The FBR Open teed off The Greatest Show on Grass today with practice rounds continuing tomorrow. Wednesday is the FBR/Xerox Silver Pro-Am at the TPC of Scottsdale and the Honeywell Pro-Am at Grayhawk. I’ve never attended the Pro-Am, so I don’t personally know what it’s like, however, many of my friends say they enjoy the smaller gallery on Wednesday, being able to move quickly around the course, and being able to get closer to the pros.
On Thursday the real golf begins. The early tee time is 7:40am, weather permitting, and the golf continues each day right up until dark. Many years, Saturday they are scrambling to finish up the second round from Friday, when the weather has slowed down play, and given the rain we had last week, which is expected to continue off and on into this week, it wouldn’t surprise me if we had some slow play again this year.
The Bird’s Nest is open at 3:30pm, and is located fairly close to the exit of the TPC, across from where the shuttle buses drop off those that park in the outlying lots. A complete schedule of the bands playing in the Bird’s Nest is here.
As far as locations on the course to watch the action, my absolute favorite spot is from the top of the grandstand that’s between the 16th tee box and the island green of the 15th. If you are in that top row, you can easily watch the action at both holes. Seeing players aggressively go for 15 in two, some hitting the green, and others splashing into the water; watching potential eagles and bogeys; and then, being able to follow that group on to 16, and watch one of the greatest spectator holes on the PGA Tour. Nothing compares to the gallery at 16, and being able to watch 2 holes at once makes it twice as good.
On Saturday, when 125,000 or more fans are expected to be at the Open, if you want to find a nice spot to see plenty of action, there’s also a really nice collection of holes with the 3rd green, 6th green, and the par 3 7th.
As far as parking goes, there is a ton of parking. Getting in to the tournament is a breeze, whether you have a pass, or are parking in the free lots near Westworld or the additional 300 acres they added up at Hayden and the 101. Getting out of the tournament is where the bottleneck is, particularly at the end of the day on Saturday and Sunday. The wait for a bus on both days can be well over an hour, so here’s a tip: Ride a bicycle to the front gate. Even if you drive your bicycle to the parking lot, and ride from there, you’ll be happy you did. I’ve walked back to Westworld from the tourney before, and that’s a 1.5 mile walk. In recent years I’ve ridden my bike more than driven, and it’s so convenient. You can chain your bike to the temporary fences they erect by the entrance, and with so many people and security watching, you have very little to worry about it getting stolen.
My office is actually closer than all of the free public parking lots, so I’ll park-and-ride from there. Please don’t curse me, if you happen to be walking past on Saturday afternoon, after giving up on the buses. I’d offer folks a free shuttle for stopping in, but I have to admit, I’ll probably already be there. However, if anyone else wants to park-and-ride, drop a comment, I’d love to have you.
Finally, general admission tickets are just $25, although it is often easy to get them cheaper (or even free) from your fellow patron.
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