If you care little for the NFL, and the only rooting interest in the Super Bowl are the former ‘Dawgs playing in the game, then you might be interested in some golf. But not your boring “Quiet, Please!” variety. Oh no, this is the tournament for those young at heart and liver.
Tournament: WM Phoenix Open, February 6-9, 2025
Course: TPC Scottsdale, par 71, 7,261 yards. On the northern outskirts of Phoenix, AZ and a scant 20 miles from the Arizona State campus in Tempe.
Purse: $9.2 million, with $1.65 million to the winner.
Defending Champ: Nick Taylor. The Canadian opened with a first round 60 (tying the course record), then held on through the tournament. He actually needed to birdie 3 of his final 4 holes Sunday to force a playoff with WM sponsored Charley Hoffman, and beat Hoffman on the 2nd playoff hole. This was a nice follow-up to his Canadian Open win in 2023, the first native maple syrup-licker to do so. It was so popular north of the border that his silhouette is now the tournament logo. Seriously.
Fun Fact: This is pretty much a full-on festival, with a full week of concerts and events that both precede the actual golf and finish up most nights. They had a concert last Saturday, 2 of the practice rounds have free admission, the Fan Zone is sponsored by Coors Light, and the musical guests on various nights include Jelly Roll, Luke Bryan, and Nickelback.
TV Times: Thursday-Friday: 4-8 p.m. (Golf Channel), Saturday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6:30 p.m. (CBS), Sunday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
‘Dawgs in the Field: 9. Will Chandler, Brian Harman, Chris Kirk, Kevin Kisner, Keith Mitchell, Greyson Sigg, Sepp Straka, Davis Thompson, and Brendon Todd.
The crowds will be big (give or take 100,000 a day), the fans raucous, and the course pristine in a nature-never-intended-this kind of way. While a swathe of the country is frigid and digging out from ice, the high 70’s Arizona weather is perfect for thousands of college students, drunk semi-retired frat boys, and wannabe social influencers to congregate and make revels. I heard there were over 80 arrests at the tournament last year.
Scottie Scheffler is the betting favorite, but UGA’s own Sepp Straka is leading the FedEx Cup points race early in the season. Russell Henley and Harris English are also in the top 10. Straka is showing the best form amongst former Bulldogs, but with 9 in the field, we should see some red and black near the top of the leaderboard.
In this new world era where the first Wednesday of February passes with a whimper and spring practice is a few weeks off, this might be a good distraction. Unless you’re trying to either prove or disprove the Swift effect or the NFL scripting the outcome. Good luck with that. But as always…
GO ‘DAWGS!!!!