If the PGA Tour is a sort of traveling circus, going from town to town, then its Big Tent is the 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale during the WM Phoenix Open.
There are more important tournaments on the calendar (majors, the Players) and tournaments with more cash and points (signature events), but no event matches the attendance and volume of the “Greatest Show on Grass.”
As one story goes, 2009 champion Kenny Perry was checking into a hotel and the clerk asked if he was in for the tournament, to which he said yes and the clerk said “I love the golf tournament, I go there every night!” (The story has been retold so often that variations include Perry being at a barbershop and at a restaurant.)
The tournament’s epicenter is the par-3 16th hole, which is completely encircled with grandstands and multi-story suites. There are harder one-shotters on Tour but none louder than the 163-yard hole, where 20,000 fans are ready to boo any shot that doesn’t hit the green.
Tens of thousands also filter out elsewhere at TPC Scottsdale including the risk/reward drivable par-4 17th and par-4 18th, which has seen its share of playoffs over the years including last year, when Nick Taylor defeated Charley Hoffman.
The year prior, Taylor was runner-up to defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who fell short last year in his three-peat bid but is back in 2025. The world No. 1 is one of three top-10 players in the field (Hideki Matsuyama, Wyndham Clark) and 15 top 30 players, giving the WMPO one of the Tour’s better fields for a non-signature event.
The purse is $9.2 million, with $1,656,000 to the winner, and other past champs in the field include Hideki Matsuyama (a two-time winner), Rickie Fowler, Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland.
Below is the current field, follow the X post from PGA Tour Communications for further updates.
WM Phoenix Open field updates:
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) February 1, 2025
Viktor Hovland - WD; Paul Waring - IN https://t.co/FpD2yVsG4h
This article was originally published on www.si.com as 2025 WM Phoenix Open Full Field: 15 of World Top 30 at ‘Greatest Show on Grass’.
