Like Austin Powers “Goldmember” and Home Alone’s “Lost in New York” one may state the Marathon Mark sequel as “Frost in the Desert.” The Waste Management Phoenix Open was pushed to a Monday finish at the TPC at Scottsdale due to a five hour frost delay on Thursday coupled with an hour and a half delay on Friday. But the unseasonably cold weather was not enough to keep away the usual raucous crowd that makes up the most attended tour stop of the season.The crazies that line the 16th hole were out again in full force cheering, jeering, chanting, booing and basically making it the second most difficult short iron par three in the world (see 17th at TPC Sawgrass). The house was brought down numerous times throughout the week. Rickie Fowler’s near hole in one, Jarrod Lyle’s actual hole in one and Phil Mickelson’s 35ft birdie bomb made the place explode. But the story of the week on the 16th was Billy Mayfair slipping into a Pat Tillman #42 jersey and hitting the flagstick before draining the 15 footer to an arousing explosion from the Sun Devil faithful.
As for the tournament, the awkward everyman Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey stole the show for the first three rounds with his herky-jerky swing and his duel rain gloves. This Ex-Big Breaker had played on nearly every tour across America over the past decade, and has finally arrived to the show and plans to stay. But entering the final round he had run-ins with some of the hottest players on Tour at the moment with previous winner Mark Wilson and previous multiple high finisher Bill Haas. When push came to shove, the winner rose to the occasion, even with unexpected heat.
Wilson held a one shot lead over Gainey on the 17th tee, but was now looking out his side window at Jason Dufner, whose 66 had him in the house tied with Wilson. Haas was out of the picture after a struggle in his final round. Speaking of struggle, when the final group walked off the 17th green, “Two Gloves” had shot himself out of the picture suffering an inexplicable triple-bogey seven on the reachable risk/reward par 4. After a par on the 72nd hole, we strapped in for our third playoff in the first five tour stops. After all was said and done in a difficult week, it was Wilson again who outlasted the field for his second marathon victory of the season, vaulting him well atop the FedEx Cup standings.
Because we know where Wilson stands (see Marathon Mark) I will round this out with the top 10 finishers: 2 Dufner, T3 Vijay and Laird, T5 Watney and My Boy (and ROY) Gary Woodland, and T8 Snedeker, Simpson, Yang, Couch, and “Two Gloves.” Despite the delays the Thunderbirds put together yet another successful event in one of the Tour’s oldest tour stops.
