| NOTES | | | The PGA Tour`s annual tailgate party in the desert tees off this week with
the FBR Open. This event averages per day what most events average for an
entire weekend. More than 100,000 fans pack the TPC Scottsdale daily and the
par-three 16th is surrounded tee to green by the loudest, most boisterous
fans on tour. The 16th, which is surrounded by about 30,000 fans daily,
really became famous in 1997 when Tiger Woods made a hole in one and the tee
box was showered with beer cups and anything else fans could throw. This
year`s crowd will be buffeted by the fact that the Super Bowl is in nearby
Glendale. Last year, Aaron Baddeley fired back-to-back rounds of 64 to beat
John Rollins by a single stroke. Rollins fired a 63 in the final round to
give Baddeley a run for his money. The field will be headlined by local
favorite Phil Mickelson, who attended nearby Arizona State. Mickelson, the
second-ranked player in the world, has won this event twice and is the
all-time leading money winner here. Along with Mickelson and Baddeley, there
are nine other former winners in the field this week: Tommy Armour III, Paul
Azinger, Mark Calcavecchia, Chris DiMarco, J.B. Holmes, Jonathan Kaye, Tom
Lehman, Rocco Mediate and Jesper Parnevik. Also returning to the tour this
week will be fan-favorite Fred Funk, who is splitting time between the PGA
and Champions Tours. Funk played the last two weeks on the elder circuit and
won the MasterCard Championship before tying for 32nd at the Turtle Bay
Championship. For the second straight week, the Golf Channel and CBS will
split coverage of the four rounds. Next week, the tour heads back to
California for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where Mickelson is the
defending champion.
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