Waste Management Open Betting Guide (2020)

The stars will be out this weekend in Phoenix as the annual Waste Management Open is scheduled to get underway to really kick the 2020 PGA Tour season into high gear. As an attendee for the better part of the last decade, I can confirm “The People’s Open,” as it’s come to be known, should be on every sports fan’s bucket list as the experience is far from your average golf tournament. Held Super Bowl weekend each year, the event grows in popularity with each iteration, drawing in well over half a million people over the weekend and creating an electric atmosphere that is seemingly more about a good time than the actual golf being played. Let’s take a closer look at the course itself and some players I see providing value as the weekend draws on.

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Course Preview

Originally designed in 1986, but famously re-designed in 2014 by Tom Weiskopf, the 7,261-yard TPC Scottsdale plays to a Par 71 and is, for the most part, your standard desert-designed course. The highlight of the course come tournament time is undoubtedly the par-3 16th hole on the Stadium Course that is completely enclosed by grandstands that have a capacity of 20,000. Most famous for a Tiger Woods hole in one at the 1997 Phoenix open, the hole is home to the most rambunctious fans on Tour, cheering and booing loudly when players hit or miss the green. While the rest of the course itself isn’t any more challenging than your average PGA Tour stop, golfers will have to navigate not just tight fairways but almost unparalleled crowds and fan interaction throughout the weekend.

Best Bets

Gary Woodland (vs. Tony Finau) (-110 at FanDuel)
Tour veteran Gary Woodland won this event just two years ago, going 18 under and eventually winning against Chez Ravie in a five-hole playoff. Currently eighth on Tour in driving accuracy, Woodland is looking to get back on track since winning the 2019 U.S. Open and TPC Scottsdale is the perfect course for him to do so. After 2018’s victory, Woodland finished T7 last year, and his aptitude for this course plays directly against his matchup opponent Tony Finau. In Finau’s last four appearances in this event, he has missed four straight cuts.

Top 10 Finish: Hideki Matsuyama (+185 at FanDuel)
When it comes to TPC Scottsdale, there are few professional players in the history of the Tour who have been as dominating on this course as Matsuyama. In his five career starts (in which he finished) here, Matsuyama has four top-fours, two victories, and a T-15 under his belt. If it were not for his putter going awry on him on Sunday last year, Matsuyama would’ve still very much been in the mix for his third win at the event. Prior to last week’s T45 at the Farmer’s Insurance Open, Matsuyama had finished T3 or higher in three out of his five prior events, and this is the perfect course for him to kick start his 2020 to get back on the map of the world’s most elite golfers.

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TJ Perun is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from TJ, check out his archive and follow him @JohnnyCovers.