SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Colt Knost loves to gamble.
So, when a fan on the 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open gave him 10-to-1 odds on making a putt, Knost gladly accepted the wager. He missed, but he still held up his end of the bet.
“I went over and paid him,” Knost said.
How much was on the line?
“Not going to talk about that,” Knost said. “It wasn’t much. It was just nothing.”
Betting in golf is as much a part of the game as walking in a putt or twirling a driver. It’s as common on a local muni as it is during practice rounds at major championships. But on the famed par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale during the Phoenix Open, the wagering isn’t just more prevalent — it’s louder, too.
“You hear them,” Gary Woodland said. “You hear what they’re gambling. And they’re yelling.”
And the fans are betting on everything: hitting the green, hitting a bunker, making birdie, which caddie will get to the green first. Yes, even caddies get bet on.
Xander Schauffele‘s caddie, Austin Kaiser, hears the bets from the crowd surrounding the 16th every year in Scottsdale. Among all the wagers he hears throughout the season, he called the caddie bets the most “ridiculous.”
It’s not uncommon for Kaiser to hear someone shout “Hurry up, green,” referring to the bib color he’s wearing. What does Kaiser do? He’ll slow down or pause for a second.
“It’s like a horse race,” Kaiser said.
“More like a snail race,” Schauffele said.
Even though it’s tough for players to hear specifics from the 20,000 fans who encircle the 16th, some comments get through the white noise.
“You know they’re yelling at you, cussing, yelling, ‘Miss this. I need you to miss this,'” Woodland said. “You miss and they’re screaming because they won, not because you lost. I think it’s more about them winning.”
But Chez Reavie said he hears betting going on all over the tour, not just in Scottsdale. Most of the wagers he hears are small — $10, $15, $20, he said. Reavie hasn’t heard any large bets. Yet.
“You hear it every week,” he said. “You miss a green and you hear somebody go, ‘Oh, you cost me $10, you bum.’ Stuff like that.”
Reavie has never felt bad costing a fan a few bucks. He gets a good laugh out of it, he said. Players, in general, have embraced the wagering they hear on the 16th this week at TPC Scottsdale and around the tour.
“I think it’s great,” Schauffele said. “If people are going to pay more attention to golf just based on small bets like that, then we’ll take it.”
Knost hasn’t just welcomed what he already has heard. He wants more betting outside the ropes.
“I’d love to hear more of it,” he said. “It’s awesome. It’s just so much different than anything else we play. Brings a much more fun atmosphere and shows how golf can actually be really fun and you don’t have to have it perfectly quiet all the time and everything. It’s a lot of fun. I enjoy it.”