SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – What do chickens, Minions and Nick Hardy have in common?

I interviewed them Saturday morning at the WM Phoenix Open.

For the second straight year, I have been lucky enough to cover this raucous event in the Arizona desert, which has the uncanny ability to inspire fans to wake up hours before daylight (or sometimes pull an all-nighter) and race to TPC Scottsdale’s Colosseum-like, par-3 16th hole. The goal: securing public-access grandstand seats for prime vantage, roughly three hours before the first group off No. 10 would reach the short par 3, which is playing just 126 yards for the third round.

Last year, I was in awe of the spectacle and took it all in Saturday morning, asking fans their motivations for bending their sleep schedules to be a part of this. This year I arrived with a more developed understanding: It’s a tradition that has snowballed upward in the past two decades, both around the 16th hole specifically and the Saturday morning gathering known as the “Breakfast Club,” the name derived from tournament staff providing 10,000 burritos and water to fans at the 16th hole at 9 a.m. on Saturday. It’s beloved locally in the Phoenix area and has also inspired a movement of bachelor parties and buddies’ trips from across North America – with a notable Canadian bent. It’s an event that has grown because of the desire for human connection and shared experience – an outdoor festival with a golf tournament as its main act.

I took a different angle this year: Do these fans have favorite golfers, and if so, why? The Breakfast Club isn’t necessarily a cross-section of the most rabid golf fans. These rowdy souls dress up like animals or movie characters, perhaps with a hint of liquid courage, then make the 7 a.m. sprint down a service road that remains straight for several hundred yards, then bends right for a few hundred more before leading to the stadium par-3 16th. Most are familiar enough with the game, but they’re here more for the shared experience than to break down nuances of the leaders’ swing planes or game plans. (For the thousands who made the initial run Saturday, there were just a handful at the ninth green 40 minutes later to watch Nick Hardy try a 23-foot birdie putt from the back fringe to make the cut, after opting to mark his ball in the Friday dusk and wait until Saturday morning to putt).

I felt my morning survey could serve as somewhat representative of the casual golf fan’s rooting interests. Belgium’s Thomas Detry held the WM Phoenix Open’s 36-hole lead at 12-under, two strokes clear of Alex Smalley and Michael Kim. Neither of these three players, though, was mentioned when I polled the Breakfast Club on their favorite pros.

The most common answer, from roughly 50% of those polled, was world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. I wasn’t surprised that he was the most mentioned player, but I was surprised by the overwhelming love he received from the hearty fans. The Scheffler support was a testament to many things – his otherworldly talent (he has ascended to world No. 1 by a wide margin), and his relatability. Breakfast Club members opined that Scheffler seemed like a good guy, observing his friendly nature in the way he interacts with caddie Ted Scott inside the ropes and in interview settings. Fans also mentioned his unorthodox footwork – although his competitive results would suggest he’s some type of golfing machine, his technique proves there are many ways to get it done.

The line began with a flock of fans dressed as chickens, six in total, who ordered their outfits from Amazon two weeks prior. They didn’t sleep Friday night, arriving at 12:30 a.m. to earn their preferential position for the sprint. Asked their favorite player, the chickens answered in unison: “Scheffler, easily.” Nearby fans concurred when hearing this response, several expressing confidence that Scheffler would make an inevitable weekend run to the title (he began Saturday five strokes off the pace) and that he would make a hole-in-one at the stadium par-3 16th.

Nick Taylor was the second-most frequent player mentioned, due in part to the frequency of Canadian bachelor parties that descend upon the Breakfast Club – and with Taylor as the event’s defending champion. The enthusiasm for Taylor was highlighted by a group of high school friends from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada – dressed as Minions in yellow shirts, black overalls and grey-rimmed goggles – who were making their second Breakfast Club excursion. “Nick Taylor is our homeboy,” one said, in homage to Taylor’s Vancouver-area roots. “Hometown hero.”

My favorite anecdote came from an Indiana fan named Michael who said his favorite player is Greyson Sigg because the University of Georgia alum “wakes up hitting 10-yard draws” – a quote perhaps derived from past TOUR content from his college teammates raving about his ball control. Other players mentioned included Tom Kim, Min Woo Lee, Rickie Fowler, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Donkey Kong (from the “Mario Golf” video game franchise) and even "Happy Gilmore" character Shooter McGavin – who was on the scene Saturday morning, with actor Christoper McDonald in full character to promote the upcoming “Happy Gilmore 2” film. I concluded my poll as fans began to belt “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a sign that the gates would open imminently. I moved to the side, as I was not looking to be trampled in the sprint.

After viewing the stampede to No. 16 – which came in several waves, as the earliest few hundred were permitted to run first, with the next wave a few minutes afterward – I dovetailed back to the media center for a cup of coffee (complimentary!) and prepared for the WM Phoenix Open’s second round to resume at 7:42 a.m. local. Our early focus was on Hardy, who faced a 23-foot birdie putt at his final hole Friday as darkness encroached. Hardy visualized the putt several times overnight and practiced it repeatedly on the putting green Saturday morning, but his putt ultimately missed by just 3 inches, a hair short and left. Hardy and his caddie walked to the scoring area with their arms around each other, dually feeling the heartbreak of being so close, yet so far, to two more rounds at TPC Scottsdale amidst golf’s most rabid fans.

The world is colored by contrast, and the juxtaposition from the Breakfast Club’s fervor to Hardy’s dejection was stark in the crisp Saturday morning air. Still, the eighth-year pro met the media afterward to debrief.

“I’m really happy that (my caddie) David persuaded me to wait, because I think in the moment you feel like you’re ready to hit a putt, but we don’t get timeouts in golf, and I looked at it more as a respect for the amount of work I put into my career,” Hardy said afterward. “And I think just to have that respect for the work you put in, and to wait to come out tomorrow, I think that’s important.”

They show it differently, but those in the Breakfast Club – through their time and energy invested – afford the WM Phoenix Open a similar respect.