The WM Phoenix Open is Golf’s most violent party. Now it needs everyone to be cool

Phoenix – WM Phoenix Open is intentionally messy.

It’s called “the biggest show on grass” and “The People’s Open” for a reason. For four days a year, professionals played on the PGA Tour for millions among lively and Rambunctious fans, many of whom are intoxicated. Twenty thousand of them gather in the Coliseum that surrounds par-3 16 hole.

Therefore, the event is a bucket list destination for Golffans near and far. You go to Augusta National for tradition and prestige. You go to TPC Scottsdale for the three-ringing circus. The tournament no longer releases participation numbers, but in 2018 it set a record of 719,179 fans in the week and 216,818 on Saturday alone.

Fomo has increased over the past three years with hollow-in and Shirtless StuntsSights to see that resulted in festive showers of beer. Technically, beer-casting is in violation of tournament rules, but the prospect of something similar to happen and you are there to witness and participate-is part of the draw. Players like a look from inside the ropes.

“It’s something we don’t see so much throughout the year, but it’s really fun to come here and experience it,” said World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, a two-time winner of the event. “It’s one of my favorite tournaments of the year.”

By 2024, however, the WM Phoenix lost the open action.

Expected and controlled chaos developed into a danger of public security and became a living nightmare and a PR fire storm for PGA Tour and Tournament Management. Social media lit up with clips of behavior that could present as harmless fun at a distance, but in real time at the tournament angry the environment on dangerous to fans and disrespect to the players.

Thunderbirds the 88-year-old charity that puts on the Phoenix Open-reacted immediately, concerned about the player experience and their perception of the event. Tournament directors Matt Mooney and Chance Cozby flew to Los Angeles morning after Nick Taylor raised the trophy, and the PGA tour allowed them to meet with the Player Council Council at Genesis Invitational.

Is a percentage of the drunk fans not interested in the fact that there is professional golf happening in the background of their desert party? Yes. This does not mean that the tournament can continue without a field of the best players in the world. As much as it is people’s open, it’s still an open. The road to redefining WM started it on Monday.

“It’s about how we can make the right changes to improve fans and players’ experience,” says Mooney, “but at the same time, doesn’t differ too far from what’s such a unique event on tour.”

Thunderbirds have poured millions in an attempt to prove that the tournament does not always have to cross a line. They have made significant improvements to the course infrastructure, including a new entrance to the venue, and debuted a new marketing logan for the event: “Better, not greater.” The call at the craziest event on PGA Tour will be put to the test this week.

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WM Phoenix Open then zero rainfall during the 2022 and 2023 tournament week. By 2024, the course received 0.51 inches of rain – almost a record. It was the first domino that fell.

“In 30 years we have not seen anything similar,” says Dan Fox, a senior ranking member of the Thunderbird organization, who has monitored the 16th hole for decades, including greetings on the 16th tee.

It’s called stadium course because its hillsides and Hauger create natural vantage points for fans around the golf course. From the early week, these useful features began to disappear one by one. The desert was not designed to hold so much water. The grassy steps turned into grobe of mud and parking spaces flooded. A snowball effect began.

First, the Celebrity Pro-Am Wednesday was canceled on Wednesday after four holes due to rain and hail. Then the game was suspended on Thursday because of collecting on the green and non -playable conditions, leaving the Ready Parties stranded on the golf course with nothing to do than drinking. Tee-time cadence was thrown from that time. On Friday morning, the players arrived at the course of a 90-minute freezing delay and put together the problem. Some players did not play golf at all and waited for another round tee time on Saturday morning when the game was stopped again.

Due to all delays and suspensions, there was a two-hour gap between the end of the second round on Saturday and the beginning of the third round. Fans were already antsy. Saturday turned into frustration and restlessness. Pair it with the mud – spectators physically could not stand in the areas where they typically gather. The concrete carriage paths, which typically help people move through the property on foot, were filled with fans who did not go anywhere. The area just outside the entrance to the tournament, which is behind the 18th Green, became a bottleneck stem when lots of fans seeking to use their “good every day” tickets arrived after being away earlier in the week.

In the nearby muddy hillsides, drunk fans slidBoth on purpose and unintentional. A fan had already been seriously injured after falling from the first story at the stadium on Friday. From a security perspective, things quickly got ugly.

Before it could have the chance to get worse, Scottsdale Police Department decided to close tournament gates at 1 p.m. 14:00 Saturday. They also suspended concessions. No one could buy alcohol on the TPC Scottsdale grounds from that time onwards.

“It sounds like an excuse, but the reality is that the course had never been in this state,” says Mooney. “We’ve had bad weather, but there were some things that we had to respond to that we just hadn’t seen before.”

Earlier in the day, several fans in the tournament area reported without once scanning their tickets – that was how the chaotic entrance was. After Scottsdale PD called to shut it down, fans with Saturday tickets turned away. Players even had trouble getting into the gates, including Jordan Spieth.

The closure was intended to encourage fans to leave the property and relieve the crowd, but around the stadium and other packed sections of the golf course, it only created more turmoil.

Some participants reported beer that was resold for 10 times their original price. The 16th hole broke out with song: “We want beer!” It took certain groups upwards in one hour to even reach the end on foot.

Sunny sky appeared on Sunday, but the mud remained, and a new topic emerged: videos of two special quarrels between players and fans appeared and became viral. The American Ryder Cup captain, Zach Johnson, was seen storming over to a group of spectators, Telling them, “Don’t sir me.” Another video circulated by Billy Horschel, who came to the defense of his gaming partner on Sunday when a fan deliberately shouted under his backswing.

“Close hell, man. He tries to hit a damn golf shot here is our F — ing job! “Said Horschel.

Johnson told Arizona Republic after the round: “This tournament has been inappropriate and crossed the line since I have been touring and this is my 21st year.

“It’s to the point where now, how do you roll it in? Because it’s taken on its own life. I think Thunderbirds probably need to do something about it. I assume they are ashamed of me. “

The tournament had clearly experienced an unfortunate series of events, but how could it explain such an irregular fan behavior? Scottsdale PD did not make an arrest in 2022, but 54 last year, and violation, draft and calls for service have also gone up years over years.

It puts Thunderbirds in a tough place – every tournament outside the big needs an identity to create local and national interest, and to say that they have succeeded, is an understatement. These endeavors have a direct effect on their charitable give-a record $ 17.5 million last year to the Phoenix area.

There were well-founded concerns that players could avoid the tour stop after last year, and although it has not necessarily realized seven of the top 20 players in the world in it, including Scheffler and Horschel-a Repeat of last year’s Debakel could always change it For future editions.

“It’s the old saying that you can’t let a few bad apples ruin the whole flock,” says Mooney. “When we went back and talked to all Thunderbirds, our partners, suppliers, it’s a few people. Unfortunately, it has become the nature of the sport. On Players Championship, Rickie Fowler had someone shouting in his backswing. You know it’s sad that we live in a world where people just want to draw attention to themselves. They will come on TV or have their friend hear them shout. We want to control everything we can, but we recognize that there will be a few people that we just need a zero tolerance policy. “

The feeling is that the tournament energy had built since it reopened to fans after the pandemic forced the due tour to limit the participation in 2021. The social media content bubble did not help to limit the expectations of newer participants after that – they saw the highlight of the highlight real, Including Turning Pros Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen, who lifted their shirts after a nuisance of the audience of No. 16, and that’s what they came to the tournament to be a part of.

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Thunderbirds say they are ready to put their foot down. They do not stand for irregular behavior when they see it this year. But can their plan actually have a noticeable influence?

A number of changes have been implemented to the 2025 tournament. The Thunderbird organization cut in its reserves and used tens of thousands of millions of dollars to make improvements to the venue in anticipation of a “better, no bigger” WM Phoenix open. Namely:

• An additional input to increase the power in and out of the tournament.

• No “any day” ticket. Spectators will have to buy tickets for specific days and the tickets will be digital.

• Increased ticket prices. Thunderbirds hope this will meet their unprecedented demand.

• Wider concrete basket areas. These renovations are intended to prevent last year’s bottleneck problem.

• Moving the sale of food and alcohol to less concentrated areas around the course.

• New fan -congregation zones for intended, especially a large, flat view area near the 12th hole.

• 1100 feet of new player bridges to protect the golfer as they go from hole to hole.

There was even discussion about creating another stadium hole, perhaps on front nine, to spread fans throughout the property. Thunderbirds say the 2024 event gave them an excuse to examine changes that have been the top of the mind for many years.

“The original answer is that there is no way it gets worse than it was last year,” says Charley Hoffman, a WM-sponsored golfer who has been playing in the event for 20 years. “I think they listened to us and listened to the PGA tour and certainly tried to make a change for the better.”

When a situation arises at No. 16 during the tournament, a police officer will often look at Fox and ask if the tab should be away during the week or banish from TPC Scottsdale for life. “We already have a lot of police presence with the key groups, but we are expanded to more thunderbolts with these key groups. Really, PD looks for us,” Mooney says.

These calls – and their ability to empty an audience they have spent decades growing – have never been more important.

(Top Photo: Joe Rondone / USA Today Sports Pictures)