Without that intangible to factor into the predictions, we’ll have to lean on more perceptible statistics. At this one, though, mass amounts of fans haven’t just served as the fiber of the tourney - they’ve factored into how we prognosticate the leaderboard.Īs I wrote in my tournament preview two years ago: “It takes a special player to win in Phoenix, a player who likes playing to the crowd and enjoys being the center of attention.” This is nothing new, of course, as professional golf tournaments have largely been contested without on-site fans for the past eight months. That’s what awaits some of the game’s best players this week, as the tournament will allow only 5,000 spectators each day - down more than 200,000 from some of the ungodly records set in the past few years.