Waste Management Phoenix Open 2026: DFS and Betting Preview

February 4, 2026  

Behind Rose, the runaway winner at last week’s Farmers Insurance open, we saw a lot of movement and drama across the rest of the leaderboard. Speaking of Rose -he might be the newest member of the fountain of youth from the European side of golf because he just put on an absolute clinic, besting Tiger Woods’ previous record for lowest tournament score ever at the Farmers.

Here at FTO, we didn’t fair too poorly either. Our One-and-Done selections of Tony Finau (T11) and Jason Day (T38) showed signs of great golf over the weekend, with Finau’s hole-in-one securing Collin a considerable early payout on the season!

The Waste Management Phoenix Open: Where Booze and NFL-Style Fandom Meets Golf

Each February, the PGA TOUR swings into the Sonoran Desert for one of the most electrifying events on the calendar — the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. Known as The People’s Open, it is one of the only PGA events that would capture this much attention as most sports fans look towards the Super Bowl. A perfect start to Super Bowl Sunday this tournament blends high-caliber golf with rowdy galleries (especially around the famed par-3 16th) and one of the week’s lowest scoring tests. The 2026 edition promises more of the same, with a strong field, plenty of scoring, and big opportunities on DraftKings and the sportsbook boards.

[If you plan on having any action on Super Bowl LX, make sure to check out our Super Bowl Preview here.]

TPC Scottsdale: The Greatest Show on Grass

Location: Scottsdale, Arizona

Par: 71

Yardage: 7,261 yards

Key Characteristics: Wide fairways, firm Bermuda greens, three reachable par 5s, and scoring opportunities abound — especially on par 5s and mid-par 4s. Strategic approach play and putting are vital on these fast, receptive greens. Since minor renovations several years ago, the course has been lengthened and bunkering adjusted to increase challenge without slowing the scoring pace.

TPC Scottsdale tends to play shorter than the card suggests due to desert elevation and receptive conditions, with winners frequently finishing deep under par.

Weather

As expected, 80-85 degrees with little wind, and no precipitation. From over here on the east-coast, that must be nice…

Event History: What Trends Tell Us

Here’s a snapshot of the most recent champions at The People’s Open:

2025: Thomas Detry – 24-under par dominant performance (won by 7)

2024: Nick Taylor – 21-under (playoff)

2023 & 2022: Scottie Scheffler – 19 & 16-under wins

2021: Brooks Koepka – 19-under

Winning profiles at WM Phoenix Open usually share a few traits:

Top Strokes Gained: Approach & Tee-to-Green

Strong ball-striking and putting prowess

Hot form coming into the week

A history of low scores and birdie production

Of the last 15 winners, 14 had posted a top-7 finish in a recent start, and 9 of the last 10 had at least one previous top-10 here.

The Purse

The total purse is another 2nd tier range at $9,600,000. As such, we are not quite ready to use elite-players like Scottie Sheffler just yet.

Our Favorite Golfers This Week (DraftKings pricing and odds)

The field is full of big names and we are going to dive into our favorites, fades, and dark horses for DFS and One and Done pool selections:

Top Picks:

Scottie Scheffler ($14,500 DFS; +225 to win)

Similar to the AMEX, Scottie would not be a bad play by any stretch as the very clear favorite. His game fits this course so well. He’s shown that having already won this event twice, with four top-10 finishes in six entries. We plan to sprinkle him into our betting picks (find those here) and potentially will find a way to squeeze that salary into our DFS builds, but we have no intention of using Scottie in our One-and-Done Pools to chase a middling purse.

Cameron Young ($9,800 DFS; +2400 to win)

Cam Young’s game also fits this course very well. He’s made the cut in all four of his efforts here, with back-to-back top-12 finishes in his last two entries. Young is also coming off his first start of the season at the Farmers where he finished T22 at -10.

Si Woo Kim ($9,900 DFS; +2700 to win)

Si Woo hasn’t performed to his standard at this event but in the last five events overall, he has cracked the top-25 three times. Going off history, golfers coming into this event after a good start to the season perform well and there isn’t anyone on Tour that has had a better start without a win than Si Woo. So far in 2026, he has played all three events and has finished T11, T6, and T2. At +2700 that is a bargain and under the $10,000 mark for DFS it won’t break the bank.

Brooks Koepka ($8,700 DFS; +3200 to win)

Picking Brooks after just coming back to the Tour, and having a down year last year, may look like a stretch, but we don’t believe it is. He is one of the best bargain’s in the field based on odds and price. Koepka hasn’t played this event since 2022, but in five prior entries he made all five cuts, including two wins and a T3. Koepka has a way of showing up at the bigger events and while the purse isn’t top tier, the Waste Management is one of the most watched events all year. We believe a T10 finish is in the cards this week.

Fade - Outside of top 15:

Xander Schauffele ($10,500 DFS; +1850 to win)

This one is honestly tough to type because we love X-Man and his six for six cuts made here with every achievement except a win goes against our typical thought process. With that said, we are not betting that Schauffele misses the cut, but we do believe he may be in line for his worst finish at this event, which current stands at T17. Schauffele missed the cut last week at the Farmers and maybe with good reason (congrats to him as a new father), but we do not expect to trust Schauffele much before March.

Harris English ($8,600 DFS; +4000 to win)

English is off to a decent start this season with two top-30 finishes, but his historically erratic play at the Waste Management isn’t something to ignore. He is 8 of 12 making the cut with 2 top 10’s but those were earlier in his career. In his last 6 appearances he has been cut 4 times. He probably makes the cut but we believe he will finish outside the top 15 and probably in the 25-35 range.

Dark Horse - outright winner to top 15:

Jordan Spieth ($8,200 DFS; +5400 to win)

Year after year, it seems that the golf community believes that Jordan Spieth will finally return to form and build on his early career success…and yes, we do believe that 2026 will provide Spieth with his first win since RBC Heritage in 2022. So why can’t it happen here? At the Waste Management, Spieth has made seven of nine cuts, with three T6 or better finishes in his last five entries. If his tee shots are accurate, the rest of his game will fall into line and he will be in contention on Sunday.

Daniel Berger ($7,500 DFS; +6100 to win)

Berger looks to be back to healthy golf and the PGA is better off because of it. Back in 2020, Berger looked like a star-in-the-making and ranked as high as #12 in the OWGR. Injuries have derailed him since. A healthy Berger, has performed as well at the Waste Management as you could hope – seven made cuts in ten entries, with four top-10 finishes, including a T2 just last year. For everyone who loves this sport, we hope Berger can stay healthy and get back to shotgunning beers at the Ryder Cup.

Webb Simpson ($6,600 DFS; +21000 to win)

Simpson is not a longball hitter. Luckily, you don’t need to be to perform well at this even. His history here supports that claim – Simpson has made ten cuts in thirteen entries at the Waste Management, with an outright win, runner up performance, and five total top-10 finishes. While Simpson is not likely to lift any trophies this weekend, he is currently +3200 to finish T5,  +1250 to finish T10, and +485 to finish T20.

Tom Kim ($6,600 DFS; +24000 to win)

Tom Kim has played all three events this year and has made the cut in each without cracking the top-35 in any events. Kim has also made the cut in all three of his prior entries here the Waste Management without once finishing inside the top-15. Much like Simpson, we don’t expect Kim to be the outright winner come Sunday, but his talent and ability to play well in big spots could make this weekend feel like his own Super Bowl.

Adam Schenk ($6,200 DFS; +55000 to win)

Schenk carried the same DFS price last week and finished T11. Considering his success at TPC Scotsdale, including three straight made cuts here, there is no reason for Schenk to be priced this low again. We always discuss our DFS core plays in our Game Picks post, but consider Schenk to be a free peak at one of them.

Our One-and-Done Picks:

Collin – Jordan Spieth

Frank – Cameron Young

*We will discuss more on our strategies as we move forward, including when to consider fading the field or when it’s best to play chalk. If you don’t want to wait, feel free to reach out in the comments or over on X (@FTO_picks). We are always happy to talk golf with you!

**Check back next week for our AT&T Pebble Beach preview!

***This preview does not represent our final betting picks for this event. For our full set of picks, check out our Game Picks section!

****Odds accurate at time of posting.