On the latest episode of Not Another Golf Show, Ben and Gianni discussed the unique entity that is the WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour calendar.

Check out the conversation below (and listen to the full episode here)

Ben: Certainly a singular environment out there. And it would be interesting if…I think that you’ve got two kind of questions about it. Do you, if you like it, the amphitheater atmosphere, the, you know…beer flowing like a river? If you like it, it’s kind of how do you go up to the line, I suppose, and not over. And obviously…we’ve been going over in recent years. So I’ll be interested to see what… the additional kind of crowd control measures, what that looks like in practice and what the effects are.

And then again, the other question is, you know, this sort of fear of this spreading to other tournaments and now, you know, it’s some sort of like a bacchanalia or something out there. I think that was always overblown. And I think that for the most part, most years, things have stayed on the right side of the line. But certainly it’s a double-edged sword when you sort of open up an event to being something in addition to just a golf tournament. But I think that I’ve always appreciated the uniqueness of it, and certainly looks like a good time, or I should say certainly would have looked like a good time in my younger years with a different persuasion, if you will, regarding the intake of massive quantities of alcohol. But I think at this stage in my life, maybe I’m a little more on the other side of that. What do you think?

Gianni: Yeah, I mean, you’re going to have borderline behavior, and I’m watching from the comfort of my own home. So there’s going to be a couple of times where someone steps over the line and irritates the players in some way. I kind of look forward to it. I like to see how the players react in that spot. It’s always entertaining. I don’t mind it. For one week, I don’t mind. I think the players can handle it for one week.

Ben: Yeah, well, I mean, you’re a man who wakes up choosing chaos, I think, as we know here. But no, I mean, it’s always, from where we’re sitting, you know, in the press box, figuratively, and having to cover this in some fashion, there’s always some interesting content in terms of that. mean, yeah, again, I don’t mind it as one week, if there were a couple of weeks like this, I certainly don’t think that in the reimagined vision of the PGA tour that’s being formulated, that some sort of copy and paste approach of this event is what’s called for. I mean, think about continuing to find the line with respect to the interests of all parties involved and keeping things on the right side of it, is there MO. And again, I think that the organizers are trying to walk that line back a little bit this year. So it’ll be interesting for sure. I’m sure, I think there’s also the last thing I’ll say about it is how it looks on TV versus what it’s like being there. I mean, I’m sure it’s hell of lot of fun to be there. It may be that some elements that are very fun in person are not so fun for the attendees. So there’s…some competing interests there between the audience at home on the couch, as you say, and the folks gathered in the par three stadium, if you will.

Gianni: Yeah, and there’s going to be heckling one week of the year. Other sports have to put up with it all the time. I think players can use this as preparation almost for the Ryder Cup too in some ways…especially the European.

Ben: I think it’s a little different flavor for them. But yeah, I would agree that that embracing it is the players who play well there and who, you know, enjoy it are the ones who who embrace it. And yeah, more of my countrymen here might be wise to do so, attempting to steel themselves for future hostilities at Cups across the pond.

Listen to the full episode below.