Photo Credit: WM Phoenix Open
Forget the pyramids. Move over, Taj Mahal. The true eighth wonder of the world arrives in Scottsdale this week, and it’s bringing 700,000 rowdy fans, a par-3 stadium hole, and enough bad decisions to fuel a year’s worth of water cooler stories.
The WM Phoenix Open isn’t just a golf tournament; it’s controlled chaos masquerading as a sporting event. It’s spring break meets the Super Bowl meets your college buddy’s bachelor party, all wrapped around the genteel sport of golf. And somehow, miraculously, it works.
I doubt that I need to tell you about the most iconic hole in all of golf: TPC Scottsdale’s 16th hole, a modest 163-yard par-3, transformed into a 20,000-seat coliseum of mayhem. When a player sticks it close, the roar could wake the dead. When someone finds the water, the boos rain down like a biblical plague. It’s golf’s only true stadium hole, and it’s absolutely electric. Grown professionals have admitted to shaking over their tee shots here. This isn’t Augusta’s polite applause; this is pure, unfiltered spectator bedlam.
Photo Credit: WM Phoenix Open
The atmosphere is genuinely unlike anything else in golf. The WM Phoenix Open has cracked the code on making golf accessible and fun, drawing in crowds who might never watch another tournament. The charitable impact is massive too, with millions raised for Arizona communities. Plus, where else can you watch world-class golf while someone in a full dinosaur costume photobombs a putting green?
Let’s be honest: this isn’t for purists. If you prefer the hushed reverence of traditional golf, the Phoenix Open will feel like a nightclub invaded your local country club. The crowds can get sloppy by Sunday. Arrests happen. The party occasionally overshadows the golf itself.
Photo Credit: WM Phoenix Open
But that’s exactly the point. The WM Phoenix Open embraces what it is: a glorious, ridiculous, unforgettable spectacle. It’s golf’s wild child, and this week, Scottsdale becomes its playground. Whether you think it’s brilliant or blasphemous, you can’t look away, and nor do we want to.
See you at the 16th.