SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A man wearing a swimsuit and body paint managed to get onto the field of play Friday at 2023 WM Phoenix Open.
With the words “Mac Savage” on his chest and “19th hole” on his back, Sean Patrick McConnell, 27, who is an Arizona resident, ran onto the 16th green, grabbed the flagstick and pointed to the sky while posing. A security guard gave chase and he ran off the green.
From there, he escaped the 16th hole coliseum through an auxiliary tunnel – separate from the main tunnel golfers and caddies use to get from 16 green to 17 tee box. He then ran down the 17th hole before jumping in the lake left of the green.
BELLY FLOP AT THE WASTE MANAGEMENT (via xerxesnabong IG) pic.twitter.com/Q3nLxZGM9z
— Fore Play (@ForePlayPod) February 10, 2023
McConnell, who ignored commands by officers to immediately exit the water, then swam to the giant floating WM sign in the giant lake behind the 17th green and in front of the 18th tee box before climbing on.
After being taken into custody, he was charged around 2 p.m. for trespassing, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a lawful order from law enforcement, Scottsdale police spokesman Sgt. Aaron Bolin.
He is booked into Scottsdale City Jail and will be held in custody to see a judge within the next two days.
Never know what you’ll see at the WMPO – including people swimming illegally on the 18th! pic.twitter.com/UU15Bcmi77
— Eric Cohen (@CohensCornerAZ) February 10, 2023
Before the tournament began, the police warned attendees to not swim in the water hazards.
“The water is not potable and not drinkable and is not meant for humans to be in and so it is a dangerous thing for someone to do,” Bolin said.
Stewart Cink was in the group on 16 when this all went down.
“I was teeing my ball up and I think I was still kind of talking through what I was going to do with my caddie and so I was kind of focused on the ball,” he said. “Then I heard the crowd kind of getting loud and I was like, ‘I didn’t think they were getting super excited for Stewart Cink’. And for a second I thought, is this jersey related?”
Cink, a self-described die-hard Atlanta Hawks fan, wore a Kevin Durant No. 35 jersey on the 16th hole during his first round Thursday, a clear effort to win over some fans. But he quickly discovered that wasn’t why everyone started getting riled up.
“I feel like describing it is kind of condoning it, or giving it life in some ways,” Cink said.
“I saw an idiot, is what I saw, running around on the green. I think, for the 10 or 15 minutes he got in the spotlight is probably going to result in several hours of whatever the opposite of the spotlight is.”
Jenna Ortiz of the Arizona Republic contributed to this article.
Here’s another look:
🚨 Streaker alert on No. 16 🚨#WMPhoenixOpen pic.twitter.com/SET8AEDoTu
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) February 10, 2023
