On-site jails and total bedlam: Inside PGA’s boozy ‘s***show’... and the year chaos went too far

With music blaring, and beer cans flying, LIV Golf has built a reputation for being the party tour.

But as the PGA Tour lands in Arizona for its yearly trip this week, a clear reminder over who was ripping up golf’s gallery rules first will be served.

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This was LIV well before any can of beer was shotgunned greenside in Adelaide.

More than half-a-million golf fans will rush through the gates at TPC Scottsdale this week to gain a prime spot in the grandstands at what has long been dubbed ‘the greatest show on grass’.

The staggering figure makes the Waste Management Phoenix Open not just the most-spectated event in golf, but it’s routinely one of the best-attended events in all world sport with more than 200,000 people alone regularly going through the turnstiles on a Saturday.

The PGA Tour’s ‘People’s Open’ is America’s biggest party on Super Bowl weekend — and its main stage is the stadium hole; a roughly 150m par 3 that creates some of the most iconic scenes in golf every year.

The stampede through the turnstiles at first light is because every fan wants to be at the 16th, or ‘the colosseum’ as the locals call it.

Up to 20,000 fans can gather around the hole that inspired spin offs like LIV Adelaide’s ‘Watering Hole’.

But the general admission area fits roughly 3,500 spectators with most paying a premium for a spot in one of the 300 skyboxes that line the 150m stretch from tee to green.

Calling a box your own for the entire week costs almost $150,000, while a single day ticket in a box sets fans back anywhere from $700 to $2,300 depending on the location and size of the suite.

ULTIMATE GUIDE: Everything you need to know ahead of the 2026 Phoenix Open

The sums are staggering, but roughly $230 million has been raised for charity via the tournament’s profits since 2010.

So, tens of thousands pay the big bucks every year to ensure they are a part of the action that inevitably goes viral.

Tiger Woods’ unforgettable hole-in-one in 1997 was the first such moment.

The roar created by the then 21-year-old, roughly two months before winning his first green jacket, was the catalyst for the hole’s transformation into a stadium in the Arizona desert.

Since it became fully enclosed, fans have been treated to more aces, while the players have enjoyed an atmosphere like no other in golf.

They emerge from a tunnel like a rockstar coming on stage, and are often given the warmest of receptions.

But once they hit their tee shot, no one is safe.

Hit the green and a player will receive the sort of cheers usually reserved for a wicket in the opening over of a World Cup final in cricket, or a game-winning buzzer beater in the NBA.

Miss the green and boos will rain down upon a player as if they’re a football manager the fans desperately want sacked.

Pandemonium sets in when a hole-in-one is made, like when Emilian Grillo slam dunked an ace in the second round last year.

And sometimes the players themselves get swept up in the moment like when Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen whipped off their shirts and waved them around to the crowd in 2022.

Many of the PGA Tour’s biggest names love the one-week shift in style from the typical decorum of golf.

Justin Thomas said: “(Hole 16) is a great atmosphere, it’s a great hole. The fans are unbelievable, they are what makes this event what it is.”

While Rickie Fowler has been a long-time fan, describing the rowdiness as “fun” and “awesome”.

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler also considers it one of his favourite tournaments, and it does help that he is a two-time champion at TPC Scottsdale.

‘IT’S OUR F***ING JOB’

The mark, however, can be overstepped at times.

The tournament made the decision to do away with cans and sell all their drinks in commemorative cups a few years ago.

That came after fans were criticised for showering the 16th in aluminium and causing regular, mass clean-ups mid-play.

It was just one of many sustainability manoeuvres made by the tournament often referred to as ‘the greenest show on grass’.

There are no waste bins at TPC Scottsdale as everything sold on-site is either recyclable or compostable.

But that is not to say there’s no garbage being thrown around.

This place can get very, very messy.

Two years ago, former US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson became entangled in a tense exchange with fans when he confronted the gallery beside a tee box and told them to “shut up”.

Videos circulated on social media of fans taunting Johnson, telling him that the US had lost the previous year’s Ryder Cup in Rome because of him.

“I’m just sick of it. Just shut up,” a furious Johnson was seen saying.

That same year Byeong Hun An, who now plies his trade on LIV, called the tournament a “s***show” and said things “were totally out of control on every hole”.

“Played here multiple times over the years and it was fine until today,” he said.

Billy Horschel also sparked a viral moment when he confronted spectators for making noise in his playing partner’s backswing.

“Buddy, when he’s over a shot shut the hell up man,” Horschel said with venom in his voice. “He’s trying to hit a damn golf shot here - it’s our f****** job.”

Jordan Spieth was also seen mouthing the words “what the f**k” after crowds made noise during his backswing on one hole.

The 2024 tournament was when questions started being seriously asked about if the scenes were going too far, with other viral images including fans doing topless mud slides down a hill, spectators making snow angels in a bunker, and public urination.

At one point, alcohol sales were cut off temporarily, leading to chants of “we want beer” at the Stadium Hole.

Worryingly for players, fans and tournament organisers alike, a staggering 63 people were arrested at TPC Scottsdale in 2024, largely for drunk and disorderly behaviour.

That figure has been on the rise. It was 54 in 2024, which was triple the tally of the previous year, while there were none in 2022.

The Scottsdale Police Department also ejected 319 spectators, more than 100 more than the year prior and more than 200 more than in 2023.

REIGNING IT BACK

Though arrests have still been on the rise, there’s hope that in response to the 2024 debacle, organisers are regaining a grip on the event.

Apart from the general police presence being ramped up, officers in Scottsdale have even created an on-site jail for those who go over the top, while a special medical facility is set up beside the 16th hole.

According to Scottsdale Fire Capt. Dave Folio, the biggest three reasons people end up in the facility are “falls, over-intoxication and dehydration.”

Despite the raucousness, the event is still generally viewed by players as being positive.

It’s a genuinely big stop on the calendar with a prize fund of nearly USD$10 million (A$14m) on offer, making it one world golf’s most lucrative tournaments that’s not a major or ‘signature event’.

And many of the big guns respond with the OWGR giving the Phoenix Open the seventh-strongest field rating in 2025, highger than the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Memorial Tournament or Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

What’s more is that the tournament provides a break from the PGA Tour norm, offering a once-a-year novelty that, though sometimes controversial, is always entertaining.

“We should let people have a good time,” 2018 winner Gary Woodland said.

“Now, when you start throwing gambling and stuff involved and people are interacting while you’re swinging and it becomes an issue, that’s where it kind of gets out of control.

“But I think they’re going to do a zero-tolerance policy from what I’ve heard this week. So hopefully if there’s a couple of bad apples out that gets taken care of early and everyone can go out there and have a good time and enjoy and have a party, right?”

Matt Fitzpatrick drew a comparison to LIV Golf, saying that the Phoenix Open reminds him of their slogan ‘Golf But Louder’.

“It’s good fun,” he said. “The only times when it’s not is when you get a few that have had a few too many, shouting for your ball to go into the water or doing something crazy. But for the most part, it’s always good fun.”

Sahith Theegala said the same in 2024, when the tournament was at its low-point.

“It’s a blast. There’s definitely some people that aren’t the best drunks,” he said.

“But, for the most part, it’s all positive.”

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