Imago
playtpc and tpcscottsdale/Instagram
Imago
playtpc and tpcscottsdale/Instagram
The WM Phoenix Open’s first round has now been suspended due to darkness in four consecutive years. The pattern is no longer an anomaly—it is the tournament’s structural reality.
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At 6:05 p.m. MT on Thursday, February 5, 2026, the horn sounded at TPC Scottsdale. Seven players remained on the course, most standing on the 17th or 18th holes with their rounds unfinished. Play will resume Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. local time.
Of the 132-player field, 125 completed their opening rounds before sunset. Chris Gotterup leads at 8-under after a bogey-free 63 that included an eagle on the par-5 13th. Matt Fitzpatrick sits two strokes back at 6-under, having matched the back-nine record with a 29. Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 and tournament favorite, struggled to a 2-over 73—his first over-par round since June 2025.
Among those left waiting: Christo Lamprecht, Neal Shipley, and John Parry—all at 3-under through 16 holes. Adrien Saddier also stands at 3-under with two holes remaining. Li Haotong, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, and Jeffrey Kang were stranded at 1-under through 16. The suspension halted their momentum with the finish line in sight.
The first round of the WM Phoenix Open was suspended at 6:06 p.m. MT due to darkness. Play is scheduled to resume Friday morning at 8:15 a.m. local time.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) February 6, 2026
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Tournament officials remain confident the schedule will hold. Round 2 begins at 7:20 a.m. MT, meaning for a brief window this morning, two rounds will overlap on the same course. The remaining players will return to complete their final holes, sign their cards, and prepare for afternoon tee times with little rest between. The 36-hole cut is expected to proceed on Friday evening as planned.
The logistics, however, only address the symptom. The cause runs deeper.
Why the WM Phoenix Open keeps losing daylight
Early February offers limited sunlight, with sunset arriving around 6:00–6:15 p.m. local time. A full field of 132 players stretches tee times deep into the afternoon—Thursday’s final group went off at 1:50 p.m. from the 10th tee. Frost delays, common in desert mornings, push start times back by 60 to 90 minutes. The margin for error disappears before the first ball is struck.
The 2024 edition proved even more chaotic—rain and hail forced a three-hour stoppage at 12:32 p.m. before darkness finished the job hours later, with officials also navigating flooded parking lots and mandatory shuttle reroutes. That tournament stretched into Monday.
In 2025, the first two rounds faced delays as well, with Wyndham Clark’s late-afternoon finish affecting his ability to perform. He conceded three bogeys in his final five holes while playing in fading light. The 2023 edition saw a frost delay of nearly two hours, compounded by afternoon winds gusting to 25 mph.
Five consecutive years of Round 1 suspensions—2022 through 2026—suggest the issue is embedded in the tournament’s calendar placement and field architecture. Early February daylight cannot accommodate 132 players when frost delays are probable, and weather disruptions are possible. The math refuses to cooperate.
Whether the PGA Tour views this as a problem worth solving or an accepted quirk of golf’s loudest week remains unclear. For now, the first round will finish on a different day than it started. Again.
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