One hole, once a year is perfect.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve always thought the 16th hole at the Waste Management is fun, different, and just the right kind of crazy for a sport that can be way too uptight. Fans booing. Joel Dahmen wearing a Seahawks helmet. Players throwing gifts \u2014 or even cash \u2014 into the crowd. It\u2019s a welcome release in a game where shadows and coughs sometimes feel punishable by death.<\/p>\n
Except it\u2019s not one hole anymore.<\/p>\n
As Hideki Matsuyama pulled back his putter on the 18th green, an overserved fan yelled, \u201cGet in the hole!\u201d Matsuyama backed off, reset, and then missed the 20-footer that would have won the tournament. The fan isn\u2019t the reason he missed \u2014 but it sure didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n
Then came the playoff. On the opening tee shot, another distraction forced Matsuyama to stop his swing again.<\/p>\n
Although it was later reported that one of the noises was a security officer accidentally dropping a chair at the worst possible moment, that didn\u2019t erase the optics. A fan\u2019s slurred voice telling everyone to \u201ccalm down\u201d was picked up clearly by the TV mics. It was another tough look for the so-called \u201cPeople\u2019s Open.\u201d<\/p>\n
The online reaction was swift. And none of it was positive.<\/p>\n
Twenty-four-year-old me would have loved it. Drinking all morning. Standing in line in a T-shirt with a target drawn on it. The sprint up the famous hill toward the stands fueled by the buzz of the Jack and Coke I crushed in the parking lot. My friends right beside me, all of us convinced this was the greatest idea we\u2019d ever had.<\/p>\n
Forty-eight-year-old me would rather be waterboarded than stand in that line.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s why I can\u2019t sit here and pretend I\u2019m above the 24-year-olds who were there this week. I\u2019d be a hypocrite. Because even as I watched from the comfort of my recliner \u2014 thrilled to be 3,000 miles away, grateful for every single mile \u2014 I knew exactly why they were in that crowd.<\/p>\n
I just want those 24-year-olds to stay on 16.<\/p>\n
The issue isn\u2019t that 16 is loud and different. That\u2019s the whole point. The issue is that the energy from that hole has slowly bled across the course, and the final 20 minutes on Sunday felt less like a golf tournament and more like the moment the whole thing jumped the shark.<\/p>\n
And this isn\u2019t about \u201cshrinking the game,\u201d a phrase that\u2019s become just as overused as \u201cgrow the game.\u201d If being college-aged, wearing a stupid (and occasionally questionable) T-shirt, drinking too much, and booing golfers on a designated party hole are people we need to eliminate from the sport, then my friends and I never would\u2019ve stuck around long enough to become the guys fixing extra ball marks on every green.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want the Waste Management to turn into just another tournament \u2014 we\u2019ve got plenty of those on the schedule. The event created something unique on 16. Now it\u2019s on the tournament and the Tour to figure out how to keep it there.<\/p>\n
You can\u2019t market one hole as a party and expect the rest of the course to feel like a library. That line used to exist. This week, it didn\u2019t. And if the Tour doesn\u2019t figure out how to build a better fence between \u201cfun\u201d and \u201cfree-for-all,\u201d the most entertaining stop of the year might slowly turn into the most embarrassing.<\/p>\n
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