The greenest show on grass got underway Thursday at a firm and fast TPC Scottsdale. One year removed from the deluge of rain and chilly temperatures, Scottsdale showed out for the first round of the 2025 WM Phoenix Open and posed pestering problems for the best on the PGA Tour with a local lad, Wyndham Clark, proving to be the one with all the answers.
The Scottsdale resident was better than the rest in the first round, carding a bogey-free 7-under 64 to command an early one-stroke lead over Taylor Moore and Lee Hodges. Clark’s effort came from the afternoon wave and clipped those of Nicolai Hojgaard and Justin Thomas from the early hours, who fired opening 66s to sit two adrift alongside a slew of others.
“I just stayed patient,” Thomas said. “I feel like staying patient is important out here because you can make a lot of birdies, but if you maybe get a little aggressive or take on some unnecessary risks, you can make bogeys pretty fast. I just kind of plotted my way around and tried to get some when I could.”
Beginning on the back nine, Thomas tumbled over par with a bogey on the par-3 12th. The slip up kicked his game into gear as he rattled off three birdies across his final five holes of the inward half to turn in 2 under. Then, taking to the more difficult side, the 15-time winner continued to effectively navigate his way around the par 71 thanks in large part to his putter.
Cleaning up a 4-foot birdie on the par-5 3rd, Thomas summoned long-distance connections from 59 feet on No. 5 and 16 feet on No. 9 to close out his day in style. While Thomas looked like the man who has raised two Wanamaker Trophies on Thursday, he has done this dance before.
Getting off to great starts numerous times during this 33-month winless streak, the 31-year-old faces a big day on Friday. It’ll be in front of some of the rowdiest and most raucous that Scottsdale has to offer late into the evening hours when their presence is at their peak. For a natural showman like Thomas, perhaps it is exactly what he needs to not only keep himself in contention again but vault into the winner’s circle for the first time in a long time.
“[The atmosphere] is good,” Thomas said. “You know what we’re going to get, and you see weather like this, you definitely know what you’re going to get. It starts slow and comes in waves and gets more and more. I’m sure tomorrow afternoon will be rowdy.”
The leader
1. Wyndham Clark (-7)
You never know what Clark you are going to get, but when he is on, he is as good as it gets on the PGA Tour. Without a top-10 finish in his first three starts this season, the 2023 U.S. Open champion found his groove in Round 1 in his locale. Clark sat at 1 under through his opening seven holes but caught fire around the turn and rattled in four straight birdies from Nos. 8-11. He then took advantage of the two par 5s to get to that 7-under number.
Other contenders
T2. Taylor Moore, Lee Hodges (-6)
T4. Justin Thomas, Nicolai Hojgaard, Andrew Putnam, Akshay Bhatia, Camilo Villegas, Adam Schenk (-5)
T10. Daniel Berger, Jake Knapp, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Tom Kim, Corey Conners, Matthieu Pavon, Thomas Detry, Alex Smalley (-4)
Like Clark, Knapp is another local guy who showed out on Thursday. The PGA Tour sophomore won in his rookie campaign in Mexico but then dealt with injuries and saw his form fall off as the season progressed. Now healthy, he is slowly returning to that quality with his first-round performance being another step in the right direction.
“I think just being on the West Coast close to home is always nice,” Knapp said. “This week being able to sleep in my own bed, and then Torrey and some of those courses, I just kind of always grew up in California and then playing on the West Coast, so I think I’m just comfortable with the grass types and the weather and how far the ball is going, all that sort of stuff.”
Spieth shows signs of life
For the second straight week, Spieth showed some form in the opening round. After missing the first green with a wedge in hand, the three-time major champion connected on 15 of his next 17 greens in regulation. The approach play flashed as did his putting thanks to a new wand he introduced this week.
All in all, Spieth’s day added up to a 68 with only one dropped shot, but it is what he said after his round that may be just as notable. Spieth noted his wrist gave him fits during his first tournament back from injury last week at Pebble Beach, but it is back in good order so far this week.
“It felt good. I felt like Sunday last week. I kind of didn’t trust what I was doing,” Spieth said. “My wrist kind of hurt in the first round last week, and I went away from all the work that I had been doing just to kind of manipulate what I could, and then I said, you know what, I just have to get through it. So I was back to the status quo Sunday on all the stuff that I had been doing, and it paid off there.”
“I was in a bunker on Spyglass No. 1, my 10th hole, and I had to flick one and it jammed it pretty good, and it locked up on me for a little while,” Spieth continued. “Yeah, when it’s not moving well, for me, I’ve got a lot of lean and a lot of left hand involved, and if it’s not leaning, it’s going to go pretty far off line.
“Luckily, this is a really good test these few weeks, and my expectations are low. I expect myself to make good swings, but as far as results, it’s hard to think that I should be expecting a lot after six months. Having said that, I know where I was today, and I know that I can do better than I did today. If I can try to post a few scores at or better than today, then you never know, I start getting back in the mix and it becomes pretty fun and hopefully more consistent.”
Scheffler’s up-and-down day
The pre-tournament favorite is still the tournament favorite despite not being on the first two pages of the leaderboard. Scheffler fired an opening 69 to stand at 2 under in what was anything but an ordinary day. The world No. 1 shanked a greenside bunker shot, holed out for eagle from a fairway bunker, hit his tee shot into the water on the par-3 12th and lasered an iron into the par-5 15th to set up his second eagle of the afternoon.
Days like today are what make Scheffler so difficult to beat. He was far from his best yet still he finds himself beating the course average by a couple strokes. His short game will need to improve over the next 54 holes, especially that putter as he ranked outside the top 110 on the greens.
2025 WM Phoenix Open updated odds and picks
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook
- Scottie Scheffler (5-1)
- Justin Thomas (6-1)
- Wyndham Clark (8-1)
- Tom Kim (14-1)
- Lee Hodges (14-1)
- Taylor Moore (16-1)
- Akshay Bhatia (18-1)
- Corey Conners (20-1)
Scheffler may have had his C game on Thursday, but he is still right there at 2 under. It would not be surprising to see him fire a 65 early Friday morning and catapult his name to the first page of the leaderboard, so the 5-1 may be the play. If you’re feeling crazy and wanting to get into the tournament spirit, Kurt Kitayama (and Spieth) are at 40-1 sitting at 3 under.
Read the full article here
