The PGA Tour’s most raucous event, the Waste Management Phoenix Open — yeah, I haven’t really gotten used to the name yet either — tees off Thursday and has a decidedly ASU feel this year.
Two ASU golfers have qualified as amateurs to play in the event with the big names of the sport (sans one prolific figure, of course).
For Sun Devil senior Braxton Marquez, a spot in the tournament carries special meaning.
Marquez grew up in Scottsdale, learning golf from the person he admired most, his father Randy. Last spring, cancer claimed the elder Marquez’s life, leaving Braxton to pick up the pieces.
Randy Marquez owned a catering business that worked the Phoenix Open every year, and Braxton was always there to help out and catch a look at the world’s greatest players.
“Making this tournament means a lot to him,” ASU coach Randy Lein said.
In wet conditions during a qualifying round, Marquez shot a 68 at the McCormick Ranch Golf Club to earn his way into the event. I have spoken with Marquez a few times, and he’s a hard guy not to root for.
If you are walking the fairways of the TPC Scottsdale this weekend, be sure to throw up a pitchfork in his direction. Just not during his backswing, of course.
The best ASU golfer nobody knows about has also earned his way into the event that draws some of college’s biggest crowds.
Philip Francis hasn’t teed up for the Sun Devils this season. After transferring from UCLA, the product of Notre Dame Prep in Scottsdale has to sit out of competition this season per NCAA rules.
It doesn’t mean Francis hasn’t been hard at work getting ready for next season, though. He has been working with coaches to reconstruct his swing, something Lein said players competing in tournaments every week don’t always have the luxury to do.
The results seem to be paying off. In addition to the 67 Francis shot to earn the mark as the lowest qualifier, he also shot a 64 in pre-qualifying. Dark horse Open champion, anybody?
Marquez and Francis are the latest examples of the quality of golfers that emerge from the narrow fairways of the Karsten Golf Course (seriously, my tee shot always finds the rough there).
Everyone is familiar with Phil Mickelson, and rightfully so. Lefty is one of the greatest in the game today and will probably be a favorite in many events on the Tour this season with Tiger caging himself off the golf course.
But in his 18 years as the golf coach in Tempe, Lein has helped shape the games of several professionals who will be walking among the hordes of likely-to-be-inebriated fans this weekend.
In addition to Mickelson, golfers participating in the Phoenix Open who once donned the maroon and gold include Billy Mayfair, Pat Perez, Chez Reavie, Matt Jones and Jeff Quinney.
That doesn’t even include a golfer once under Lein’s tutelage by the name of Paul Casey.
Casey, who finished second at last weekend’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship behind Ian Poulter, is a little banged up and won’t tee up this weekend.
Don’t feel too bad, though. Casey racked up a bunch of FedEx Cup points — he’s currently 13th in the standings — and a tidy $800,000 paycheck.
As Lein put accurately put it: “Not too bad for a weekend.”
It’s neat to see that a growing amount of talent among the world’s greatest crafted their games right here in Tempe.
Reach Nick at nksomide@asu.edu
