009 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year Michael Sim.

Perry (2009), J.B. Holmes (2008, 2006), Aaron Baddeley (2007), Mickelson (2005 and 1996), Rocco Mediate (1999), Jesper Parnevik (1998) and Lee Janzen (1993) join Calcavecchia as the other former FBR/Phoenix Open champions in the field thus far.

A number of local golfers also have committed including Michael Allen, Ricky Barnes, Pat Perez, Ted Purdy, Jeff Quinney, Chez Reavie and Kevin Streelman.

Additionally, four of eight sponsor exemptions have been handed out to Billy Mayfair, Rickie Fowler, Jonathan Kaye and Mediate.

T

[bigbuck]

There will be some juicy odds in this tournament. It is strong and deep
This one will be tough to handicap for me.

One of the strongest fields in tournament history continues to build as PGA TOUR stars Anthony Kim and Davis Love III, along with European Tour star Ian Poulter and defending PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang are among the latest players to commit to play in the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open, which will be played Feb. 22-28 at the TPC Scottsdale.

To date, 18 of the top-30 and 97 of the top-125 money leaders from the 2009 season have committed. A field of 144 players will vie for the $6 million purse, the $1,080,000 first place check and highly-coveted FedEx Cup points.

Steve Stricker (No. 2), Phil Mickelson (No. 3) and Martin Kaymer (No. 6) are the highest ranked players on the Official World Golf Ranking currently in the field. Other top-ranked players who have committed include Ian Poulter (11th), Kenny Perry (13th), Robert Allenby (15th), Sean O’Hair (16th), 2009 U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover (22nd), Zach Johnson (23rd), Camilo Villegas (25th), Anthony Kim (27th) , Y.E. Yang (28th), Alvaro Quiros (29th), Hunter Mahan (32nd) and Nick Watney (33rd).

PGA TOUR members have until 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19, to commit to play in the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Eligible players are assigned one of 34 PGA TOUR priority ranking categories based on their past performance on TOUR. The field will continue to change as players with higher priority rankings commit to play in the Open.

Other notables to commit include three-time Phoenix Open champion Mark Calcavecchia, 12-time PGA TOUR winner Justin Leonard, 12-time PGA TOUR winner David Toms, former University of Arizona golfer Rory Sabbatini, eight-time PGA TOUR winner Stuart Appleby, 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis and 2009 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year Michael Sim.

Kenny Perry (2009), J.B. Holmes (2008, 2006), Aaron Baddeley (2007), Phil Mickelson (2005 and 1996), Jonathan Kaye (2004), Tom Lehman (2000), Rocco Mediate (1999), Jesper Parnevik (1998) and Lee Janzen (1993) join Calcavecchia as the other former FBR/Phoenix Open champions in the field thus far.

The following is an alphabetical list of the current entries:

Blake Adams
Michael Allen
Robert Allenby
Stuart Appleby
Woody Austin
Aaron Baddeley
Briny Baird
Ricky Barnes
Cameron Beckman
Rich Beem
Matt Bettencourt
Jason Bohn
Jonathan Byrd
Mark Calcavecchia
Chad Campbell
Alex Cejka
Greg Chalmers
Daniel Chopra
Chad Collins
Chris Couch
Ben Crane
Ben Curtis
Brian Davis
Jason Day
Brendon de Jonge
Graham DeLaet
Chris DiMarco
Matt Every
Steve Flesch
Martin Flores
Rickie Fowler
Harrison Frazar
Brian Gay
Tom Gillis
Lucas Glover
Mathew Goggin Paul Goydos
Nathan Green
J.P. Hayes
J.J. Henry
Charley Hoffman
J.B. Holmes
Billy Horschel
Charles Howell III
Ryuji Imada
Lee Janzen
Dustin Johnson
Richard S. Johnson
Zach Johnson
Matt Jones
Jonathan Kaye
Martin Kaymer
Anthony Kim
Jeff Klauk
Matt Kuchar
Martin Laird
Derek Lamely
Tom Lehman
Marc Leishman
Justin Leonard
Michael Letzig
Davis Love III
Steve Lowery
Bill Lunde
David Lutterus
Jeff Maggert
Hunter Mahan
John Mallinger
Steve Marino
Troy Matteson
Billy Mayfair Scott McCarron
Parker McLachlin
George McNeill
Rocco Mediate
John Merrick
Troy Merritt
Phil Mickelson
Bryce Molder
Ryan Moore
Kevin Na
James Nitties
Sean O’Hair
Nick O’Hern
Joe Ogilvie
Jeff Overton
Greg Owen
Ryan Palmer
Rod Pampling
Jesper Parnevik
Cameron Percy
Pat Perez
Kenny Perry
Tim Petrovic
Carl Pettersson
Scott Piercy
D.A. Points
Ian Poulter
Ted Purdy
Brett Quigley
Jeff Quinney
Alvaro Quiros
Chez Reavie
John Rollins
Andres Romero
Justin Rose
Rory Sabbatini Michael Sim
Webb Simpson
Jeev M. Singh
Heath Slocum
Brandt Snedeker
Kevin Stadler
Kevin Streelman
Steve Stricker
Chris Stroud
Kevin Sutherland
Roger Tambellini
Vaughn Taylor
Josh Teater
Roland Thatcher
Nicholas Thompson
Chris Tidland
David Toms
D.J. Trahan
Marc Turnesa
Bo Van Pelt
Scott Verplank
Camilo Villegas
Dean Vomacka
Johnson Wagner
Jimmy Walker
Nick Watney
Bubba Watson
Boo Weekley
Brett Wetterich
Charlie Wi
Mark Wilson
Y.E Yang

[bigbuck]

Should be some nice odds here with such a strong field.
Allenby finished second here in 2000 and remains due. Phil should have double digit odds with Stricker taking a lot of action and others expected to see a lot. Phil is getting closer and a vacation might help. I am going against Stricker here and matchplay. Kaymer is the wild card who could shock this field.
But we have to wait and see what happens in matchplay and who gets burned out by it by playing deep into the weekend.

[Ron Mexico]

Best name for a sporting event ever.

[bigbuck]

but will they call the venue "the dump"

[bigbuck]

One guy we will need to keep an eye on for this tourney is nick watney. He has struck the ball well but putted horribly this year. He got his putting stroke back at pebble and may finish top 5 in putts per greens in regulation. He had a 12th place showing at phoenix last year and is coming off the anniversary of his win at buick. So should be relaxed and under the radar at 40 to 50-1
curious to see how he fares at matchplay. I believe he may have to play westwood.

[bigbuck]

I am sure JB Holmes can't wait to play here. He has only won twice and this is the course. He won, missed cut, won and missed cut.
With the way he is playing, should definitely contend at a price of 30-1 or more

[Ron Mexico]

Where do you get all your info from?

[bigbuck]

What info are you referring to?

[bigbuck]

If watney can beat westwood or even els at matchplay second and third round, that should give him a lot of confidence.

[bigbuck]

Even though Phi is on vacation next week by the end of the week he is working with his putting guru Dave Stockton in preparation for Phoenix. He's not that far off and should be double digit odds with Stricker and other top players in the field and his weak showing so far.

[Ron Mexico]

Originally Posted by bigbuck

What info are you referring to?

Most of it?

Have not met a guy that had so much info that was not a player.

[bigbuck]

Well, the facts such as the stats, i look them up online. I listen to interviews for facts such as the usga guy who talked about what they were going to do with the course set up. he was talking on the golf channel about that.
I read a lot for facts and other details.

The observations and analysis of players and what I think they will do and how they will perform are 100 percent mine.

My career has been as a political reporter and one-time freelance foreign correspondent in the Middle East so I know something about evalauting people and situations and how they will react. Plus I write about real estate today so I am into analysis and trends. So my day to day work over the last 25 years is perfect for handicapping golf because you are handicapping people and their trends

[Ron Mexico]

Originally Posted by bigbuck

Well, the facts such as the stats, i look them up online. I listen to interviews for facts such as the usga guy who talked about what they were going to do with the course set up. he was talking on the golf channel about that.
I read a lot for facts and other details.

The observations and analysis of players and what I think they will do and how they will perform are 100 percent mine.

My career has been as a political reporter and one-time freelance foreign correspondent in the Middle East so I know something about evalauting people and situations and how they will react. Plus I write about real estate today so I am into analysis and trends. So my day to day work over the last 25 years is perfect for handicapping golf because you are handicapping people and their trends

Damn..... That's awesome. Never seen someone be able to break down golfers before but you got it my man.

There are still a few guys I keep in touch with that might be able to help you. Kevin Sutherland, Paul Goydos, Scott McCarron, Nick Watney and Jason Gore. I usually talk to them a couple times a month. I will keep u updated on any insider info