The WM Phoenix Open is always a party. When the PGA Tour visits the desert each February, things always get wild. With over 700,000 fans on the grounds throughout the week, it has the feel of a football game more than a golf tournament.
That raucous atmosphere is cranked up to a 10 at the famous 16th hole. The par-3 features a stadium buildout encircling the entire hole, filled to the brim with boozed-up fans. There is truly nothing else like it in golf.
When fan favorites Joel Dahmen and Harry Higgs arrived at the hole on Sunday of the 2022 WM Phoenix Open, fans were ready for some debauchery. The night before, Dahmen sent out a tweet promising Higgs would take off his shirt on the hole if the post got enough retweets.
After rolling in a par putt on the tourney’s final day, Higgs lifted his shirt and flashed the crowd. The fans lost their minds, and the moment soon went viral. And, not to be outdone by his playing partner, Dahmen pulled a stunt of his own.
“I did it and grabbed my ball out of the hole,” Higgs said on this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar. “And I turned around and Joel did not have at least half of his clothing on. So that even upped the level of excitement.
“And then at that point, we looked up and saw a couple hundred beer cans flying at us and it was like, Oh s***, we gotta get out of here.”
Only at the Phoenix Open.
Check out the entire episode of Subpar below as Dahmen and Higgs talk about Keith Mitchell’s on-course fashion, the Tito’s Shorties Classic and more.
Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all things instruction and covers amateur and women’s golf. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.