Waste Management Phoenix Open R1

February 04-07
TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona
$7,300,000
Round 2, Round 3, Round 4

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Fans are back this week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open with attendance capped at 5,000. A small number for an event that typically has the highest attendance on the PGA Tour (over 700,000 in 2018) but the most allowed since the start of the pandemic, making for an unusually quiet event.

“Probably made the quietest almost hole-in-one ever on 16,” said co-leader Matthew NeSmith. “I got about six claps there and hit it to 6 inches.”

“When there’s a lot of people it almost becomes white noise,” said Xander Schauffele. “Out here, I chunked my chip and some guy was like, ‘Dang, he duffed it’. I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, I just duffed the crap out of that chip.'”

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NeSmith and Mark Hubbard fired 8-under 63s for a one-shot lead over Nate Lashley and Sam Burns.

“I’m just trying to keep it in play, keep it in the short grass, give my irons a chance to speak for themselves, and that’s usually how I play my best golf,” said NeSmith.

Hubbard made birdies on five of his last six holes to tie NeSmith with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

“I kind of found a little something in my swing,” said Hubbard. “Earlier in the day I was kind of whipping it a little inside, so I kind of straightened my takeaway a little bit, and that kind of got things in motion.”

Lashley, who played for the University of Arizona and lives in Scottsdale, is enjoying being able to play at home on a course he knows well.

Burns made nine birdies and two bogeys on the par-4s 6th and 11th to join Lashley at 7-under.

Steve Stricker, who will captain the U.S. Ryder Cup Team at Whistling Straits later this year and was playing with fellow captain Padraig Harrington, lies two shots behind the leaders at 6-under.

“I made some putts,” said Stricker. “Felt like the old Steve Stricker. I am old, but I don’t feel 53 or 4. I feel like I still have a little bit of game left in me.”

“These guys, they all hit it 300 plus, 320s, 330s, and I’m just trying to get it in the fairway and get it up to 280. So the game has changed.”

Billy Horschel, Tom Hoge, Ted Potter Jr., Keegan Bradley, Kyoung-Hoon Lee and Xander Schauffele are all tied for sixth place at 5-under.

“The greens are perfect,” said Schauffele. “If you hit a good putt today, they were going in.”

Schauffele’s playing partner, Rory McIlroy, started his round on the 10th with a double-bogey then bogeyed the 11th before making five birdies for a 70.

“It was a good battle back,” said McIlroy. “Being 3 over through two isn’t ideal, especially on this golf course where you sort of need to make birdies.”

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Pos.	Player	To Par	R1
T1	Mark Hubbard	-8	63
T1	Matthew NeSmith	-8	63
T3	Sam Burns	-7	64
T3	Nate Lashley	-7	64
5	Steve Stricker	-6	65
T6	Keegan Bradley	-5	66
T6	Tom Hoge	-5	66
T6	Billy Horschel	-5	66
T6	Kyoung-Hoon Lee	-5	66
T6	Ted Potter, Jr.	-5	66
T6	Xander Schauffele	-5	66
T12	Adam Hadwin	-4	67
T12	James Hahn	-4	67
T12	Bo Hoag	-4	67
T12	Michael Kim	-4	67
T12	Carlos Ortiz	-4	67
T12	Andrew Putnam	-4	67
T12	Scottie Scheffler	-4	67
T12	Jordan Spieth	-4	67
T12	Scott Stallings	-4	67
T21	Ryan Armour	-3	68
T21	Cameron Champ	-3	68
T21	Nick Hardy	-3	68
T21	John Huh	-3	68
T21	Zach Johnson	-3	68
T21	Matt Jones	-3	68
T21	Russell Knox	-3	68
T21	Satoshi Kodaira	-3	68
T21	Brooks Koepka	-3	68
T21	Henrik Norlander	-3	68
T21	J.T. Poston	-3	68
T21	Jon Rahm	-3	68
T21	Kevin Streelman	-3	68
T21	Brendon Todd	-3	68
T21	Harold Varner III	-3	68
T21	Matthew Wolff	-3	68
T37	Byeong Hun An	-2	69
T37	Daniel Berger	-2	69
T37	Stewart Cink	-2	69
T37	Corey Conners	-2	69
T37	Emiliano Grillo	-2	69
T37	Max Homa	-2	69
T37	Patton Kizzire	-2	69
T37	Matt Kuchar	-2	69
T37	Louis Oosthuizen	-2	69
T37	Pat Perez	-2	69
T37	Chez Reavie	-2	69
T37	Bo Van Pelt	-2	69
T37	Richy Werenski	-2	69
T50	Brice Garnett	-1	70
T50	Talor Gooch	-1	70
T50	William Gordon	-1	70
T50	Beau Hossler	-1	70
T50	Chris Kirk	-1	70
T50	Tom Lewis	-1	70
T50	Jamie Lovemark	-1	70
T50	Denny McCarthy	-1	70
T50	Rory McIlroy	-1	70
T50	Ryan Moore	-1	70
T50	Grayson Murray	-1	70
T50	Ryan Palmer	-1	70
T50	Sam Ryder	-1	70
T50	Brendan Steele	-1	70
T50	Brian Stuard	-1	70
T50	Nick Taylor	-1	70
T50	Justin Thomas	-1	70
T50	Michael Thompson	-1	70
T50	Jimmy Walker	-1	70
T50	Xinjun Zhang	-1	70
Projected Cut: ( -1 )
T70	Austin Cook	E	71
T70	Jason Day	E	71
T70	Dylan Frittelli	E	71
T70	Brian Harman	E	71
T70	Padraig Harrington	E	71
T70	Russell Henley	E	71
T70	Charley Hoffman	E	71
T70	Jerry Kelly	E	71
T70	Si Woo Kim	E	71
T70	Hideki Matsuyama	E	71
T70	Cheng Tsung Pan	E	71
T70	Kyle Stanley	E	71
T70	Sepp Straka	E	71
T70	Cameron Tringale	E	71
T70	Bubba Watson	E	71
T70	Will Zalatoris	E	71
T86	Mark Anguiano	1	72
T86	Scott Brown	1	72
T86	Wyndham Clark	1	72
T86	Jason Dufner	1	72
T86	Harris English	1	72
T86	Brian Gay	1	72
T86	Lucas Glover	1	72
T86	Scott Harrington	1	72
T86	J.B. Holmes	1	72
T86	Sungjae Im	1	72
T86	Kelly Kraft	1	72
T86	Luke List	1	72
T86	Adam Long	1	72
T86	Jesse Mueller	1	72
T86	Doc Redman	1	72
T86	Davis Riley	1	72
T86	Patrick Rodgers	1	72
T86	Adam Schenk	1	72
T86	Charl Schwartzel	1	72
T86	Robby Shelton	1	72
T86	Kevin Stadler	1	72
T86	Robert Streb	1	72
T108	Luke Donald	2	73
T108	Martin Laird	2	73
T108	Webb Simpson	2	73
T108	Vaughn Taylor	2	73
T108	Kevin Tway	2	73
T108	Vincent Whaley	2	73
T108	Erik van Rooyen	2	73
T115	Tyler Duncan	3	74
T115	Rickie Fowler	3	74
T115	Danny Lee	3	74
T115	Hunter Mahan	3	74
T115	Troy Merritt	3	74
T115	Camilo Villegas	3	74
T115	Aaron Wise	3	74
T122	Joel Dahmen	4	75
T122	Harry Higgs	4	75
T122	William McGirt	4	75
T122	Keith Mitchell	4	75
T122	Martin Trainer	4	75
T127	John Augenstein (a)	5	76
T127	Gary Woodland	5	76
T129	Sung Kang	6	77
T129	Rory Sabbatini	6	77
T129	Hudson Swafford	6	77
132	Sebastián Muñoz	7	78