When Scottie Scheffler arrived at the Phoenix 2022 open, at most, he was curiosity.
Golf fans knew its booming profile, with the first 10 in the previous three majors. Some had highlighted it as a game value, with newly legalized sports betting in Arizona. But while Scheffler was heading around TPC Scottsdale, he was not serenade of songs and cheers like the stars of past tournaments. It was still Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth, the crowd wanted to see.
“It looks like a life,” says Scheffler now, rethinking these days.
This is because, in a way, this is the case. This tournament marked the start. Scheffler won a playoff series this Sunday against Patrick Cantlay for his very first PGA Tour title. Everything since has been a whirlwind. Win, win and more winning. Thirteen on the PGA Tour alone, plus an Olympic title. Two green jackets in three years. Undoubtedly the best golfer in the world.
Add the arrest heard in the world at least the PGA championship of the year and Scheffler went up to the center of the Golf Consciousness, just as his peers have broken out, either lack of golf liv, or by road struggles.
“When I started to come and play this tournament, I went at 16 and few people know who I am,” said Scheffler. “But playing the tour of training yesterday, the people of the crowd sing my name and it’s very fun. It’s cool to be able to enter this environment and make people applaud you. »»
Three years after his first victory, Scheffler’s Rise reminds us of the possibilities of courses at the Phoenix Open.
On Wednesday, during a sunny pro-Am which went without a hitch, it was a summit. The players did not talk about the debacle last year when overcrowding and a record number of arrests made the headlines. They did not focus on the question of whether fans of this year will be more limited, because many players hoped publicly a year ago.
Instead, there was a typical optimism air before the tournament.
“It’s really cool to be able to play in front of our fans, and it’s a week when we can play in front of many of them,” said Scheffler.
A few minutes later, Justin Thomas – Scheffler’s second favorite this week – echoed the world’s number 1 chorus.
“Obviously, the atmosphere is unique, and that we all know how to enter it and watch it on television as a golf fan when I was a child,” said Thomas. “It’s fun, twice to put myself in the running on Sunday and play in these last groups. The energy is very high. It’s a place I can’t wait to come every year.
This is true for the stars like Thomas, because they are the ones who deserve the objective of the noisiest crowds. This is also true for less known players on the tour – those who have never experienced a scene like this.
“Growed up wanting to play in the stadium, so it’s a really cool experience,” said Matt McCarty, who grew up in Scottsdale and went to high school at the bottom of the street in Desert Mountain.
During these years, he was often a standard tournament carrier, tasting what it is to be inside the stadium on the 16th. And during the offseason, TPC Scottsdale often served as a practice lessons, Mainly at the Champions of the Champions Course on the other side of the street. But it will be the first time that his first time will play the 16th hole – and the rest of the stadium holes – in a tournament environment.
“Really excited,” said McCarty. “… It will be very fun.”
It can also be, as Scheffler proved it once, the beginning of much more.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Justin Thomas, the excited Scottie Scheffler players for Phoenix Open
