Doug Fredrikson: Chances are most East Valley golfers have enjoyed this architect’s work, even if his designs are not of the course itself. That’s because Fredrikson builds clubhouses, with an impressive portfolio that includes such structures as Troon Country Club, Eagle Mountain, Stonecreek, Desert Canyon, SunRidge Canyon, We-Ko-Pa, Whisper Rock and Camelback to name a few.

Fredrikson also is currently working on clubhouses at Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Laughlin Ranch in Bullhead City, The Retreat in Corona, Calif., Escena in Palm Springs, and Cimarron Ranch in Austin, Texas.

If that sounds like a full slate, then how come Fredrikson still has time to create and market one of the hottest games in golf -- TEEZ: A Wee Bit of Trivia? “Because I’m tired of doing all this work,’’ said the 52-year-old Fredrikson with a laugh. “I figure there’s 50 million golfers out there, and if just some of them love this game as much as I do, I might be able to make a little extra money so I won’t have to work so hard.’’

Fredrikson, an Atlanta native who graduated from Arizona State with a masters degree in solar architecture, said he and his fellow creator in game, Paul Vecchia, a golf course-landscape architect, came up with TEEZ one day after a round of golf. “We were sitting in the 19th hole, talking about getting beat up in the architect business,’’ he recalled. “We thought a trivia game would be kind of cool, especially if we put the same risk-reward factor into it that you have in golf.’’

Basically, here is how TEEZ works: There aree 144 cards with 2,016 trivia questions about the game, the players, the rules, and the lifestyle that goes with it. Your opponent draws a card, and then according to your knowledge about the category, you bet whether you’ll make a double eagle (extremely confident), eagle (very confident), birdie (confident) or a par (semi-confident). And, if you miss, the penalities increase accordingly.

“Say the category is Phil Mickelson, you know a lot about Lefty, so you bet you’ll make a birdie, and you get it right, so score the birdie,’’ Fredrikson explained. “Or, say it’s about Amy Alcott, you don’t know a lot about Alcott, so you bet a par, and you miss it, and get a bogey. . . . Your knowledge is always rewarded; your lack of knowledge is always penalized.’’

Players can either play nine holes (nine questions) or 18 holes (18 questions), with the lowest score winning. “Or if you’re sitting in the 19th hole, you can bet a buck or so on each question,’’ Fredrikson added. “What we’ve found is, the game has been very well-received as a tee favor package for tournaments in lieu of the same old bad shirt or golf balls you don’t use.’’ TEEZ costs $50 in the persimmon version

(includes a persimmon holder for the cards) or $18 in the looper version, which comes in a custom-made bag with the tournament’s logo. It can be purchased at www.myteez.com.

On his game: “I’m a 10 handicap. I’ve been playing the game since I was 5, and I love all the little ironies that go with it. For instance, I’ve never had a hole-in-one, but somehow I’ve managed to make three double eagles along the way.’’

Speaking frankly: “We came up with the name for the game -- TEEZ -- from an old Scottish term. The caddies used to carry around a bag of sand with a little cone -- “teez’’ -- that would make a little ant-sized hill of sand so you could tee up the ball.’’

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

New nine: Scottsdale pro/architect Tom Lehman will add another nine holes at Tucson National to go along with improvements on the existing 27 holes. Lehman, obviously appreciates the work, as he already has committed to the Chysler Classic of Tucson on Feb. 21-27 despite being eligible for the big-money WGC Match Play Championship the same week.

Tucson qualifier: All professionals and amateurs with a handicap index of 2.0 or less are eligible for the Chysler Classic of Tucson’s monday qualifier on Feb. 21, which will take place at Randolph North and Del Lago. The entry fee for the four spots up for grabs is $400. To register, call (480) 443-9002 or visit www.southwest.pga.com.

Final thought: It was almost a certainty that the FBR Open would have set an attendance record last week had Phil Mickelson not taken a four-shot lead into Sunday’s final round, when the attendance dropped off to 75,947 (the smallest of the week). That left the FBR 11,363 fans short of the all-time mark of 529,210 set in 2002. Blame it on Lefty being a lock.