PHOENIX, Ariz. — They don't need the Super Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona — they always have a football crowd at this golf tournament.
"We just don't see anything like this," said Gary Woodland, a PGA golfer.
It exists at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, an annual stop on the PGA Tour.
And things get specifically rowdy at the famed 16th hole.
"It's like Mardi Gras with a golf tournament rolling through," said Robert Streb, another PGA golfer.
A stadium is built around the 16th hole at TPC-Scottsdale, the course that hosts the Phoenix Open.
Completely around it.
The hole is a par 3, the shortest on the course.
Forget about golf clapping — anything from cheering, to booing, to tossing beer cans onto the green for a great shot are not only tolerated, they're encouraged on this hole.
On Wednesday at the Phoenix Open Pro-Am, a DJ was spinning music for the entire round.
"It's a bucket list-check item for me," said Mike Reese, a Shawnee, Kansas, resident.
Reese and his next door neighbor Shane Loya have had this trip scheduled for a long time.
"Probably about six months ago," Loya said.
They've been planning it for a lot longer.
"I'm like 40 or 50 years in to preparing for this," Reese said. "Today is game day for me."
Why not? It's golf's biggest party.
"We're here now and it's unbelievable," Loya said.
Their trip got even better when the Chiefs made the Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.
"Watching the season play out and seeing them getting closer and closer to the Chiefs being in Phoenix? What? I mean, the stars have just aligned," Reese said.
The only thing better now would be to take this football crowd to the football game, as the buddies are on the look for affordable Super Bowl tickets.
"Our team is in the Super Bowl here. It's just freaking awesome," Loya said.
—
