Sahith Theegala hung on to his one stroke lead today after three rounds in the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona. This PGA Tour tournament advertises itself as “The Greatest Show on Grass,” and it truly is. I was out there today, and the gobs of fans who attend, and the many sophisticated grandstands they have, is astounding. Record Saturday attendance has been about 225,000 people in the past, and with today’s perfect 80 degrees temperature and full sun, it looked like the tournament may have come close to that record today.
The WM (Waste Management) Phoenix Open boasts a past tournament record for the week at almost 800,000. In my day on the regular PGA Tour, we could not have fathomed having crowds in the future like this. However, this valley is surely the best place to set such records with its mild winters where the snowbirds flock to have fun in the sun.
But such huge crowds also have to do with former Commissioner and PGA Tour player Deane Beman’s vision of creating stadium golf courses, such as here. The PGA Tour now owns about thirty of these golf courses, and many of its tournaments are staged at them. Stadium golf courses can accommodate so many more tournament fans than your average golf course, which might be able to have more than 30,000-40,000.
Theegala managed to overcome a double bogey on the second hole today, which I saw him do, to shoot a two-under par 71 for a three-round total of 199. He has a one stroke lead on superstar, four-time major winner Brooks Koepka. Four players were one more stroke back of him, at 201. It could be quite a shoot-out tomorrow, with excellent weather again predicted. This tournament usually gets finished right before the NFL Super Bowl begins, which is hosting the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Theegala was not just in a fight with other PGA Tour players, but with the galleries as well since he was not exactly splitting the fairways off the tees today. After his round he said in a television interview, “I’m really exhausted right now. Probably, I hit it in the desert five times. I got my ball stepped on twice, got my ball picked up twice. Very draining, for sure.” Indeed, there’s nothing desert golf with this many fans.
Theegala is twenty-four year old Indian-American who grew up in Chino, California, and starred at Pepperdine University in California. But he had to get a sponsor’s exemption to even get in this tournament. If he wins tomorrow, he would be the first to ever win the Phoenix Open–which is the oldest tournament on the PGA Tour, beginning back in the 1950s I think–with a sponsor’s exemption. In fact, that has rarely ever happened. Theegala seemed like such a likable guy in the interview. He’s got kind of crazy golf swing; but they say he’s got quite the short game even though he’s about 6’3″ tall. I’m pulling for him to pull it off tomorrow.
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