Scottie Scheffler commits to WM Phoenix Open, to headline the ‘elevated’ event in 2023

Scottie Scheffler has confirmed his spot in the WM Phoenix Open 2023, which is the second elevated event of 2023 in the PGA Tour's calendar. The initial list of commitments was announced on Thursday, including Scheffler, Xander Schauffelle, and Sam Burns.

The WM Phoenix Open will boast a prize money purse of $20 million with the winner taking home $3.6 million and 500 FedEx Cup points. The tournament was one of four elevated events featuring a massive increase in prize money. This year the prize money has almost doubled as compared to the $8.2 million purse in 2022, out of which the winner took home $1,476,000.

The Sentry Tour of Champions, which is scheduled for next week, is also one of the four elevated events with a prize purse of $15 million.

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Scottie Scheffler to headline the 132-player field at the 2023 WM Phoenix Open

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler will headline the 132-player field. In the 2022 Phoenix Open, he broke through a playoff challenge against Patrick Cantley to clinch his first PGA Tour victory.

He rose to the World No. 1 rank after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play before becoming the fifth golfer to win The Masters being the top-ranked player in the world.

With such a prosperous year, the 26-year-old was named the 2022 PGA Tour Player of the Year, earning the Jack Nicklaus award for the first time. Scottie Scheffler is currently ranked World No. 2, 52 points behind Rory McIlroy.

Meanwhile, World No. 6, Xander Schauffele won three times this year—the Zurich Classic, the Travelers Championship, and the Genesis Scottish Open. World No. 13 Sam Burns had two wins last year, the Valspar Championship (2) and the Charles Schwab Challenge. Both players were part of the American team at the Presidents Cup.

Pat Williams, the 2023 tournament chairman at TPC Scottsdale, said,

“With the WM Phoenix Open being named a designated event, we have high expectations for showcasing the best field we’ve ever had,” Williams said in a release. “We can’t wait to introduce the rest of the field as we get closer to the 88th edition of ‘The People’s Open.'”

Earlier, he shared his views on the success of the tournament so far.

"There's nothing like it on Tour," said Pat Williams. "We're one of the oldest tournaments on the tour, and I think what it means is we've got great history, we've got tradition, we've got great past champions and we've got a bunch of great people who've been putting the tournament on for 88 years."

All PGA Tour members will have to confirm their entries to play in the 2023 WM Phoenix Open by 5 pm, February 3. The annual tournament will take place at TPC Scottdale, with the first round commencing on February 9 and the winner to be crowned on Sunday, February 12.

"I think the elevated status of the tournament, the field we'll have and, of course, the Super Bowl in town the same weekend, it's going to be really exciting here in metro Phoenix," Williams added.

This will be the 88th edition of the WM Phoenix Open, which is one of the oldest events on the PGA Tour. It is also one of the most popular events on the PGA Tour calendar. The event is popular for its par -3 16th hole, also known as 'The Coliseum', as it's one of the shortest holes on the tour.

Interestingly, it will be played on the same weekend as the 2023 Super Bowl, which is also hosted in the Phonenix arena.