Over the years, the 16th has seen caddie races - caddies lugging heavy staff bags chugging as fast as they can to the front of the green in a 150-yard sprint, spurred on by cheering fans who often had wagers riding on the outcome. There is plenty of sideshow action at 16, most of it fun. I was on the property, just not at 16, but I heard the roars." I was a college sophomore when Tiger made his ace. This year, we switched to commemorative plastic cups instead of aluminum bottles around the green. "We dodged a bullet with Sam, nobody got hurt. "That’s arguably the second-most famous shot now at this tournament," Williams says. But instead of tossing hats, they tossed their drinks and other items, a crazy mayhem that took the grounds crew 15 minutes to clean up. Last year on the 25th anniversary of that shot, Sam Ryder aced the 16th and fans around the green, seated in stands above the green, treated the ace like a hockey player making a hat trick. The next year was the start of the build-out of corporate suites around the hole, the start of the Colosseum-like setting. Beer cans, cups, programs - anything that could be thrown rained down on the tee box like confetti at a Super Bowl. The gallery’s wild celebration is what makes the video of that ace unforgettable.
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We’ve got 20,000 fans watching a golf shot that even a tour pro will tell you is intimidating even though it’s only 150 yards." Anyone who saw that on TV, the 16th is where they want to go when they come here. The truth is, Tiger Woods made a hole-in-one there in 1997 and everybody saw it. "It’s a short par 3 with not a lot to it. "I think it’s the most iconic hole in golf and that’s a big statement," says Pat Williams, who was elected tournament chairman - or Big Chief - by fellow members of the Thunderbirds, the charity-driven group that hosts the event. The latter is unique in the staid, buttoned-up sport of golf. Good shots get loudly cheered, not-so-good shots get soundly booed. It’s up to you to decide whether PGA Tour players are the gladiators or the lions.
The hole is known as The Colosseum, because it is nearly encircled by skyboxes and suites that help pack in 20,000 fans.
Players have compared it to Mardi Gras, a home game at Lambeau Field, Fenway Park or the Rose Bowl, the Kentucky Derby, a bullfight or some crazed combo platter of them all. If the Masters is the Holy Grail, TPC Scottsdale’s 16th is the Holy Hell. Even a Tuesday.Ģ, The 16th at the WM Phoenix Open, The Loudest Hole in Golf, a guilty-pleasure mix of roars, hijinks and what former CBS analyst Gary McCord called "The Thunderdome."ģ, The almost-island green 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass during the Players Championship. SCOTTDALE, Arizona - Here is The Official Bucket List of Golf Spectating:ġ, The Masters - any day, any hole, any round.
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