Since moving to Arizona in November 2020 one of our favorite activities is to attend the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February each year. 2023 was the third year we attended the tournament and it was as good as ever.
Pictured above is our view from the grandstands about the 12th hole par 3 green.
Here's a view of the crowd in the 12th hole grandstands. This was one of the few holes where the grandstands were open to the general admission tickets we had. While the Phoenix Open is known for the crazy action at the iconic 16th hole surrounded by high priced suites, we prefer this location.
We saw many good shots from the pro golfers and some bad ones. This pga pro had an awful shot from a green side bunker which landed precariously close to a cactus! He ended up with a triple bogey on the hole.
Other spectators walked the course following their favorite golfers. Here is a crowd following Rory McElroy's threesome as he approached the 12th green.
After watching the action at the 12th green in the morning we walked some of the course ourselves after lunch. We were able to position ourselves right next to the 3rd hole tee box where we had close up views of pga pros ready to tee off on this par 5. Pictured above is the eventual tournament champion - Scottie Scheffler.
We saw pga star Jon Rahm up close too! This year's Phoenix Open had the best field of top pga pros in the three years we have attended the event.
If you are visiting Arizona in early February we recommend attending this golf tournament! (most years on the week preceding the Super Bowl) We like to attend the opening round on Thursday. This way we avoid the weekend crowds (Friday and Saturday are the busiest days). On Thursday we get to see the full field play, too, instead of after the 2nd round cut Friday evening.
