Sunday Swing | Scheffler Defends Title in Phoenix

Welcome back to the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week the PGA Tour was in Scottsdale, Arizona for one of the best stops of the season- the Waste Management Phoenix Open. 

WM Phoenix Open - Tournament History 

The WM Phoenix Open is one of the older stops on Tour dating all the way back to 1932. This event has been played at TPC Scottsdale (Stadium Course) for 36 years now which is the longest continuous stretch a TPC course has hosted a professional golf tournament. The tournament has also become one of the most popular amongst fans, and draws crowds of over 200,000 people per day. The 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale features a stadium-like atmosphere that holds upwards of 20,000 fans. Throughout the years we have seen some iconic moments including Tiger Woods’ hole-in-one at 16 in 1997, caddie races, and more recently a beer shower as a result of Sam Ryder’s hole-in-one on Saturday in 2022. The course itself typically yields plenty of birdies due to its reachable par-5’s and fairly flat greens. The rough is also fairly forgiving, although there are plenty of native desert areas that can cause trouble if you hit it too far off line. 

The previous five champions are as follows: 

2023 - Scottie Scheffler (-19)
2022 - Scottie Scheffler ( -16) 
2021 - Brooks Koepka (-19) 
2020 - Webb Simpson (-17) 
2019 - Rickie Fowler (-17) 

The Big Swing 

Scottie Scheffler defends his title in Scottsdale: One year ago, Scottie Scheffler secured his first PGA Tour victory at the WM Phoenix Open after a heated playoff with certified winner Patrick Cantlay. Not only was it a significant milestone in his young career, it also opened the floodgates for one of the hottest streaks of golf in the history on the PGA Tour. Scheffler won four events in six weeks (including a green jacket at Augusta) and soared to No. 1 in the official world golf rankings. This week however, Scheffler arrived hoping to reclaim his No. 1 rank and defend his first ever title – both of which he did successfully. 

As the week progressed, some of the hottest players in golf rose to the top of the leaderboard (as is usually the case at the Phoenix Open) including Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, and Jordan Spieth. Thanks to some tee-to-green dominance, Scheffler built a two-shot lead entering Sunday over Rahm and Canadian Nick Taylor. Unfortunately, Rahm’s magic couldn’t continue and while he managed to post a 3-under round, it wasn’t enough. Taylor proved to be Scheffler’s toughest challenger, playing the first 10 holes in five-under-par. The pair battled all day, but when Scheffler drilled a 21-foot eagle putt on the 13th hole, Taylor just couldn’t quite catch him after a costly bogey at the 16th. When Scheffler birdied the 17th, it was all but a formality.  

Winner’s Bag - Scottie Scheffler

Team TaylorMade gets on the board this week as Scottie Scheffler successfully defended his WM Phoenix Open title in impressive fashion. He was in control for most of the weekend, earning a share of the lead through 36 holes and never looking back. From the tee, Scheffler was sporting a TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus driver at 8 degrees. He pairs that with a TaylorMade Stealth 2 3-wood (15 degrees) and Srixon ZU85 3 and 4-irons. Most notable for Scheffler at TPC Scottsdale was his iron game, leading the field in strokes gained: approach with his  TaylorMade P7TW irons (5-PW).  Around the greens, Scheffler plays a set of Titleist wedges including 2 SM8s (50 and 56 degrees), and a Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60 degrees). Scheffler briefly toyed around with a new putter before this session began, but he ultimately stuck with his Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS tour prototype – a decision that clearly worked out in his favor.

Key Stats: 

Strokes Gained: Off The Tee- 18th

Strokes Gained: Approach- 1st

Strokes Gained: Around The Green- 19th 

Strokes Gained: Putting- 13th

Strokes Gained: Tee To Green- 1st

Strokes Gained: Total- 1st