This is it — Phoenix Open week, time to party-down on the PGA Tour.
The 16th hole returns as perhaps the most (in)famous hole as far as regular PGA Tour events go and attendance figures go through the roof, with as many as 200,000 fans jamming the TPC Scottsdale on any given day.
This year the old and new attractions are Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm.
Rahm is a huge deal now that he grabbed his first PGA Tour win last week at Torrey Pines. His closing 30 and 60-foot eagle putt at the 72nd hole were instant classics.
Rahm has great history at the Phoenix Open, he finished in the top five in 2015 as a junior at Arizona State and will share the main stage this week with fellow Arizona State alum Mickelson.
Mickelson has been a fixture at Scottsdale, it was there in 2013 when he nearly shot 59. His putt at the ninth hole (his 18th of the day) looked in all the way then did a cruel 180-degree lip-out, leading many to refer to Mickelson’s 60 as a 59 1/2.
The PGA Tour wasted no time in creating two really attractive groups for the first 36-holes.
Rahm will be paired with Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler. Fowler is the old man of that group at age 28. Spieth’s 23 and Rahm’s 22.
It was imaginative to put Mickelson in with a pair of 59-shooters — Justin Thomas and Adam Hadwin.
Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama will play the first two days with Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger.
