Afterthoughts on the Phoenix Open

Scott Behmer, Southern Arizona Bureau Chief

February 3, 1999
SCOTTSDALE, Az - In what has turned into the biggest party in Arizona, the Phoenix Open was once again a tremendous success, with exciting play from the world's best along with huge crowds, creating an atmosphere unlike any other in the world of golf. Here are some thoughts on why Rocco Mediate won, Tiger Woods lost, and Jonathan Kaye's father was the biggest hero of them all.

Rocco: The only player to shoot in the 60's for the first three rounds, it was his consistent ball-striking and putting that won him the tournament. Playing a soft, high-draw, and finding the fairway time-after-time, Rocco was able to avoid the notorious rough that victimized the rest of the field. He explained, "There's no one in this field strong enough to get the ball out of the rough and keep it on the green from 150 yards." Once on the green Rocco would put the dagger in the field's heart with his patented long-putter. Making every clutch-putt, so that his score only went down, he continually padded his lead until it was insurmountable. And when asked about playing with Tiger, he responded, "He's fun to play with....I want to be in there and feel nervous....It's been a long time." Rocco may not be used to the lead, but if he keeps up this play he'll become a fixture on the leaderboard.

Tiger Tidbits: On the other hand, the #1 ranked player in the world just couldn't get the flat-stick going. When Tiger made his run on Friday, it began with a birdie on his first hole, which would be the only putt over 25 feet that he made all week. Tiger told me, "It rattled around and moved the hole back four feet. Yeah, I knew it was quick coming over that hill, but I had to get the ball up over the hill, and hit it way too hard." Tiger knows that with just one birdie, his 100,000 fans explode and be eager for another. Tiger remarked, "After a birdie, they start running to the next hole."

Attendance: With Tiger's 100,000 fans, any attempt at running to the next hole, though, turns into a crawl. The Phoenix Open is the most spectated golf tournament in the world, but I think with last year's record-setting 467,600 spectators, attendance numbers maxed-out. Consistently 5-to-10 thousand less each day than the previous year, this year's attendance was 423,200, and it still felt like there wasn't room for anyone else. The Thunderbirds should be happy, though. They had Tiger near the lead, and enjoyed gorgeous golf weather. The frost delays slowed things up a bit, but no matter where you play in the winter, you're going to have frost delays. In the future, I expect the attendance to level off around 425,000, which should keep the Phoenix Open atop the Tour's attendance charts.

#17: #16 gets all the hype, but the tournament was decided on #17. 332 yards, and driveable by the long hitters, spectators saw Tiger go for it in the first three rounds, yet never reach and instead find the water on all three days.

In the first round, one of the most memorable moments of the week occurred at 9:30 in the morning, just after restarting from the frost delay. Tiger's drive finished in a hazard, next to the lake on the green's left, forcing him to take off his shoes and socks, roll up his pants to his knees, and wade in the water to play his ball. Tiger made par, even though playing #17 at its easiest pin position. In the second round, Tiger drove right of the green and tried to hit a low spinning second. It never checked up and also went in the water. However, Tiger made another memorable shot by holing his par chip. He followed those heroics with a birdie chip-in on #18, but even that could not make up for his par on the easiest par 4 on the course. In the third round, Rocco came to the tee at -8, while Tiger was at -5. Wanting to cut the lead down, Tiger went for the green and instead drove it into the left lake. Visibly disgusted with himself, Tiger ended up with bogey, while Rocco made a big-breaking 30-foot putt to increase his lead by two. Rocco left at -9, with Tiger at -4. On the easiest par 4 on the course, Tiger had given away four strokes in the first three rounds. Then, Rocco's most pivotal putts in the final round came on #17 when he rolled a 38-yard putt within ten-feet and made it for birdie. This gave him a two-stroke lead and security going into #18.

The Kaye Family: 1999 may turn into a break-through year for Jonathan Kaye. After being near the leaders on the opening day at the Hope, he followed with an 83 and explained, "I got stuck at Bermuda Dunes when the wind was howling, a dust storm." But he came back with a 62, the biggest one day turn-around in Tour history. This week, after the second round he was tied for third and went off in the second-to-last group. On his first hole, #10, Bill Glasson was in his birdie putt's backstroke when an elderly woman in the gallery suffered a heart attack. Within seconds, Jonathan's father, a doctor, was at her side performing CPR. Later, the paramedics arrived, placed her on a stretcher and took her to a nearby hospital where she spent the night.

Once again, the Phoenix Open was a wonderful week of golf. As expected the majority of the spectators came to watch Tiger and party. With the natural amphitheaters behind the greens and tees most were able to do both, enjoy the world's most popular golfer while partying at the same time. Then again, partying is never a problem at the Phoenix Open.