More 16th hole fun on Sunday: Another ace, shirtless golfers spice up WM Phoenix Open
For the second day in a row, there was an ace on the famous par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale.
On Sunday, just before lunchtime, Ortiz, who was playing the back nine first, took to the tee box, sized up the green with a pin just six paces off the back edge, and let a 9-iron fly from 178 yards.
The ball hit some 10 feet short of the hole, bounded forward, rolled up close and then dove in from the side.
“I don’t even know what to say. It was unbelievable. I didn’t know how to react,” he said after his round.
And then came the beers cans.
“A lot of people cheering for you and then you start trying to watch out for your head because I got actually nailed pretty hard on the back with a beer can, and then after that I was just trying to just avoid all the cans I could.”
The coliseum had gone seven years between aces. Francesco Molinari made a hole-in-one there, the ninth in tournament history, in 2015, before Sam Ryder made the place erupt with his Saturday afternoon ace.
After Ortiz’s shot Sunday, it was another ‘Clean up on aisle 16!’
It’s now the 11th ace on the hole. It was his third career PGA Tour ace following the 2020 American Express and the 2016 Wells Fargo Championship.
How does he plan to celebrate?
“Tequila, some Maestro Dobel, and try to share it with everybody watching the Super Bowl.”
The last time aces were made on the same hole in one year was 1997 at 16, by Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker.
Ortiz followed the ace with an eagle 2 at 17, becoming the first player to have back-to-back eagles this season.
Higgs, Dahmen party with fans
Joel Dahmen was excited to learn his playing partner for the final round of the 2022 WM Phoenix Open was none other than fellow fan-favorite Harry Higgs.
The winner of last year’s Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship took to Twitter to rally the fans, going as far as saying, “Dreams do come true! If we get enough retweets @harryhiggs1991 will take his shirt off on 16 tomorrow!”
Dahmen and Higgs are men of their words. Early on Sunday afternoon, Higgs rolled in a par putt from 10 feet to get up-and-down after missing the green on the famous par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale and before the ball found the bottom of the cup Higgs’ shirt was off. And then Dahmen joined in on the fun.
Only at the Phoenix Open.
Higgs, 30, finished T-4 at last year’s PGA Championship in his major championship debut and has been a viral star ever since.
Compiled by Golfweek’s Todd Kelly, Adam Woodard and Adam Schupak.