SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The 17th hole at TPC Scottsdale, home of the wild, woolly and boisterous Waste Management Phoenix Open, measures a measly 317 yards, a little weakling of a par 4 that is one of the few real friendly holes that remain after Tom Weiskopf took a wrench to the course in 2014 and toughened up the joint.
Let’s put it this way: the 17th serves up birdies the way nearby vendors serve up cold beer.
To Rickie Fowler, though, that little par-4 hole was a killer. First in regulation, when he hit driver through the green and made bogey to surrender a two-shot lead, and then in extra holes, when he tried to throttle back and overdrew a 3-wood that bounded into a front-left pond that starts about 290 yards off the tee.