How it started: Hole 16 at WM Phoenix Open

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The 1997 WM Phoenix Open marked the 10-year anniversary of the event’s relocation to TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course. Who better than Tiger Woods to mark the occasion?

The Saturday crowd on the par-3 16th hole was at a fever pitch when Woods arrived on the tee; it took two or three minutes to quiet the crowd, as longtime hole marshal Jock Holliman recalled. The hole’s buildout was far from its current 294 skyboxes and colosseum-like stadium seating – featuring just five boxes to the right side, between the tee box and green – but the 163-yard par 3 was already known as the place to be at the Stadium Course.

The hillside behind the tee box created an amphitheater effect. There was always the possibility of an ace (although there had been just four across the event’s first 10 editions at TPC Scottsdale). And a nearby levee allowed fans an easy access point to sneak a case of beer or a bottle of vodka.

The spectators quieted, albeit briefly. Once the ball rose off the clubface, the crowd exploded; the ball tracked toward the flag, took two hops upon landing and fell into the cup. Holliman had friends at Grayhawk Golf Club that day, five miles away, who could hear the roar. Legend around TPC Scottsdale suggests the ground shook.

“I felt like I was standing behind a 747 taking off,” Holliman recalled.

With just one swing – a nice, comfortable 9-iron – Woods sparked a movement.

“The cachet of the 16th hole started in the early '90s,” said Holliman, “but Tiger put the cherry on the top.”

The 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open stands as a golf experience all its own. Much like its sister hole of sorts, the Island Green par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course, it’s a straightforward shot that becomes substantially more vexing in unique conditions. The hole is completely surrounded by grandstands – some parts three-story skyboxes, and other parts public-access bleachers. Fans arrive in the middle of the night to race for a prime seat (or sometimes pull an all-nighter after a concert at the adjacent Birds Nest). More than any other hole in golf, it’s a place to expect the unexpected. A player might don his favorite team’s jersey or provide swag to the crowd (earlier this week, for example, Joel Dahmen wrapped notes in $20 bills, encouraging fans to have a cold beverage on him).

The WM Phoenix Open dates to 1932, with the event having relocated to TPC Scottsdale in 1987, as part of the TOUR’s Tournament Players Club venture with course designs focused on amphitheater-like stadium seating. Jay Morrish designed TPC Scottsdale with insight from player consultants Tom Weiskopf and Howard Twitty; the course opened just a month before the tournament’s debut in 1987.

Phoenix is a golf-mad community with upwards of 200 courses, and it makes sense that a TOUR event would thrive in the Arizona desert. But why this event, this setting, to create “The Greenest Show on Grass” at the par-3 16th hole, the region’s can’t-miss event to see and be seen? WM Phoenix Open has turned into a destination for bachelor and bachelorette parties, the centerpiece of bucket-list trips, and even a place to pay off fantasy football bets (which was the theory around property after a fan was spotted in a wedding dress Thursday).

Simply put, the 16th hole was in the right place at the right time – with Woods’ help.

“As most things in professional golf, Tiger Woods’ hole-in-one on 16 feels like a pretty good jumping-off point,” Max Homa said earlier this week. “It was already crazy, but I feel like everybody wanted to be in that.”

Homa is a southern California native who has relocated to Scottsdale as an adult, with a front-row seat to the event’s embedded position in community culture.

“I know I have a buddy Brian … he went to (the University of Arizona). I got him a ticket once to come here, the year (Francesco) Molinari made a hole-in-one, and he was on 16, and he talks about it,” Homa continued. “I just think that there's just been such great moments. It's a hole that's pretty benign, minus the arena, so you see a lot of amazing things. I think every year, you just see more excitement around the event, and … this is, like, a massive week for the city. People talk about it all year long. I just think it's because people realize they can come to an event, have fun, it's a lot less quiet. It feels like a lot less rules. Because of all that, it's attracted a lot of people to come out.”

A review of early tournament footage shows a 16th hole with a moderate fan footprint, but nothing substantial. Crowds appeared comparable on the drivable par-4 17th and mid-range par-4 18th. Nothing in early coverage suggests the 16th as a social hub; when Morrish described the closing four-hole stretch in 2015 to the American Society of Golf Course Architects, he described the 16th as a “solid par 3,” followed by the 17th as a “reachable, frightening par 4 with water, which I knew would frequently determine the winner.” In the early days, mediocre shots at 16 weren’t booed; fans were almost sympathetic.

But as the event gained momentum in the local culture, the 16th hole’s hillside amphitheater grew into a natural social hub. When Phil Mickelson played the event as an Arizona State student in the early 1990s, fellow Sun Devils staked out the hole as a gathering point. Footage from the 1991 broadcast reveals the introduction of fan signs, the likes of which might be seen at a football game. The hole was close to the spectator entrance and offered straightforward betting propositions, “Hit the green or miss the green?” for fans to enjoy.

“The only credit I can give myself is where I located the hole,” Weiskopf once said.

After Woods’ ace, the growth was inevitable. Woods raised the roof so the 16th could raise its place in popular sporting culture. Where once stood five skyboxes, there are now 294. One level of stadium-like seating turned to two, and then to three. Once it became clear that fans intended to race to the hole’s entrance on Saturday morning, the “Breakfast Club” phenomenon emerged, where 10,000 burritos (and water) are supplied to fans at 9 a.m. on Saturday. The range of outfits would put some Halloween parties to shame (among the favorites of Sally Veazey, an event volunteer since 1988: a dozen Elvises with blue satin capes, six or eight guys in wedding dresses with lace up the back, Sesame Street characters Bert, Ernie and Big Bird, and the “tres banditos” offering morning musical entertainment).

Last year, over a million 12-ounce beers were sold during tournament week, Holliman said. This year’s event won’t quite reach that mark due to chillier conditions, but the stands were packed to capacity all day Thursday and Friday – the stadium seats 17,500 people, akin to a basketball arena – as it will be Saturday and Sunday.

“I’m not sure if it can get bigger than it is already,” said Frank Kohler, who has volunteered at the event since 1991. “They’re running out of real estate … I’d say the potential for a hole-in-one, the venue, it’s easy to get to, it’s very close to the entrance, and they divvied up the seats … different types of spectators – students, families, wealthy, non-wealthy – can find a place to sit down.”

“I think it will always be here.”

The WM Phoenix Open will evolve as needed – as it has on the 16th hole, where quiet signs still exist but serve almost as an oxymoron. In recent years, players have expressed a preference to maintain the “white noise,” a constant din. In past years, TOUR pros like John Daly were known to rile up the crowd and encourage the roar, Holliman said, but most players never minded the chatter, as long as the noise was constant. Two years ago, Holliman retired a microphone that he long used to quiet the crowd. Players walk through the tunnel from No. 15 green to No. 16 tee knowing that the next 15 minutes or so will include constant buzz and sometimes antics – a beer snake formed early Friday afternoon while Monday qualifier Jim Knous approached the green. Knous saved par, then looked to the gallery with a grin and cupped a hand to his ear, encouraging higher decibels.

Some elements of the scene, though, don’t require evolution. The WM Phoenix Open has surpassed $200 million of charitable giving, spearheaded by The Thunderbirds (a non-profit organization formed in 1986 to distribute monies raised through the event), with large portions invested back in the local community – junior golf programs, Special Olympics, Make-a-Wish Foundation, halfway houses for families in transition, among other initiatives. In turn, the community invests back – an average skybox runs $65,000 weekly, and there’s a five-year waiting list, said Holliman, who has been a Thunderbird since 1989. The 16th hole has threaded a nearly impossible needle – simultaneously the nerve center for “The People’s Open” and a high-end corporate hospitality experience.

“The hillside behind 16 tee (was a popular spot) when Phil (Mickelson) was playing here in college, and then when Tiger hit the hole-in-one, it became a worldwide phenomenon,” Holliman said. “This is where the party was … It grew organically. If you entertain, and you entertain through golf, you have to be here.

“Ten to 12 years ago, there were still a few players who weren’t bought into the hole; now everybody that plays it knows why they’re here. They understand that they’re going to get booed when they hit a bad shot, and they’re going to get absolutely roared when they hit a good one … We’re trying to promote a really good experience for our patrons and an equally good experience for the pros. If it ain’t broke, we’re not going to fix it.”

PGA TOUR pros, for their part, intend to stick around for as long as they can.

“I will say that the year I retire, you will find me here,” Homa said. “I will be having a great time. Wherever the liquid takes me.”

This comment was shared on Golf Digest’s Instagram feed, to which Justin Thomas commented: “Let’s do it.”

The greater sports world will be along for the ride.