It’s that time again. The time each winter when Scottsdale and its environs turn into something resembling Spring Break for adults. It’s time for the PGA tour to stop at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at the TPC Scottsdale!
Un-catchy as that name is, it’s still great fun (though to most of us it will always remain simply the Phoenix Open in our hearts).
To the new transplants out there, do not be concerned. Do not panic if your neighborhood has been overrun by golf gear-wearing, beer-swilling, cigar-toting, raucous middle-aged men. Do not worry if your insurance agent, attorney or doctor does not answer his phone all week, or if his assistant can only come up with lame, vaguely suspicious excuses as to why he cannot be reached. It’s just playtime in Arizona. And it’s all good.
While we just got done with the Barrett-Jackson auto show, that’s only a warm-up for the greatest party Scottsdale hosts all year. It’s known as “The Greatest Show on Grass” and this show even rivals the grand poobah of sporting events, the SuperBowl. For the past 35 years, the golf tourney has fallen on the same Sunday as football’s big day. The only two years this didn’t happen were in 2002, when the SuperBowl date was changed due to the terrorist events of the prior year, and in 2010, when the Winter Olympics caused the Phoenix Open to be played in late February.
But regardless of this conflict, the Phoenix Open is one well-attended golf event, often drawing over 500,000 people. And that's without the attraction of Tiger Woods, who hasn't played in Scottsdale since 2001 (well, not golf anyway.) This sports dilemma is not a personal one for those who (like me) live in the TPC’s backyard. We can literally run home after the final putt and be nestled in our recliners in time for kickoff. But for those who cannot rent out their driveways as extra parking, it becomes a more problematic situation.
For example, in 2008 when Arizona hosted the Superbowl, native son Phil Mickelson was going to have a rough time getting from Scottsdale to Glendale quickly enough. But he turned that problem into a magnanimous gesture when he donated his Superbowl tickets to a father and son who came to see him play.
But why wouldn’t anyone want to go to the Phoenix Open anyway? Long touted as a world-class people-watching opportunity filled with gorgeous bodies, the Open is fun whether you come for the golf, the food, the drink, the weather or the lovely views.
People sometimes ask me if I miss living near New York and all of its activity. I respond that I didn’t live IN New York, I lived NEAR it. I resided in New Jersey and I can tell you this: there is nothing like living in a beautiful place where you can sit in your backyard, watch a major event on TV that is being broadcast all across the country, and hear the actual event live in the distance at the same time it’s being played on the screen. THAT is a special kind of excitement. In stereo.
If you go to the Open, here’s a guide to a few key events:
Tuesday, January 31: The R.S. Hoyt Jr. Family Foundation Dream Day Activities include a Junior Golf Clinic for the littlest golfers, and a Special Olympics Open where celebrities, athletes and business leaders will play for an hour. This year celebrities will include former Diamondbacks player (and skillet zucchini lover) Luis Gonzalez.
The Birds Nest: This after-party tent is located across from tournament grounds and is the place to be if you’re over 21 and enjoy fun, music and drinking. This year’s performers will include the Goo Goo Dolls on Thursday, February 2 and Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas on Friday, February 3.
The tourney culminates in the mania of the weekend, on February 4 and 5, when the biggest crowds and the loudest cheers are in evidence.
Enjoy! And two last words of advice if you go: wear your cutest shoes (this is not the time to be practical about comfort), and do your boss a favor and take Monday off from work.
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