![Ian Poulter could use some rest heading into "Wasted Open" in Phoenix](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/hash/70/2f/702f7460d0974385151c39af807d9451.jpg "Ian Poulter could use some rest heading into "Wasted Open" in Phoenix")
February 25 -- Accenture Match Play champion Ian Poulter expects the traditionally boisterous crowds at this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open to energize him.
After winning his first PGA Tour event last week in Tucson, flying to Palm Springs to shoot an all-day Cobra commercial, jetting back to Scottsdale for this week’s golf and tailgate party, and a quick practice-round at TPC Scottsdale, Ian Poulter could use a rest.
Energy boost. Instead, the pitchman for Massachusetts-based Cobra and Titleist brands will rely on the energy of the famously juiced crowd -- especially those at the wild and crazy 16th hole -- to rev him up.
“That was a very long week last week. It will be loud by the time [Phil Mickelson and I] get [to 16] for sure, so I'm looking forward for this crowd to giving me a bit of adrenaline and hopefully pull me through this week,” Poulter told reporters in Scottsdale Wednesday.
“I'm very much looking forward to getting out there tomorrow and experiencing some electricity from this great crowd,” added Poulter, continuing a theme. “It certainly should be a crowd that can certainly give me a bit of a boost and pull me through a long week last week.”
Back-to-back? Poulter, in fact, almost pulled out of the field for what has become known as the “Wasted Open.” The match-play champ contended his schedule dictated play this week, not what he said was the remote possibility of going back-to-back.
“There’s not many guys that are able to win and win the following week,” Poulter stated, sounding not overly confident that he can add his name to that list.
“Provided I get some good rest tonight and get my physio to give me a good message and a stretch later,” Poulter said, “hopefully I can come out tomorrow and get some adrenaline and there should be enough spectators out there to get me going.”
Not-so-sweet 16. Poulter is hardly the only golfer excited by the 20,000 or so spectators who populate the relatively benign 16th hole each day. Wunderkind Rickie Fowler can’t wait for the opportunity to hit a short iron into the 162-yard par-3 green.
“hitting 16 during prime time the next two days,” Fowler wrote on his Twitter feed Wednesday. “one of my favorite holes in golf...last years was awesome.”
The layout itself is not what’s daunting; it’s the gallery seated in bleachers that enclose the hole, from tee to green, that greets anything other than an ace (such as Tiger Woods’ famous 1997 hole-in-one) with hoots, jeers, and hollers.
Wear your rain gear. As ESPN’s Jason Sobel noted, the hole “serves as the sport’s ultimate outdoor cocktail party. There's little question as to why those roars grow noisier as the day grows longer, meaning late tee times can leave for some beer-battered golfers.”
Not your typical golf-clap kinda crowd.
Perhaps that’s why golfers look forward to the party on 16. Jay Williamson, who got into the tourney when a wrist injury caused Bill Horschel to withdraw, was up for the challenge.
Unreal spectacle. “16th here is most unreal spectacle in golf-worth price of admission-only hole on Tuesday that gets blood pumping-got to be 30k seats!” tweeted Williamson, a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, CT.
Williamson, by the way, jokingly suggested earlier in the week that a quick bout of the flu might boost his chances of playing.
“2nd Alternate into WM Phoenix Open-unfortunately, I think I need an outbreak of swine flu in the desert-not hoping for it-just sayin,” Williamson blasted on his Twitter feed Tuesday.
New England golfers on tour. Williamson will share the field with other golfers with New England roots. Rhode Islander Brett Quigley was scheduled to tee off the first hole at 9:10 a.m. Boston Golf Time, with J.J. Henry, from Connecticut, starting on the 10th at the same time.
Other Boston golfers include James Driscoll (Brookline, MA), Kevin Johnson (Pembroke, MA), and Connecticut's Tim Petrovic playing as well.
John Daly is not in the field this week, but he’s been busy promoting his upcoming Golf Channel reality show. Read why Daly believes Tiger Woods should be golfing by now.
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