The average attendee knows little about golf<\/strong><\/p>\n Even the pro-am is entertaining<\/strong><\/p>\n The 16th Hole<\/strong><\/p>\n The upside of putting up with traffic and yahoos who yell “You Da Man!” is that the local charities benefit greatly<\/strong> from the tournament proceeds.\u00a0 In fact, that’s one of the best aspects of the tournament.\u00a0 As my neighbor observed, it’s also good that we can watch it on TV and miss the drunks vomiting into the trash cans<\/strong>.\u00a0 Starting today we can relax until Spring Training starts when, once again, our roads are clogged and restaurants are filled to capacity.\u00a0 Thankfully, baseball fans seem to be much more sedate than the Phoenix Open attendees.\u00a0 Hopefully no one comes up with the bright idea to build a bar on third base.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Last week we hosted over 700,000 people in our neighborhood at the “Greatest Show on Grass”, otherwise known as the Phoenix Open.\u00a0 Sure, The Waste Management Company is the named sponsor, but even though they’ve paid … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/heels-300x143.jpg\")
<\/a>We actually did attend the event a few times and half the fun is observing the crowd.\u00a0 Normally golf galleries are filled with people wearing golf attire<\/strong> and sensible shoes.\u00a0 These are people who know the game and know what it’s like to walk around a golf course.\u00a0 At the Phoenix Open the crowd is filled with people either dressed in costume (Big Bird was popular this year) or barely dressed at all.\u00a0 There is fun to be had watching the young women who come expecting to prance around in their Louboutin heels<\/strong> but quickly discover that they are wearing the wrong kind of spikes.\u00a0 We’ve seen more than one novice ruin a $500 pair of shoes when she goes “heels down” in a combination of soft grass and spilled beer.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/streaker-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>Usually the pro-am of any golf tournament is just a way for local dignitaries to bring in high flying, no-name customers<\/strong> for a chance to play with a pro.\u00a0 The Phoenix Open, however, attracts top sports stars, business CEO’s and entertainment celebrities.\u00a0 We could tell when the week of The Open is occurring even if we didn’t have a calendar – an average of 75 private jets<\/strong> fly over our house into Scottsdale airport every day of the Open.\u00a0 There are so many planes at the airport that they have to double-park them.\u00a0 This year the pro-am was spiced up by the addition of a streaker<\/strong>!\u00a0 Yep – a 24 year-old man was breakdancing, practicing his golf swing and throwing sand up in the air while\u00a0au naturel. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Apparently he also fell down a lot and, not surprisingly, was eventually charged with disorderly conduct.\u00a0 What makes the story more amusing is that his antics went on for five minutes<\/strong> before anyone came out to stop him and at the end of his “performance” the crowd gave him a standing ovation.\u00a0 Again, not your usual stodgy golf patronage.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/16th-hole-300x225.jpg\")
<\/a>Of course, what defines the Phoenix Open<\/strong> is the 16th Hole – the biggest outdoor bar in the world.\u00a0 Over the years it has gone from having a few corporate tents around the tee box to its current three-story stadium surrounding the entire hole.\u00a0 It is now literally like entering the lion’s den<\/strong>.\u00a0 The 16th hole is famous for caddy-races (now banned after one too many accidents), pros throwing items into the stands (also now banned) and for the rowdiness of the spectators.\u00a0 What other golf tournament sells tee shirts that says “Bring the Noise”<\/strong>?\u00a0 There are students from ASU that strive to get the front row seats on Saturday each year and from that vantage point, sing or shout a personalized message to each golfer.\u00a0 A few years ago the TV golf announcers were marveling at the amount of research this group does, digging up fight songs from obscure alma maters<\/strong> to knowing the name of the pro’s first wife.\u00a0 I suppose the students’ parents might be wishing that amount of analyzing was spent on studying microbiology or something but for the rest of us it’s pretty entertaining to hear their songs and heckles – as long as it’s not mid-swing.<\/p>\n