The 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open tee off Luncheon was a blast. I guess you could expect nothing less with Johnny Miller as special guest along with last year’s winner Kyle Stanley. Johnny Miller was a PGA Professional who won 25 golf tournaments with two of the wins coming at the 1974 and 1975 Phoenix open at Phoenix Country Club. His success got him dubbed the “Desert Fox”.
The stage was set by local 12 News anchor Mark Curtis and the host sponsor’s executives from Waste Management. Mark Curtis introduced last year’s surprise/unlikely winner Kyle Stanley and Johnny Miller.
Stanley’s win last year at the 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open was very impressive and showed courage but was certainly a surprise winner for 2 reasons. The first being his performance the week before in San Diego at 2012 Farmer’s Insurance open held at the famous Torrey Pines Golf Club. Stanley had a 3 stroke lead heading into the final hole and it looked like he would notch his first PGA win. Unfortunately, a juiced up wedge with too much spin led his ball to a swim in the pond just in front of the 18th green, ultimately ending with Stanley accepting second place. The second was that Stanley started Sunday 8 shots off the lead held by Spencer Levin. Stanley, showing no regard for his poor Sunday showing a week before, goes out and shoots a 6-Under par to win the tournament, the third best comeback in tour history. Miller commented that he had not seen anything to that magnitude before on tour.
Stanley had a low key demeanor as he spoke on stage. Miller was just the opposite and he played to the crowd talking about how he commented on NBC later in the year “don’t pull a Stanley”. Stanley took it in stride out of respect for the 25 time winner.
Another classy event by the Thunderbirds!
Keep reading about the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
