The Spaniard starts as a favorite in the WM Open in Phoenix, one of the great sporting events in the world, which generates 450 million dollars
Starting at three in the morning this Thursday, thousands of fans will begin to gather in front of the main gate of the Scottsdale TPC, just 18 kilometers northwest of downtown Phoenix. In the middle of the very Sonoran Desert and some 1,500 meters above sea level, appears a green oasis with two golf courses, converted this week into the venue for the greatest spectacle of this sport.
Neither the Ryder Cup, nor the Augusta Masters, nor The Open Championship, nor the US Open. The WM Open in Phoenix is the main golf event and one of the references in the world of sports. The figures leave no doubt: 700,000 viewers and 450 million dollars in return in just one week. Specifically, the Phoenix Open generated 453 million in 2022, with more than 126,000 visitors from outside Arizona during the event, hundreds of restaurant stalls, VIP areas, millions of liters of beer, etc… In short, an activity that generates more than 4,000 jobs. The economic impact of the last Ryder Cup held in Wisconsin barely exceeded 130 million dollars, a figure similar to what the Super Bowl will generate this Sunday, which, coinciding with the end of the golf tournament, will pit the Philadelphia Eagles against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Behind these dizzying figures is a golf tournament. The players who take part were, until this year, the least of it. But the PGA Tour has wanted to reward the good work of so many years and the WM Phoenix Open has been designated as ‘a high tournament’, which means that its prize pool has exceeded the 8.5 million dollars it distributed last year. , at 20 for which the best players in the world will fight. Of the 25 best golfers in the world ranking, 23 will be present this week in Phoenix. “I think this was a ‘high tournament’ before we knew it was going to be. No matter what the purse is, this tournament is going to be what it is. Very few sporting events in the world can comfortably take place in the same week than the Super Bowl and still have the impact that they have like this,” he said yesterday Jon Rahm. “That being said, I don’t think it’s everyone’s favorite. I think you either love it or hate it. There’s no middle ground. For me, I love it. I want to come every year. It’s high on my list, but I know some people who put it at the end of their list,” he finished qualifying.
The party on the 16th hole
What is the formula that a tournament lost in the desert has become a reference in the sport. The answer is party. In the early 1990s, a group of students from the local Arizona State University decided to meet up and spend Saturday afternoon at the golf tournament that the PGA Tour organized every year. The ideal place was hole 16, the last par three of the course. The meeting that began with a few beers, would end over the years with a hole completely surrounded by a gigantic bleachers that make up a stadium for 20,000 people who pack only 16 during the four days of golf. The amount of public that normally attends a golf tournament every day is concentrated in Phoenix around a single hole. The party on the 16th hole and its surroundings continues and the images of a veritable rain of beers and glasses that invaded the green in 2022 made the PGA Tour blush and went around the world.
Jon Rahm plays in this week at home. “Sleeping in my own bed is a great advantage. It is simply waking up at home and knowing that you are at home. Morning and night routine with the children,” says the Spaniard who studied at Arizona State and has his residence very close to the field where will compete this week. In college he met his wife Kelley, who will closely follow in the footsteps of the player from Barrika, who this week could once again be number one in the world if he achieved victory or second place. He will also depend on what he does Rory Mcilroy, the Northern Irishman, number one in the world, competes for the first time in 2023 on the PGA Tour and will also meet directly in the same tournament with Rahm on that golf course. Undoubtedly the two most fit players on the world scene right now
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