Storylines worth watching at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open

Tomorrow begins an extended weekend of sports action that you could argue is the best weekend in the sporting world all year long, what with the Waste Management Phoenix Open and then the Super Bowl on Sunday. There are plenty of intriguing storylines going into this year’s WM Phoenix Open, here are the top ones we are watching this week.

Preston Summerhays looks to carry on the family legacy

This week young Preston Summerhays will become the first current Arizona State Sun Devil to tee it up in the Phoenix Open since Jon Rahm, he is just the second Amateur out of the local school to do so. Summerhays comes from a rich golfing lineage as the son of former PGA professional Boyd Summerhays and the nephew of pro golfer Daniel Summerhays.

Preston, who is the 72nd ranked Amateur in the world, has already played in some big events previously including the 2020 U.S. Open and the 2021 Barbasol Championship. Now he will get to play in an event that he once was a standard-bearer at when he was a young kid.

” to be out here on TOUR with guys that I aspire to compete against, it’s really cool and it’s a dream come true,” he said during an interview earlier this week. Of course, he does have some regular experience of playing alongside one of the world’s best golfers in Tony Finau, or “Uncle” Tony to Preston, for who his dad is the swing coach.

Will there be another three-time winner of the WM Phoenix Open at the end of this week?.

Four players have won the Phoenix Open on three different occasions, Phil Mickelson, Mark Calcavecchia, Gene Littler, and the great Arnold Palmer. Brooks Koepka or Hideki Matsuyama can join that historic group with a win this week.

Matsuyama won here in back-to-back years in 2016, and 2017. The world number 10 had his worst finish at this event in his last seven appearances here when he finished T42nd last year. Before that, he had finished inside of the top 20 in each appearance. Hideki will be looking for his third win already during the PGA’s 2021-22 season after picking up wins at both the ZOZO Championship and Sony Open. He will look to become a part of history this week with a third win at the Phoenix Open.

Brooks Koepka won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in his very first appearance here back in 2015, of course, he comes into the 2022 edition after picking up his second WM title here last year also. It’s been a slow start to the 2021-22 season for Brooks who has just one top 10 finish since the Open Championship last July.

Will this be the year that the famous 16th hole witnesses another Ace?

The ultimate party hole at the Stadium Course hasn’t witnessed a hole in one since 2015 when Francesco Molinari sent the crowd into a frenzy. There have been nine aces on the 16th hole since 1988, with of course the most famous being the Tiger Woods shot back in 1997 that came long before the famous hole was what players will experience this week.

There have been 28 combined hole-in-ones at the Waste Management Phoenix Open since 1987 with the most recent coming in 2020 when all three of J.B. Holmes, Scott Piercy, and Webb Simpson sent the crowd into a frenzy.

A third week in a row with a first time PGA winner?

Two weeks ago Luke List won for the first time on the PGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open, then last week saw Tom Hoge breakthrough for his first PGA win at Pebble Beach, will it be a third straight week that we see someone pick up their first PGA victory?.

The Phoenix Open has produced twelve first-time PGA winners throughout the years, with the most recent being Brooks in 2015. Perhaps one of the most interesting names to keep an eye on this week is the young and talented Scottie Scheffler who will surely secure that first PGA win before too long.

The 2020 PGA rookie of the year finished T7th here last year and he recorded ten top 10 finishes overall in 2021. He has two top 25 finishes in two starts to begin 2022.

Who will win Super Bowl 56 on Sunday?

You didn’t think I was going to finish up without mentioning the Super Bowl on Sunday, did you?. The WM Phoenix Open and the Super Bowl essentially go hand in hand nowadays, the tournament even decided to reposition itself on the PGA schedule in 2022 after the Super Bowl got pushed back a week this year.

A week after current and former NFL stars Josh Allen, Steve Young, Larry Fitzgerald, and Alex Smith picked up a golf club at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, stars of both the Los Angeles Rams and Cinnicinatti Bengals will compete for the whole enchilada this Sunday. So the question is, who ya got?.