Once again, the rowdy and wonderful WM Phoenix Open returns to the Valley this February, and once again, PHOENIX is previewing it with the WMPO Field Guide, our annual salute to the world’s most-attended golf tournament.
Shockingly – shocking to me, anyway – this is the ninth such on-course guide we’ve published in conjunction with the nonprofit tournament and its governors, the Thunderbirds. That accounts for just about 10 percent of the 91 Phoenix Opens ever staged. I think that’s cool. Over that span, the Thunderbirds have donated north of $120 million to Valley charities. Even more cool.
And, by the jowls of John Daly, is it ever popular. Barring a Biblical rain storm like the one in 2024, seven-day attendance at the Open typically falls somewhere between 700,000 and 800,000 people. A few of them are even golf fans.
Despite its success, the Thunderbirds are always looking for ways to keep the Open fresh, to change things up. Which is why you’ll find a few new wrinkles at TPC Scottsdale this year, including expanded, pedestrian-friendly footpaths, a family-retreat area for nursing moms – truly, WMPO now has everything – and a new, upscale hospitality grotto at the infamous 16th hole Coliseum called the Pin Hi Club.
Following suit, PHOENIX has super-charged the WMPO Field Guide for 2026. Inside, you’ll find information about all the on-course tournament changes described above, an updated TPC Scottsdale fashion primer, a preview of the Birds Nest music series and writer Tom Mackin’s feature about the Open’s most disarmingly absurd and whimsical traditions. (Cough: Beer snake!)
But unlike all previous WMPO Field Guides, this one happens to have an entire dining/arts/lifestyle almanac attached to it, in the form of our annual PHOENIX magazine City Guide. Just in case you’re looking for something to do after the final putt.
