Ranking the 5 PGA Tour Events with the Best Galleries

In popular culture, golf fans are most typified perhaps by the "golf clap." Which isn't to say they're regarded as anything more interesting than the gentle and polite bringing together of the hands in dignified approval. 

Certainly, the fans who pack the grandstands surrounding the 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open belie that characterization.

Where do the yahoos above land in our ranking? What other tournament faithful earned entry onto this list? 

Read on to see.  

5. Open Championship

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The only major contested outside of the United States, the Open Championship is noted for its international flavor and galleries of purists. 

The Open Championship is played at a series of tremendously historic venues across England and Scotland. For the fans in those countries, the game of golf was in their blood and in their hearts for a hundred years before it was played stateside. 

Watch the tournament, and the above is apparent. And as a bonus, the Open isn't short on silly costumes or flags, if you're into that sort of thing. 

4. Waste Management Phoenix Open

The "Greatest Show on Grass" is an event unlike any other on the PGA Tour. 

Fans pack the grandstands along the par-three 16th hole to, essentially, drink a lot of alcohol and cheer loudly. No words can really describe the atmosphere at the 16th hole relative to other events on the PGA Tour calendar, but the difference is like the gulf between a massive outdoor festival and gathering around the radio in a nursing home. 

Indeed, it was the Waste Management Phoenix open that spawned the now defunct "caddie races" seen in the video above. 

That alone, is worthy of this position in the ranking. 

3. US Open

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While the blue-blazered USGA would likely wish that it were not so, U.S. Open fans have become a rowdy bunch in recent years. 

And while their passion is undeniable, there have been notable instances of collective poor judgement in the past decade or so. 

Our Michael Fitzpatrick began a rebuke of the more vocal contingent of fans at this year's U.S. Open by saying, "if you are one of the 10 percent of U.S. Open patrons that were chanting 'U.S.A.' all weekend, were cheering Martin Kaymer’s bad shots and were purposely failing to acknowledge Kaymer’s great shots…I implore you to continue reading."

Fitzpatrick then went on to trace U.S. Open fan behavior from harassing Sergio Garcia at Bethpage in 2002 to calling Colin Montgomerie Mrs. Doubtfire at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, to the recent indifference to Martin Kaymer's stellar play, calling all of it unacceptable. 

Of course, the U.S. Open faithful were rooting strongly for Rickie Fowler or Erik Compton to win at Pinehurst this year. And it is that passion, even in its negative manifestations, that earns the U.S. Open fans a seat at this table. 

2. The Masters

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Don't call them fans. Attendees of the Masters Tournament are referred to as patrons. 

As Bobby Jones, founder and perpetual president of Augusta National wrote:

"

Most distressing to those who love the game of golf is the applauding or cheering of misplays or misfortunes of a player. Such occurrences have been rare at the Masters but we must eliminate them entirely if our patrons are to continue to merit their reputation as the most knowledgeable and considerate in the world.

"

And while the patrons, many of them with Masters badges from years past on prominent display, may indeed be among the "most knowledgeable and considerate in the world," there is another variety of Masters fan of note. 

Seth Davis of Sports Illustrated expanded on the "fan" at Augusta National at length in 2007. Davis wrote: "We are told, annually and often, that the people who come to Augusta are not your normal, rowdy, beery golf fans. Heck, they're not even fans. They are patrons. Or so we're told."

Don't believe it, folks.

Check out Davis' piece for a full breakdown of the differences (including "Patrons bring their wives. Fans leave their wives at home, so they can feel free to check out other people's wives").

1. Ryder Cup

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The Ryder Cup atmosphere is a different animal entirely among professional golf tournaments. Nationalistic (or continental) passions reach a fevered pitch as fans are in the position of cheering for team (and by extension, continent or country), not just individual golfers. 

The passion and the pageantry of the competition are rivaled only by the motley spectacle of its fans. Just browse this gallery from PGATour.com and try to think of fans so interestingly attired and brimming with enthusiasm anywhere else on tour. 

Really, the other tournaments on this list are distantly behind the Ryder Cup.