There are a handful of theories about where the phrase “kick the bucket” originated, but the etymology of its descendant, “bucket list,” is clear.
That came from the 2007 movie “The Bucket List” featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as two dying men who leave a hospital with a list of things they want to do before they kick buckets.
The phrase quickly became part of our lexicon, and it’s especially applicable to most sports fans, many of whom have at least a mental list of things they want to do or see before the big Turk in the sky comes for their playbooks.
PHOTOS: View photos from the Phoenix Open’s famous 16th hole
Maybe it’s attending the Final Four or the Masters. Might be watching a Super Bowl live, or an Olympics.
Is watching the raucous 16th hole of the Scottsdale TPC during the Waste Management Phoenix Open one of them?
That’s the assignment the boss gave me, and since we weren’t going to commission a nationwide survey to help us, it’s hard to say definitively.
Beers, bets and noise
But for golf fans, especially those who like to have a few beers, lay a few bets and make a little noise, it appears to be becoming one.
“I just enjoy being out there,” said former Diamondbacks star Luis Gonzalez, who watches the Open at 16 almost every year with friends. “Phil (Mickelson) and I had the same agent and I got to walk with him one year. He told me, ‘When you walk through this tunnel (to 16) this is going to be something you are never going to experience again.’ And he was right.”
And, for emphasis, Gonzalez added: “And I got to play in the seventh game of a World Series.”
It’s a crazy, loud, largely inebriated crowd, and the thousands of fans there make the golf hole feel more like a basketball arena.
“I’m Canadian, so I usually go with a hockey reference,” said pro golfer Adam Hadwin. “It’s like being in a hockey arena from end to end, and then they’re right on top of you.”
“It’s one of the rare occasions,” said golfer Patrick Rodgers, “where you feel like a pro athlete.”
“Is it up there with the Super Bowl and the Masters?” asked golfer Chesson Hadley. “No. But it should be.”
“It’s the greatest hole in golf,” said golfer Harold Varner III. “You have to experience it.”
That might be a little over the top, but apparently a lot of people agree with Varner.
Adam Daifallah is an attorney in Montreal who loves golf and writes a little bit about it. He’s checked a few items off his bucket list, such as playing the Cypress and Pebble Beach courses in California and attending the Masters and the British Open.
He’s never experienced the 16th during the Open, but it’s on his bucket list.
“It is unique in the world of golf,” he wrote in an e-mail. “There is no other comparable amphitheater, anywhere. What golf nut would not want to experience that? Everyone seems to be having so much fun and it goes against the stereotypes normally associated with golf. Everyone is loud and boisterous, and it is not only tolerated, it is encouraged!”
‘It’s not for me’
The 16th is not for everyone, which is a good thing since there wouldn’t be room for them. The hole is packed every day, and tournament organizers could fill seats even if they built decks that stretched to heaven.
“If you don’t mind being around a lot of drunk people and waiting in ridiculously long lines to get a drink, I guess so,” golfer Marc Leishman said when asked about the 16th being a bucket-list item for some, “but it’s not for me.”
So, it’s not a surprise that Leishman, coming off a victory in San Diego at the Farmers Insurance Open, is not listed among the field for this year’s tournament.
Some fans prefer to watch golf in a more traditional way: soberly, quietly and with plenty of elbow room.
That was the vibe at a seniors event last November at Phoenix Country Club, the original home of the Phoenix Open.
Before a round at that tournament, I asked golfer Jay Haas a question about the 16th being so popular with golf fans.
He smiled.
“When you say golf fans, are they really golf fans?” he said. “I don’t think the majority of them would know a wedge from a spatula.”
Then he gave an example.
“When you go there and hit a shot and the pin is five paces off the right edge of the green and your ball trickles to a foot off the green, 16 feet straight up the hill, that’s kind of where you want it,” he said. “And you get booed. You want to tell them that, but again, the majority of them don’t know what golf’s about and the proper way to play. You have to take that and move on and make a birdie and par and go to the next hole.”
Don’t get him wrong. Haas doesn’t hate the 16th at TPC. He doesn’t even dislike it.
“It’s certainly a wonderful event, and perhaps it would be on the list just to experience it,” he said.
Paul Goydos, who also plays on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, wasn’t pleased that I asked for a few minutes of his time as he warmed up for his round. But he gave me a few minutes of his time.
I asked him if thought the 16th was a bucket list item for some people.
“For who? Players or fans?”
Fans, I said.
“You know, it’s hard for me to relate to the fans because I really don’t understand why they watch golf in the first place,” he said. “But I would actually argue that, from my perspective, it’s one of the best, most fun experiences on a professional golf hole. And I’m a curmudgeon, so if I think it’s a great thing to experience, I would assume fans would feel the same way.”
In case I didn’t catch it the first time, Goydos reminded me again that he’s a curmudgeon.
“I’m a curmudgeon and I understand the negativity toward that hole,” he said, referring to golfers who don’t like it, “but then don’t complain when you play for $4 million bucks. You can’t have both. The checks cash, so that’s part of the process of playing for $300 million. You don’t get what you want every time.”
Managing 16 is a delicate balance for the Thunderbirds, the civic group that runs the Open. They don’t want to suck the life out of 16 because it’s fun and it’s a money maker because it’s fun. But they also realize the raucousness comes with security risks. A few bad incidents could make it less attractive for golfers and maybe cause fans to cross it off their lists before they ever experience it.
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