FBR Open Preview

TPC of Scottsdale-Stadium Course, Scottsdale, Arizona

We had our first Tiger sighting this past week at the Buick Invitational and he worked his magic once again with a birdie at the 18th on Sunday to force a playoff in which he won on the second hole of sudden death. He isn’t in the field for this week’s FBR Open but there are plenty of big names to make this one another exciting event. Five of the world’s top 10 players and 12 former champions are in the field.

Go low or go home is the motto at the FBR as the champion has been at least -11 every year since 1978. Every winner since 1995 will be teeing off on Thursday in what should be another massive crowd supporting them. This tournament annually brings in attendance marks of a half million with the majority of those backing local boy Phil Mickelson. He certainly won’t be the only fan favorite however.

Mickelson is coming off an 8th place finish at the Buick and he is the odds on favorite this week in Scottsdale where he used to reside. He won this event last year, his second FBR championship, and he has three top tens the last three years at the TPC of Scottsdale. His finishes have gotten better in each of the last four years after he missed the cut back in 2001. He has two top tens in two events this season.

Chris DiMarco will be making his 2006 PGA debut this week but it isn’t his first tournament of the season however. He won the Abu Dhabi Championship two weeks ago which was his first tournament win in four years. Big things are expected this season from DiMarco and it all starts here. He won this event in 2002 and has three top fives to his credit over the last five years.

Mark Calcavecchia is a two-time winner here and he owns the second best scoring average of 68.7 behind Vijay Singh. In 19 career FBR starts, he has nine top tens, the most of any other player in the history of this event. He has quietly started this season out very well, with two top 20 finishes in his first three events. A 73 in the final round of the Bob Hope knocked him down to a tie for 44th.

Singh took the last two weeks off but returns to a course that he owns. He has a career average of 68.6 at the FBR, which is the best average score of all-time in this tournament. He has three top tens in the last four years and he is a two-time winner, his last coming in 2003 where he posed four rounds of 67 or better. This season, he finished 2nd at the season opening Mercedes and 6th at the Sony the following week.

One player who has started the season great is Jesper Parnevik, who posted his second straight top ten at the Buick. He was one back with four holes left but two bogeys on 15 and 17 dropped him down into a tie for 10th. He is another past winner of the FBR, he won in 1998, and finished second the year prior to that. His lowest score from last season, a 65, came at this event in the final round on Sunday.

Matt Fargo is a documented member of the Professional Handicappers League. Read all of his articles at http://www.procappers.com/Matt_Fargo.htm.