Written by Adam SchwartzTPC Scottsdale is the home to the annual Waste Management Phoenix Open PGA Tour event, which is held traditionally during Super Bowl week. Notoriously known as a unique event mainly for spectators, this is definitely the most fan-friendly event each year. I had the opportunity to visit Scottsdale during the week when the city of Phoenix was playing host to both the Super Bowl and the Phoenix Open. Hosting the largest galleries of any golf tournament in the world annually combined with hosting the biggest one-day sporting event in the world can be a special place to be.
This year the tournament hosted a slew of top tier golf stars including local favorites Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson. However, the main draw was Tiger Woods and his quest to overcome his most recent major back surgery playing in his first event in six months.
This week was a little different scene as the traditional Wednesday pro-am became a who’s who in entertainment and sports. Former football greats and current stars such as Eric Dickerson, Emmitt Smith, Marcus Allen (played with Tiger), Ron Jaworski, Jim McMahon, Tim Tebow, Brian Urlacher, Ben Roethlisberger, Jerome Bettis, Larry Fitzgerald, country music stars such as Jake Owen, Dierks Bentley, ESPN announcer Chris Berman, NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, MLB star Ken Griffey, Jr., NCAA football champion coach Urban Meyer, and former basketball great Julius Erving (Dr. J) were all at the same place at the same time.
TPC Scottsdale is a stadium course which means the facility is set up to be a spectator’s paradise. Setting up the corporate tents began during their over seed time back in October. Last year the tournament held over 563,000 people for the four-day tournament and almost 190,000 on Saturday alone. The course can hold this many people for two reasons: stadium seating and corporate tents. The most notorious hole, #16, is a short 160 yard par 3 that is enclosed by levels of corporate suites. Suites generally run $45-$55K for the week and seats 30,000 people.
There are general admission seats at the back and right of the green that are coveted and taken almost immediately after the course opens each day. Saturday mornings, Arizona State coeds sleep in tents the night before to run to these fold down stadium chairs to cheer on each tee shot.
A boisterous roar that can be heard around the whole golf course echoes as each tee shot is hit. But, if the player misses the green the chorus of 30,000 boos rock the seats unprecedentedly. It’s definitely a tradition that happens only in Scottsdale. Luckily during my jaunt around the stadium course during the pro-am on Wednesday, I did see a hole-in-one made by an amateur David Wood.
As for the golf tournament itself, the majority of the half million spectators won’t remember who won the tournament, pro-am, or even how they got to the course that morning. To experience an event that has nightly concerts at the bird’s nest, bus rides to every neighboring bar and grill, the chance to watch the best players in the world and the opportunity to be on a hole that is has more seats than any basketball arena is daunting. It’s the only tournament where you will see a lady walking around in a cocktail dress wearing 5 inch heels standing next to a guy that has a beer helmet dispensary. It’s a sight to see and I recommend everyone to experience this event once in your life.
