Tag: WM Phoenix Open

‘Shut up’: Zach Johnson, Billy Horschel yell at unruly 2024 WM Phoenix Open fans

Fans were heard early and often on Sunday at TPC Scottsdale.

The WM Phoenix Open bills itself as “The People’s Open,” but with its boisterous fans – who are often overserved, especially at the par-3 16th party hole – and different vibe, the PGA Tour’s annual stop in Phoenix may not be for everyone, especially the old-school pros.

Zach Johnson may be a new name on that list. The 12-time winner on Tour has made 14 appearances at the Phoenix Open dating back to 2005 when it was the FBR Open. He made the cut in 12 of those starts and has bagged six top-25 finishes and a top 10. In other words, Johnson is no stranger to the scene at TPC Scottsdale, which made the video below all the more curious.

The 47-year-old blew up at fans during the third round of the 2024 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on Saturday, and the confrontation was caught on camera.

“Somebody said it, I’m just sick of it. Just shut up,” Johnson said to a group of fans before security stepped in on the par-5 15th-hole tee box.

The Tour wants the WM Phoenix Open to be fun, but all that fun can come at a disruptive cost. It’s unclear what led to the interaction, and maybe Johnson was justified in telling the fan to pipe down. But if you can’t handle a heckler, then the People’s Open just may not be for you anymore.

You can also add Billy Horschel to the list. The seven-time winner went off on a fan, justifiably so, after someone in the gallery was talking during a player’s swing. This video may not be safe for delicate ears.

With the third round and final round still to be completed, the players could be in for a long Sunday at TPC Scottsdale.

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Jon Rahm’s former ASU roommate Nicolo Galletti making waves at Phoenix Open

Galletti went from the Monday qualifier to making the cut at TPC Scottsdale in his first PGA Tour start.

SCOTTSDALE Ariz. — As much as the concept of quiet exists on a Saturday at TPC Scottsdale, it followed Nicolo Galletti. When he slid a birdie putt past the 14th hole, it earned only a wayward expletive from a fan who wanted to draw some laughs. When he slid another past the 15th, there was a customary groan, but not a personal one. No one, it seemed, knew who Galletti was, and why would they?

On Saturday afternoon, as he made his way around the WM Phoenix Open in anonymity, Galletti was ranked 1044th in the world. He had never played in a PGA Tour event. In 56 career tournaments across the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and PGA Tour Canada, his total earnings added up to just $102,814. A finish in the top 65 would ensure this week as the most lucrative of his career.

So when Galletti walked into the stadium hole at 16, there were none of the “A-S-U” chants that Sun Devil golfers usually receive. If any fans even noticed the pitchfork on his golf bag, they kept it to themselves.

Galletti, though, was determined to change that. He’s been here before, in this crowd. The only year he missed the Open was in 2022, when he fell short in a playoff at the Monday qualifier and couldn’t stomach the idea of seeing the tournament live. Every other February, he’s made his way to TPC Scottsdale as a paying fan, just like everyone else. He knows what this is all about.

“Definitely wanted to pump them up,” Galletti said.

Even if no one knew his name, he figured he could do that with a marketing stunt, throwing headphones in the crowd as he walked towards the 16th green. That got the fans on Galletti’s side, and when he drained a 19-foot birdie putt, they erupted. Finally, someone even noticed his college allegiances. A group of four fans in American flag rompers — the type to arrive at 3:30 a.m. for their premium perch — yelled out ‘ASU baby’ and ‘Go Sun Devils.’

What they didn’t know was that, with Galletti’s birdie, everything changed. He was excited to play to the fans, but also to flip the switch on his own fortunes. The putt gave him a three-stroke buffer to the cut line, enough to all but ensure his tournament would go on. By the end of the round, he was still at 4 under, in a tie for 34th.

It would be a moment out of an aspiring PGA Tour pro’s dreams, except that the past few years have been so turbulent and so busy that Galletti hasn’t had time for dreaming.

“This is always what I thought I would be doing for my life,” he said, but even in college, it was difficult to know what path that would take. “I was struggling pretty good,” Galletti said, recalling an ASU career that only featured four top-10 finishes in as many years.

Meanwhile, his senior year roommate at The Hub, across from Sun Devil Stadium, was the No. 1 amateur in the world. Ticketed for green jackets and multi-million dollar paydays. Some guy named Jon Rahm.

The two were best friends, a pair of soccer fans with southern European connections. Rahm is from the Basque Country in northern Spain; Galletti’s father moved to the U.S. from Italy. On his collegiate bio, he listed his dream historical sporting event not as a bygone Masters or U.S. Open, but as Italy’s triumph at the 2006 World Cup.

They talked about all of that, and everything else roommates talk about. To this day, they’re still good friends. This week, Rahm has been texting him with a steady stream of advice, most of it focused on staying calm amid the hysteria.

But even back at ASU, long before Rahm ditched the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, the notion of playing together on big stages was never discussed.

2024 WM Phoenix Open
Nicolo Galletti plays his second shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the 2024 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

“We were a couple different levels back then,” Galletti said with a laugh. “Which we still are now,” he added, as if that fact were easy to forget.

This season may be the most promising of Galletti’s career — his performance in DP World Tour Q-School last year earned him a card for that circuit — but it’s still not easy. His last event was the Mauritius Open. His next event will be back in that part of the world, two weeks from now at the Kenya Open.

“Definitely don’t have the biggest bank account right now,” Galletti said. “But it is what it is. This week will be nice.”

That’s especially true in contrast to where he’s come from. In 2019 — three years after he graduated from ASU, with his golf career still on the ground floor — he suffered an almost impossible string of injuries. There was a torn oblique that sidelined him for months, followed by a broken wrist when he was sitting on a bag stand that collapsed. As soon as the wrist healed, a friend fell into his leg at Rahm’s wedding, causing a sprained ankle.

Unable to play golf or do much exercise of any kid, Galletti added 40 pounds. “In my golfing career,” he said, “that was definitely the toughest time.”

It would have been easy to see the injuries as a sign to call it quits and to use his degree for a calmer career. Instead, they reminded him how much he needed the game.

“I just like golf a lot,” Galletti said. “I don’t really know what else I would do, to be honest.”

During the pandemic, he found a home on the Outlaw Tour, a pay-to-play circuit that got a financial boost from gamblers desperate for action. A few good weeks there helped him gain a foothold on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where he played 11 events in 2022. That turned into a summer run on the PGA Tour Canada last year.

By contrast, this year is steady. But it’s not really steady. Galletti knows that. Regular events on the PGA Tour — ones that don’t require a playoff in the Monday qualifier — are still a long way away.

The solution, as he sees it, is to enjoy the present. Wherever it leads.

Once a fixture at WM Phoenix Open, most Arizona State alums now play for LIV Golf

Arizona State men’s golf alumni have traditionally been a big part of the WM Phoenix Open.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Arizona State men’s golf alumni have traditionally been as big a part of the WM Phoenix Open as its crazy costumes and inebriated fans. This year is no different with five former Sun Devils in the field. But it’s the ASU alums not in the tournament who are most conspicuous.

Six former Sun Devils have jumped to LIV Golf, most notably Jon Rahm and Phil Mickelson, who have a combined 64 PGA Tour victories. Mickelson once played 30 consecutive times at TPC Scottsdale.

The five remaining Sun Devils in the Phoenix Open field have a combined five PGA Tour wins (three by Chez Reavie and two by Grayson Murray).

“The ASU presence, I feel like it’s not as much anymore,” Murray said of the Phoenix Open field.

But while LIV has drained the Sun Devil connection to the Phoenix Open, ASU coach Matt Thurmond said he does not believe it detracts from his program.

“While I appreciate everything that the PGA Tour does and has done, and I appreciate everything LIV is doing, I don’t have a horse in the race,” Thurmond said. “What I want is what’s best for our players.”

In 2022, Thurmond’s star player – David Puig – decided it was best for him to leave school early and join LIV. Puig now plays for Fireballs GC alongside Sergio Garcia.

“It got to the point where we felt like it was such a no-brainer for him,” Thurmond said.

Puig initially played in a few LIV events as an amateur while remaining on ASU’s team. But eventually the deal “got even better for him,” Thurmond said. So, Puig turned pro in a groundbreaking development for the upstart golf league. The young Spaniard paid his own tuition to complete his degree at ASU and still lives with three current Sun Devils golfers.

“Our relationship as friends, it didn’t change much,” Puig said.

Puig’s LIV decision foreshadowed the arrival of a far more famous Spanish Sun Devil in Rahm. The reigning Master’s champion and world No. 3 player committed to LIV in a shocking reversal last December.

Like Puig, Rahm still lives in Scottsdale. In his news conference before the LIV Las Vegas event this weekend, he expressed sadness at missing out on the Phoenix Open and said he hopes to play in the event again.

Rahm’s absence casts a shadow over the tournament – and the future of the PGA Tour. But the ASU alums still in the Phoenix Open field say their relationships with Rahm are unchanged.

“Jon is one of my best friends,” said Nicolo Galletti, a former Sun Devil making his first PGA Tour start at the Phoenix Open. “He obviously just went to LIV, and I think it’s awesome for him.

“Make your money. That’s what it’s about. This is a job.”

The players did not believe that ASU alums on LIV were actively pulling other Sun Devils to the breakaway tour.

“I think it was just all on an individual basis,” said Reavie, who has played in 400 events on the PGA Tour since 2002.

Puig agreed that the ASU presence on LIV was not a major factor in his decision. But he did speak to Rahm about LIV before the two-time major winner made the switch.

“I don’t know if our talks helped or not,” Puig said.

Puig and Rahm played golf together frequently this past offseason.

“We have a lot of things in common, which is crazy because he’s a superstar, and I’m just starting my professional life,” Puig said.

While it has poached some of the world’s best talent, LIV still lags far behind the PGA Tour in popularity among fans. When both tours were live last Saturday, the PGA Tour received more than 11 times the viewership than LIV.

A 2022 survey famously found that only about 22 percent of golf fans approved of LIV. The league recently came under fire for allegedly threatening to imprison bankers that cooperated with the U.S. government investigation into the planned merger between it and the PGA Tour.

But the ASU men’s golf team seems to feel differently about LIV than most golf fans.

“It’s not just ASU, it’s all teams,” Thurmond said. “These kids are really excited about what LIV’s doing.”

The team aspect of LIV is particularly intriguing for college golfers, according to Thurmond.

With three current players ranked among the top 20 amateurs in the world, the Sun Devil presence on LIV could grow even larger in the coming years. Thurmond said he wouldn’t comment specifically on whether his current players – including freshman Wenyi Ding, Preston Summerhays and Josele Ballester – had already been approached by LIV.

“But I will say that they have had or actively have opportunities all the time,” Thurmond said.

Though the most famous ASU alums play elsewhere, the Sun Devils on the PGA Tour continue to have an impact. Rookie Kevin Yu posted two top-10 finishes in January, putting him inside the top 30 of the FedEx Cup standings. Yu accrued the second-best career scoring average (70.46) in ASU history during the Golfstat era, trailing only Rahm.

“One thing that stands out with Kevin is his ball-striking,” Thurmond said. “It’s pretty stunning to watch. He hits it as high and as far and as straight … as anybody I’ve ever seen.”

Murray won the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier this year, earning his second career victory and first since 2017.

Reavie, Galletti and Jesse Mueller – also a volunteer assistant for the Grand Canyon University men’s golf team – round out the Sun Devils in the 2024 Phoenix Open field.

With ASU playing in Hawaii at the Amer Ari Invitational, LIV playing its second event of the season in Las Vegas and the Phoenix Open scrambling to finish after heavy rain delayed the schedule, it will inevitably be a massive weekend for Sun Devils golfers.

“The golf program here has always been just a major part (of the university),” Thurmond said. “Golf is a really big deal here.”

King Jemison is a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.

Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler chasing leader Nick Taylor on a long day of golf Saturday at 2024 WM Phoenix Open

There’s a distinct possibility of golf stretching into Monday.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Nick Taylor finished only six holes on Saturday at TPC Scottsdale, electing to mark his 6-foot par putt at the seventh green and wait until play resumes in the morning. He chose to do so despite leading the field at the WM Phoenix Open in putting this week and having drained a 48-foot bomb just two holes earlier to the take the tournament lead at 13 under, one stroke ahead of 36-hole leader Sahith Theegala. Asked why he chose to wait despite riding such a red-hot putter, Taylor said, “Because I couldn’t see the hole.”

Good reason, indeed. The horn blew suspending play for darkness at 6:11 p.m. local time, and setting up a marathon Sunday, which presents the distinct possibility of stretching into Monday.

Taylor, a native of Canada who makes his home not far from the tournament and practices here regularly, has good vibes here after finishing second last year.

 “A lot of years in a row I didn’t,” said Taylor, who never had finished in the top 10 before last year but now has shot 62 in 2023 and tied the course record on Friday with a 60. “I’m definitely in good position to try to finish it off.”

Here are four more things to know from Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open.

Fans were loving Smylie Kaufman and Kevin Kisner commentating the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open

Yup. Kiz was booing bad shots all afternoon.

Announcers openly booing players? Acceptable at the WM Phoenix Open.

And there were no shortage of boos Saturday afternoon and evening at TPC Scottsdale, especially on the 16th tee box. The rowdiest hole in golf is known for good shots being praised and bad ones being ridiculed.

But the announcers getting in on the fanfare? That’s what Smylie Kaufman and Kevin Kisner did on Saturday’s broadcast. NBC Sports set the duo up a few yards from the 16th tee box, and from the first tee shot, they provided a different type of commentary than we’ve seen from an NBC broadcast in some time.

Sure, Colt Knost and Amanda Renner have set up shop on this hole in previous years and done a stellar job, but with the CBS crew having the week off thanks to the Super Bowl, it was NBC’s time to showcase something new.

They may have struck gold.

Fans chimed in on social media in support of the duo and their non-stop debauchery from the 16th tee. Kisner even had a football he would pass to players for them to toss into the crowd, but the duo didn’t hold back commentating on the golf.

They praised good shots and boo’ed bad ones. They were clearly having fun, and the excitement of the 16th hole truly came through on the broadcast.

Kevin Kisner and Smylie Kaufman on the 16th tee box. (Photo: NBC Sports)

Here’s some of the best reactions to the duo making their debut from the tee box.

Fans were turned away, alcohol sales halted Saturday at 2024 WM Phoenix Open as TPC Scottsdale reaches capacity

A wild week of weather hasn’t dampened turnout at the most highly attended stop on the PGA Tour.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Just before the conclusion of the weather-delayed second round just before 2 p.m. Saturday at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open, tournament organizers temporarily closed all of the entrances to TPC Scottsdale. No more fans were being allowed into the tournament.

This is the first time this has happened in event history. It’s unclear what fans with tickets will do for now but if enough fans leave, then more fans could be allowed in.

The grassy hillsides of the Stadium Course normally can accomodate thousands of fans watching the tournament but those slopes became muddy slip-n-slides, which pushed all the fans on the walkways, creating massive logjams where fans who were on site struggled to move about.

That didn’t stop some late-arriving fans from finding ways to circumvent the rules. Videos posted to social media showed fans climbing fences of nearby apartment complexes to get onto the tournament grounds.

Because of all the congestion around the course, golf carts were parked. Typically, TV crews with big cameras or tournament or PGA Tour officials motor around the property throughout the day but with so much foot traffic, golf carts are being put away.

In addition, alcohol sales were halted. For a while fans could be seen lined up at the beer tubs around the course, awaiting the good word they could start buying again, but that didn’t happen.

Sunday morning, tournament organizers posted a message on social media, explaining their Saturday decision and stating that they’re trying to determine the best way to make it up to the fans not allowed in.

The tournament’s Friday and Saturday rounds were declared sellouts a few days before the tournament.

In 2019, tournament organizers stopped announcing daily attendance numbers. In 2018, the Phoenix Open reported the largest single-day crowd of 216,818 for Saturday’s third round as well as an overall attendance for the week at 719,179.

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Rickie Fowler, Max Homa among notables who missed the cut at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open

The cut at TPC Scottsdale didn’t happen until nearly 2 p.m. local time Saturday.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Rain delays, frost delays, 4:30 a.m. alarm clocks, playing as many as 30 holes in one day and 20,000 drunk, screaming and often booing fans – and that’s just at 16 – this is a week where PGA Tour pros earned their paycheck at the WM Phoenix Open. Yet the 132-man field still must be whittled down, even if the 36-hole cut day extended to nearly 2 p.m. local time on Saturday thanks to multiple suspensions of play.

When it was all said and done, 73 players moved on for 36 more holes at TPC Scottsdale and a chance to take home the trophy as champion and more than seven figures in prize money. The total purse this week is $8.8 million, with $1.584 million going to the winner.

It took a score of 2-under 140 to make all that hard work and effort pay off into a paycheck in the Valley of the Sun.

Among those to sneak through on the number included Tom Kim, who rallied to shoot 5-under 66, Garrick High (67), Adam Scott (68), Brian Harman (69), Sungjae Im (70) and Zach Johnson (70).

Two of the three Monday qualifiers made it through in Jim Knous (66, T-34) — read his story here — and former Arizona State golfer Nicolo Galetti (67, T-34) as did Bud Cauley (-5, T-23), who made his first start since the 2020 Fortinet Championship. Kevin Chappell (68) made a 12-foot birdie putt at nine, his last hole of the day, to make the cut on the number.

But not everyone was so fortunate — Adam Svensson, for one, missed a birdie putt from 44 feet. Here’s a closer look at the notables who were sent packing at the WM Phoenix Open.

2024 WM Phoenix Open: 15 photos of raucous fans at the famed 16th hole stadium

Golf’s biggest party never disappoints

They call it the People’s Open for a reason.

Every year, the Waste Management Phoenix Open becomes golf’s biggest party as the PGA Tour descends on TPC Scottsdale. And nowhere are the festivities more electric than inside the stadium surrounding the par-three No. 16 hole.

Make a birdie here and you’ll earn the crowd’s respect. Hit a poor tee shot or miss a putt and prepare to get jeered. Hit a hole-in-one and prepare for a never-ending beer shower from the stands. It’s truly unlike any other environment the sport has to offer.

That’s all due to the fans who show up early, stay loud all day and continue to treat the tournament like an EDM festival.

Just take a look at how fun things look this year in the desert despite the rain and cold that’s plagued the week.

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Last call for Hard K: Jim Knous makes cut in final start before taking job with Ping

It’s been five years since a Monday qualifier won a PGA Tour event.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — If this is Jim Knous’s final PGA Tour event, he can at least say he made it to one more weekend.

“I want to see what that Saturday Colosseum vibe is like on No. 16. I want to hear them roar,” he said. “I need to get in there and hit a good shot so I can hear them roar.”

Knous who was inside the cutline at 3 under overall with four holes remaining when play was halted Friday night, went birdie-par-bogey-birdie to post a 66 on Saturday morning. That got him to 4 under, well inside the cutline.

Knous, 34, earned his way into the tournament in the Monday qualifier at Pinnacle Peak Country Club, shooting 7-under 65 and advancing through a 4-for-3 playoff.

But it’s last call because Knous decided it’s time to hang up his golf spikes and is set to begin a new position working at Ping as a fitting and education engineer. Knous, who lost a playoff for the 2012 NCAA Division II title, is the most successful player to come out of Colorado School of Mines, which is also where Ping’s vice president of fitting and performance Marty Jertson went to school and he has long taken an interest in Knous, who has played Ping equipment throughout his career.

“Working with the fitters, design engineers, R&D. A broad scope position so I can branch out later once I maybe find out what I’m good at or what I like to do there,” said Knous of his new which begins Feb. 26. “I got a cubicle. Let’s go.”

Knous made his PGA Tour debut at the 2017 WM Phoenix Open. It took seven years after turning pro before Knous earned his Tour card for the 2019 season. In all, he has made 44 Tour starts as well as nearly 100 more on the Korn Ferry Tour in his 11 years as a pro. But the grind of being on the fringes of the pro game also have taken their toll. He failed to get through Q-School this year and decided it was time to put his civil engineering degree to use.

But first, Knous has his college coach, Tyler Kimble, on the bag at TPC Scottsdale. Wife, Heidi, and the couple’s three kids watched his opening round and father, Jim, and mother, Ellen, were among his supporters walking with him on Friday afternoon. He holed out a bunker shot for birdie at 18, his ninth hole of his second round, and lifted his arms to the sky in delight.

“Clipped it just perfectly and went in and I just said, ‘Yeah, baby, let’s go.’ I was super psyched,” he said.

Then he birdied his next three holes. Last call will have to wait two more rounds because on Saturday morning, in the pouring rain, he chipped in for birdie at No. 6, flagged it at No. 7 but left the birdie putt an inch short in the heart of the hole and took three putts at No. 8. But he bounced back to drain a 23-foot birdie putt at the last and shot 66. He posted a 36-hole total of 4-under 138 and is T-34 at the midway point of the tournament.

“Thanks for the ride,” his father, an avid golfer who got his son started in the game at about 2, said in an interview with PGA Tour.com.

But Knous knows it is time to do something else after being on the road for 197 nights in 2022.

“That just wears on you as a person, as a dad. So we made the decision to try to look for other opportunities,” he said on Saturday after making the cut.

“I’m very proud of my career, but it’s time to be a dad,” Knous told Monday Q. “I’m just going to enjoy everything about this week, no matter what.”

The Beer Snake at the WM Phoenix Open’s 16th hole is alive and well

The long stack of green cups is making waves at the famous party hole once again.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — If you’ve been watching the WM Phoenix Open, you’ve probably noticed the Beer Snake. You might not have known that’s what you were looking at it, but it’s real.

And it’s spectacular.

As you might imagine, beer is consumed in large quantities on the famous 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale, and the Beer Snake is one long stack of the empty plastic beer cups.

When fans finish off a cup of liquid refreshment, they start stacking. The plastic cups are actually cool souvenirs with the WM Phoenix Open’s 16th hole logo on them, but when the Beer Snake gets going, there’s no stopping the fun.

In 2023, security actually did break up the Beer Snake.

2023 WM Phoenix Open
An Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper removes a beer-snake from fans at the 16th hole during the 2023 WM Phoenix Open. (Photo: Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic)

This year, the Beer Snake is back. Golf Channel showed it in all its green glory several times Friday during second-round coverage. Expect more of the same Saturday, always the loudest, wildest and most highly attended day of the week.

Early in the week, it seemed tournament officials were more than OK with the Beer Snake in 2024, as there is a can koozie for sale in the Fan Shop with the “Make the Snake” slogan on it.

2024 WM Phoenix Open
Merchandise at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Todd Kelly/Golfweek)

On Saturday, an officer with the Scottsdale Police Department was seen confiscating a long stack of the green cups.

2024 WM Phoenix Open
A Scottsdale police officer confiscates a Beer Snake from fans on the 16th hole during the 2024 Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Joe Rondone/The Arizona Republic)

You might partially credit Sam Ryder for this phenomenon.

After he made a hole-in-one on the 16th hole in 2022, hundreds of fans chucked their beer cans and aluminum bottles down, many of them half-full or more, onto the par-3 hole.

The next year, tournament organizers, citing safety concerns, started serving beer in those plastic cups instead. Now, instead of throwing, they’re stacking at the Phoenix Open.