SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - There's a Red Cross balloon attached to grandstand. And this is a golf tournament, in a matter of speaking. Or a matter of drinking. Welcome to the 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the place where no insult goes unshouted.

It's the bleachers at Fenway with an undulating green, a rock concert mosh pit with bunkers. It's the place where a bad shot is booed. Just like Barry Bonds. Or the Celtics at Staples Center.

The 16th is the hole where in 1999 Tiger Woods made a hole-in-one, and cheers and cups and empty beer bottles came flying out of the crowd as Tiger did his fist pumps.

That was before the construction took place. Before the 162-yard par-3 16th was enclosed by stands, some of which are double-decked.

That created seating for approximately 20,000 people. At one golf hole. Twenty-thousand people who, as Thursday in the first round of this year's tournament, go through beer like the pros go through wooden tees.

"Walking through that tunnel to the 16th,'' agreed Phil Mickelson, about the brief trip from the 15th green under the stands, "There's nothing like that the rest of the year.''

Nothing like the buzz that's so loud not even a dozen marshals with those "QUIET'' signs have any effect. So loud that when the public address announcer asks to ease off so the next player can hit his shot, he's drowned out by the noise.

At most tournaments this would be unacceptable. At Phoenix, it's encouraged. By the players.

"It's a fun place to play golf,'' said Charley Hoffman, the guy with the shoulder-length blond hair who finished second last year. And immediately was asked by Waste Management to endorse the, well, it's not a product but a recycling company.

"With all those discarded beer cups,'' said Hoffman, "it's a perfect connection.''

The 16th is not exactly a war zone. Hit a good shot, and there are plenty of cheers. But golfers are tentative when they arrive at the tee. A yanked iron brings not only disgust from the player but derision from the crowd.

"You know what you're walking into when you go to the stadium at 16,'' said Hoffman. "It's fun, and you just hope you hit the green so you don't get booed.''

Ballplayers get booed. But no one boos golfers. Except at the 16th at the Tournament Players Club during the Phoenix Open. It's a tough crowd. A crowd that's been in the sun for hours, been into the alcohol for hours.

A fan holding a half-full beer cup dropped a dollar bill from on high. "Hey,'' he yelled at a journalist, "throw me back my dollar.'' After several unsuccessful attempts - ever try flinging a dollar bill 20 feet straight up? - the guy shouted, "Just give it to one of the pros.''

Better that than what the gallery Thursday gave Jeev Milkha Singh of India. He pulled his tee ball into a bunker, hit, for a pro, a notably poor sand shot and missed the putt for a bogey. As Singh walked through a narrow opening toward the 17th tee, a long boo cascaded down from the seats.

They take their golf seriously here. They take their beverages seriously. There's more beer sold in the four days of the tournament than the rest of Arizona.

Attendance Thursday was announced at 69,475. Last year the Saturday gate was 164,455. That's a Kentucky Derby figure, more than twice the size of attendance at the Super Bowl.

"I think everybody who plays this week and has played in the past,'' said Ian Poulter, "understands what the atmosphere is.'' Poulter won the Accenture world match play last weekend at Tucson and was about to withdraw from Phoenix because he was tired. He didn't.

"I wanted to experience the electricity from this great crowd,'' said Poulter. "It should help pull me through a long week.''

That crowd, bigger than any other, more raucous than any other, wasn't always so beckoning. A few years ago there were hints the tournament would have to be sanitized and controlled or it would disappear from the schedule.

A tent called the Birds Nest - a civic group, the Thunderbirds administrates the tournament -- where bands played and people imbibed, was shifted from an area near the 18th hole to a location some 200 yards from the course. More stringent security measures also were imposed.

"I don't think it comes as a shock,'' said Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour commissioner, "that we've had years where we've had some concerns about pushing the edge a little bit much in terms of the atmosphere that's created.''

Finchem said the Thunderbirds "focused on a big event with an awful lot of people, tremendous enthusiasm and significant decibel levels,'' and made required changes.

At 16, however, they didn't change a thing. Or they might have been booed.