Amanda Balionis didn’t need a broadcast booth to show how fired up she was. Her Instagram story said it all. The CBS Sports reporter is at the 2026 WM Phoenix Open. She and her team captured a moment that signals that a very specific kind of spectacle is about to take over Scottsdale.

“THE RUN TO THE ROWDIEST HOLE IN GOLF 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️💨,” Balionis wrote in her Instagram story, sharing a post by Golf on CBS. “Let the most fun day of the year begin!”

The post features many fans running to the 16th hole for Round 3 at the WM Phoenix Open. The run that Amanda Balionis’ Instagram story captures has now become a tradition. Fans line up before dawn and sprint to claim spots in the grandstands around hole 16, which, as Balionis referred to, is the loudest in golf.

While the entire event is called golf’s loudest party, the most fun happens on the par-3 16th hole. Balionis has experienced it firsthand.

She was in the broadcast booth in 2022 when Sam Ryder made probably the most iconic hole-in-one on the 16th hole. Beer showers ensued, and it reached Balionis inside the booth as well.

Notably, a few days ago, one fan posted a picture of the 16th hole captioning, “The Waste Management is just a Taylor Swift concert for boys.” Balionis reshared the post on her Instagram story, writing, “Nailed it.”

The 16th hole has famously come to be known as The Coliseum because its enclosed seating resembles the Roman Coliseum. Corporate skyboxes debuted in 1992, and by 2009, grandstands fully surrounded the 163-yard par-3, amplifying the stadium atmosphere.

While the hole had already garnered a reputation once the skyboxes were built, Tiger Woods’ ace in 1997 made it a historic event.

“As most things in professional golf, Tiger Woods’ hole-in-one on 16 feels like a pretty good jumping-off point,” Max Homa said earlier this week. “It was already crazy, but I feel like everybody wanted to be in that.”

Jock Holliman, who has been behind the mic for a long time, also noted that the moment sparked a movement. He recalled that when Woods hit the ace, fans roared so loudly that the sound carried nearly five miles away. In fact, he himself felt like “standing behind a 747 taking off.”

As the golfers start to arrive on hole 16, the fans even turn rowdy if they see poor performances. Content creator Jack Doherty was, in fact, banned by the PGA Tour and warned of arrest for heckling.

For Amanda Balionis, however, it is her most fun day at the office. She also uploaded an Instagram post about her time at the 2025 WM Phoenix Open, writing, “Most fun day of the year officially in the books ✅.”

Yesterday, she was back on the booth with colleagues Colt Knost and Johnson Wagner, visibly cheerful. It is not clear, though, if she followed her routine this year.

Amanda Balionis’ favorite tradition ahead of golf’s loudest week

While Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open is the most fun day for Balionis, she has a particular tradition she follows before heading there. In a 2025 Instagram post, she was seen hiking Camelback Mountain in Phoenix before the tournament began. She calls it a way to achieve “balance” amid the event’s chaos.

“It’s good to be (camel)back for the @wmphoenixopen 🐫 one of my favorite traditions is knocking out this hike before the madness begins this weekend. *balance* or whatever 😂,” she wrote as the caption to the post.

The CBS reporter enjoys the chaos and even tries to be a part of it. For instance, she recently shared a Golf on CBS post featuring herself and Colt Knost having fun at the 16th hole on Saturday in 2022, when Sam Ryder hit an ace.

That quiet hike before the tournament offers Balionis a brief reset before the noise, crowds, and adrenaline take over TPC Scottsdale. Once Saturday arrives, though, she will be right back in the middle of it, celebrating the traditions and the madness.