SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Sam Ryder walked into the buzzing 16th hole knowing what to expect. Boos for even a halfway decent shot, cheers for anything close to the pin, random people screaming his name fueled by liquid courage.
Little did he know that he would become another tale in the legend of the notorious WM Open stadium hole, even as his tee shot Saturday went skyward on its way to history.
The ball landed to the right of the hole. It rolled backward and dropped in for the 10th ace in the history of the WM Open at TPC Scottsdale.
Ryder leaped for joy. A Thunderbird tossed his “Quiet” sign in the air. And plastic beer and water bottles came flying from the seats, fans doused with liquid and litter all over the tee box and green.
🗣 ACE ON 16 🗣
What a place for @SamRyderSU's first ace on TOUR! pic.twitter.com/5AemLzhVG2
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 12, 2022
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It was a scene reminiscent of the last ace at the notorious 16th — by Francesco Molinari on a similar shot in 2015. And the projectiles came flying that day as well.
If there was any doubt that the party wouldn’t be back to the level it had been pre-pandemic, and after the subdued scene at No. 16 in 2021 when attendance at the WM Open was limited and a deejay brought in to provide some kind of ambience, Ryder’s hole-in-one left no doubt. Already in the mood to be rambunctious and let their voices be heard, Ryder’s shot gave reason for the thousands to go berserk.
“There’s nothing really compares to the energy that’s in here, you know, it’s like you’ve just got to embrace it and, you know, they either love you or they hate you,” Ryder said.
A bottle came close to hitting both Ryder and Brian Harman, one of the other players in Ryder’s group.
Ryder was the second one to tee off in his group, so Harman had to wait about 15 minutes to tee off while cleanup crews of volunteers and Thunderbirds scurried about picking up debris.
The fans began chanting “Volunteers! Volunteers!” in appreciation of the cleanup, even as more bottles were thrown.
“It was a pretty wild scene. I was just trying to dodge the beer cans,” Harman said. He heard boos for his tee shot when play finally resumes.
“I don’t mind them (fans) throwing them, but I had a couple almost hit me in the face. We didn’t really have anywhere to go. We were just kind of isolated out there,” Harman said. “The rules official asked me if I wanted to hit with all the beer cans out there. I declined and asked them to go clean it up.”
Ryder said he was thankful no one got hurt, apparently.
“It reminded me of a hockey game, where someone has a hat trick and they start throwing stuff on the ice,” Ryder said. “They’ve been waiting to do something like that. I’m glad it just ended up being a positive thing.”
Liquid dripped from the tunnel that serves as the pathway out of the 16th hole to the 17th. Fans sang the bassline to a song often heard at sporting events, “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes.
“Ryder! Ryder!” the crowd screamed as he headed to 17, and there were more shouts of encouragement before he teed off at that hole. His first shot landed in the rough and into the crowd to the right of the fairway.
“That grass is thicker than your hair!” a fan called out to Ryder.
While the ace was the moment of the day at 16, the entire course was in a festive mood. Groups of fans wore Minnesota Vikings jerseys or were draped in Canadian flags. Some dressed up for the occasion; others were in costume and one group of fans at the 18th hole tried to start The Wave.
Carlos Ortiz, who ended the day tied for 49th place, hit a tee shot near the 16th flag, and raised his arms in celebration to the roar of the crowd.
“I don’t think there’s any tournament that has this many people,” said Brooks Koepka, the defending WM Open champion who is in second place going into Sunday’s final round. “I’m pretty sure every year that they keep breaking records for the most people. But… today (Saturday) was wild.”
The leader through three rounds, Sahith Theegala, said there was a lot going on for him out on the course. That included the crowd, which he said was a good thing.
He hit the ball in the desert roughage five times, got his ball stepped on twice and picked up twice, and through it all dealt with a constant murmur in his head all afternoon from the din.
At one point, Theegala raised his driver in the air as unit of yard measurement, which some fans watching at the 11th hole took as a signal he was acknowledging them and began to cheer.
“That was fun, though,” he said. ‘Those were really loud cheers and I was standing right next to all of them. And then somehow my shot missed all the people.”
