The fans claimed they were barred from entering the tournament.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Nearly 2,500 golf fans have requested ticket refunds from the WM Phoenix Open, claiming they were barred from entering the tournament during the third round after organizers closed the gates in an effort to mitigate the drunken chaos that overwhelmed this year’s event.
The Open ended with a record-high number of arrests, was overly crowded, and became so disorganized that it infuriated professional golfers and longtime fans alike ― some of whom questioned whether they would return next year.
The chaos reached its peak on Saturday, Feb. 10, when, “due to the large inflow of guests” tournament security “made the decision to allow guests into the event without scanning tickets to alleviate pressure at the entrance gates,” according to tournament spokesperson Ryan Woodcock.
Organizers cut off alcohol sales and denied access to individuals who had purchased tournament tickets.
In an email six days after The Arizona Republic asked, Woodcock said in an email that 2,461 fans have requested their money back. None of them have received a refund as of yet, but that refunds were starting to be issued on March 7 for those who bought their ticket on the Phoenix Open website.
Those who bought their ticket on StubHub, Vivid Seats or anywhere else are out of luck, however. Woodcock told The Republic that “we are unable to verify ticket purchases through any other vendor,” so anyone who did not use the Phoenix Open web page to buy their ticket is not eligible for a refund, even if they were barred from entering.
“They really screwed over a lot of a lot of fans,” said John Christensen, who attends the Open every year with his father as a family tradition, but was unable to get into this year’s event and is ineligible for a refund. “We paid for something that we weren’t able to use.”
The Open organizers, who are a nonprofit organization called The Thunderbirds, declined to answer questions about how many fans attended the tournament. They haven’t announced attendance numbers since 2018.
It’s also unclear how many fans who bought tickets were turned away from the Open on that Saturday, let alone how many of them can’t get their money back because they used a third-party ticket service.
Woodcock did not explain why the tournament is unable to verify tickets purchased through other websites, saying only that the refund process involves, “verifying the purchase of a ticket through (our) website and verifying that the ticket was not scanned. Upon verification, we will issue a refund to any and all eligible fans who request a refund.”
Eligible fans have until March 31 to submit a refund request by emailing orders@wmphoenixopen.com.
“We understand the frustrations from those who have submitted refund requests and welcome the feedback and opportunity to improve our systems,” Woodcock wrote to The Republic. “To request a refund or inquire about a pending request, please email orders@wmphoenixopen.com.”
Multiple agencies sent reinforcements to TPC Scottsdale to help quiet the chaos.
At least a dozen law enforcement agencies sent more than 100 officers to assist Scottsdale with public safety services at this year’s WM Phoenix Open, where large crowds, soggy conditions and alcohol spelled trouble for event organizers.
Massive weekend crowds were unable to spread out on the grass banks around the course given the muddy conditions, creating such congestion that the gates were closed Saturday to afternoon ticketholders.
Scottsdale police arrested a record 54 people, tripling the number from the previous year. And 211 fans were ejected from the event, which is more than twice the amount thrown out during the past two Opens. While these are still small percentages in comparison to the crowds on hand, it’s a trend organizers are hoping to reverse.
There were widespread reports of fans entering without tickets being checked or scanned, in an attempt to unclog the main entrance.
Tournament chair George Thimsen, in an interview with Golfweek Thursday, said organizers would review this year’s event as they planned next year’s tournament, and crowd size would be reviewed.
“I would say that likely there will be less people on a Friday and a Saturday at our event and that we would focus on quality over quantity,” he said.
He acknowledged “a lot of humans” at the event but did not characterize conditions as unsafe.
“That’s because of the hard work of our first responders and law enforcement and volunteers,” he said. “There may have been some frustrated fans … But at the end of the day, I think it (closing the gates) was the right call, and it was a successful event.
“From a safety perspective, there wasn’t a lot of major issues, and we feel thankful and blessed for that.”
A fan pounds two beers together and chugs them before getting arrested near the 17th hole during the second round at the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
He said, “We have, you know, our PD all over … the course and supporting throughout the tournament.” He did say he expected a stronger police presence next year, “especially from a player perspective.”
Scottsdale police coordinate efforts with other Phoenix area departments to provide security. Pro Em is the company that provides event management and security staff at the tournament.
It remains unclear what the overall total number of officers was at the event or how that stacks up to previous years, but Scottsdale Police Department spokesperson Aaron Bolin said it “was staffed very similarly to every other year we have done it.
“This event is planned so well in advance and we have a ton of historical data as we staff it each year,” Bolin said. “We do have, according to our models and according to what has worked for us in the past, adequate staffing.”
The Arizona Republic asked 14 local law enforcement agencies how many officers and other resources they provided at the Open.
Scottsdale police declined to specify. “We do not want people with bad intentions to know how many officers and resources are staffed and working at the event. We don’t discuss it for security reasons,” Sgt. Allison Sempsis said.
Peoria and Mesa police did not immediately provide an answer. But 11 other departments confirmed they sent officers to the tournament.
Tempe: Sent approximately 50 officers between Wednesday and Saturday to provide “support” for the event. The department said the number of its officers assigned this year was lower than usual because of other events.
Arizona Department of Public Safety: Sent about 30 off-duty troopers. The department was unable to provide the number of troopers it sent during previous years.
Chandler: Sent about a dozen officers to provide support on bicycles.
Surprise: Sent four bicycle officers who worked with Scottsdale’s bike team but provided no enforcement on “incidents that result in charges.”
Gilbert: Had about 12 officers on bike teams and night traffic units. The department had a more limited presence at the open than usual because of officers’ regular shifts on Thursday through Saturday.
Apache Junction: Sent six officers who assisted Scottsdale police and the private security company.
Arizona State University Police: Sent four officers from Wednesday to Saturday.
Queen Creek and Goodyear: Sent one and two dog units to the Open, respectively. Goodyear’s unit did explosive sweeps every morning.
Phoenix police and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office: Only sent deputies and officers to the “Know Your Limit” event on Friday and Saturday to highlight the effects of alcohol consumption. The agencies provided no enforcement.
Fans pack the walkway near the 10th hole during the third round of the 2024 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
The staffing models the Scottsdale department uses involve a lighter police presence on Tuesday and Wednesday for pre-tournament events, when Pro Em is mostly able to manage the crowds, Bolin said.
Thursday through Saturday is when law enforcement agencies ramp up their efforts as more fans arrive.
Bolin said security at the tournament is so well done, Scottsdale police “have outside police agencies and event coordinators actually come to our tournament, in particular, to see how we do it and how we are successful.” He noted that a team of police officers from Sweden previously had visited to learn from the Phoenix Open’s practices.
Some of the chaotic fan behavior was a matter for Pro Em security rather than the police, Bolin said. An increased police presence or different law enforcement model would not have made much of a difference when it came to constraining some of that, he said.
“I’m not really sure that a different staffing model would have solved any of the issues that were out there, that people are posting about, people sliding down hills, things like that. Just because something isn’t golf etiquette, or it’s … raucous behavior doesn’t necessarily mean it’s against the law.”
Reporter Sam Kmack covers Tempe, Scottsdale and Chandler. Follow him on X @KmackSam or reach him at sam.kmack@arizonarepublic.com.
“There’s some major improvements and operational things that we are looking to make.”
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The 2024 WM Phoenix had a fantastic finish with a playoff that ended just before dark Sunday but this year’s version of the People’s Open is being remembered for rain, muddy conditions and the social media videos of fans drinking too much and getting into it with players.
Four days after its conclusion, tournament director George Thimsen told Golfweek there have already been long discussions about how to be better next time around, especially for the third round on Saturday, always the most highly attended day of the week.
“With respect to Saturday, I think we have a lot of things to learn from,” Thimsen said. “I think that we understand that it was a challenging set of circumstances that we had to navigate.”
Using the term “operational audit,” Thimsen said the Thunderbirds, the civic group that runs the WMPO at TPC Scottsdale, will look at the entire week.
“Each year as this tournament continues to grow, the Thunderbirds and all of our partners in law enforcement and first responders, we meet and we do a post-mortem of the event,” he said. “What are some of the key learnings that how can we continue to improve? And obviously this year, there’s some major improvements and operational things that we are looking to make and the Thunderbirds are committed to doing that.
“We’re committed to making this an event that the community is proud of. But, yeah, on that Saturday, the weather that morning and just the sheer number of people that still wanted to come out and enjoy the event, it did create a lot of congestion.”
Days of rain made many of the grassy hillsides unusable for fans. Well, mostly unusable except for the fan caught on viral video sliding shirtless face first in the muck, then getting doused in beer from several of his friends.
Do the Thunderbirds feel like part of the future plan is the discouragement of excessive drinking?
“We’re going to be addressing the distribution channels of alcohol and the alcoholic beverages to our guests and we’re going to make the necessary changes that we need to once we are able to diagnose everything, all elements of it,” Thimsen said.
“You’re hitting me at a very emotional point right now, so if I were to say if I’m gonna come back, I’d probably say no,” Johnson told The Arizona Republic. “But at the same time, I have no idea.”
Things may have come to a head around 2 p.m. on Saturday when the tournament gates were closed, even to fans who purchased tickets. That led to social media outrage. To make it up to those fans, Thimsen said they can send an email to orders@wmphoenixopen.com and after providing an order number, a ticket number or an email associated with the original order, get a full refund.
“We own up to it, we take full responsibility and own that Saturday was not perfect and we want to continue to prove that but the stage was not the normal stage that we have,” he said.
Justin Thomas thanks the crowd after his putt on the 10th green during the second round of the 2024 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: The Arizona Republic)
Chance Cozby, executive director of the Thunderbirds, was on Golf Channel Monday and called Saturday a “turning point.” On Tuesday, he and next year’s WM Phoenix Open tournament chairman Matt Mooney visited Pacific Palisades, California, ahead of this week’s Genesis Invitational. The Sports Business Journal reported that the duo met with PGA Tour players throughout the day to get feedback, the most common being that fans didn’t seem to get out of line when uniformed police officers were stationed in highly visible areas.
Tournament organizers stopped announcing attendance figures in 2019. In 2018, the tournament reported a weekly attendance of 719,179 and a Saturday attendance of 216,818, the most ever in a single day on record for the event. That Saturday was also the third year in a row the attendance surpassed the 200,000 mark.
“I think there’s been a lot of speculative numbers out there and we actually don’t have a number that we have officially communicated internally yet so I don’t have a number,” Thimsen said when asked about a 2024 number.
What is still being tracked are public-safety security issues. The numbers show that arrests went from 18 to 54 from 2023 to 2024 and that ejections went from 102 to 211.
Security issues
2022
2023
2024
Calls for service
440
558
653
Arrests
0
18
54
Ejections
90
102
211
Trespass
14
41
73
Source: Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control
If last Saturday’s attendance was close to the 2018 mark of more than 200,000, then the 211 fans tossed out represents 0.1 percent and the 54 fans arrested is 0.03 percent of all the fans who attended.
Still, seeing those numbers double and triple, respectively, is a trend moving in the wrong direction.
The full operational audit will take time to complete but one distinct possibility is that fewer tickets will be sold on the popular days of Friday and Saturday in future years.
“I think that one thing you can definitely count on is that we’re going to make improvements and diagnose through our operational audit what makes the most sense for our tournament,” Thimsen said. “But if I were a betting man, I would say that likely there will be less people on a Friday and a Saturday at our event and that we would focus on quality over quantity.
“You know, we’re proud of the uniqueness and energy of the WMPOs. It is the People’s Open but we do understand that we need to make changes and not necessarily, you know, always bigger, but definitely always to get better.”
The Phoenix Open donated more than $14 million to charities after the 2023 event, bringing the lifetime total to close to $110 million.
“We’re hoping to be able to get to announce a number very similar because people are out there partying with a purpose,” Thimsen said. “I think that that’s really the main focus, that I hope people can rally around, which is, yes, there are some things out there that are fun to see on video and kind of scroll through when you’re on your social media but at the end of the day, we’re making a really big impact for our community here and that’s why we do what we do.”
“Bad thoughts seem to go out of my brain,” he said.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Former University of Washington men’s golf coach Matt Thurmond’s scouting report of Nick Taylor from the team’s 2009 media guide has aged well 15 years later.
“I’ve never coached anyone that can raise his game so much in difficult conditions and high-pressure situations,” Thurmond, now the coach at Arizona State, wrote all those years ago. “Nick can hit the best shot at the biggest moment.”
“He’s tough when he gets the chance, it’s just getting him there,” said Mark McCann, Taylor’s swing coach since 2018. “Every time he gets a sniff, he’s going to win, it’s getting him to that sniff.”
Taylor notched his fourth career Tour title in the Valley of the Sun, the Canadian native’s adopted hometown. His first win came at the 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship but then he had to wait more than five years to get back to the winner’s circle. When he did so, at the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Taylor stared down Phil Mickelson in the final round. There was also the time in 2018 when Taylor shot a final-round 63 at the Wyndham Championship to keep his Tour card.
How does he do it when his back is against the wall or the tournament is on the line?
“Bad thoughts seem to go out of my brain,” he said.
Taylor’s third win proved that Pebble was no fluke, winning his national open to snap a 59-year drought for Canadians at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. With the pressure of an entire country depending on him to end the winless spell, Taylor calmly stepped up and holed an unforgettable 72-foot eagle putt to clinch the title in a four-hole playoff over Tommy Fleetwood.
And then on Sunday, he trailed Hoffman by three strokes with four holes to go but never panicked, electing to lay up at the par-5 15th and rely on his stellar wedge game. Taylor credited work he’s done with his mental coach, Chris Bergstrom, in helping him find his sweet spot for being so mentally tough.
“The chase mentality seems to be my best mindset where I have to do things,” he said. “Sometimes that means I need to birdie two holes on the back nine to make the cut. We have tricks to try to get into that mindset. I had to get into that mindset trying to chase down Hoffman … Why the ball decides to go in the hole at the right time in the last two years, who knows?”
What he does know is that two years ago he fell into the trap of projecting ahead to what it would be like to qualify for the International Team for the Presidents Cup and he applied too much pressure to achieving his goal of his first international competition. This year, he’s poised to make the team and play for Canada’s Mike Weir in Montreal, and with his world ranking climbing to a career-best of 28th, he’s in line to represent Canada at The Olympics.
“Those are huge goals of mine but also golf will kind of take care of that. If I’m looking week after week of where I am, what I need to do, it’s only going to be hurtful,” he said.
The International Team can certainly use a player who can raise his game in the most pressure-packed situations like Taylor has been doing ever since Coach Thurmond first laid eyes on him.
One spectator was upset when beer sales were suspended. “There was nothing else to do but watch golf.”
LOS ANGELES — It’s difficult to find more disparate experiences in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour calendar than the WM Phoenix Open and the Genesis Invitational.
One is held at a modern course designed with spectator flow in mind, the other isn’t. One is at the center of every sporting conversation in its host city that week, the other isn’t. One is viewed by some Tour players with an aversion usually reserved for gas station sushi, the other isn’t. One attracts and engages fans at a level that’s the envy of most tournaments on the schedule, the other doesn’t. One stretchers out more inebriated, vomit-flecked fans than LIV draws in, the other doesn’t.
On the grounds at Riviera Country Club, much of the chatter remains focused on events at TPC Scottsdale, where the viral social media videos included Tour pros in terse exchanges with spectators, a pair of Two-Can Van Dammes brawling, shirtless belly slides in the mud, and a barely-conscious chap perched on a stool, blissfully unaware that he was also urinating.
It’s golf, but plastered.
The WM Phoenix Open is a known quantity. Tour players understand that the party vibe at TPC Scottsdale isn’t just tolerated, it’s welcomed. Merchandise offerings celebrate the boozy bro culture, like T-shirts proclaiming the wearer got hammered at the 16th hole. One friend at Riviera said he heard from a spectator in Scottsdale who was upset when beer sales were suspended. “There was nothing else to do but watch golf,” they griped.
That scene isn’t to all tastes, so many players choose to skip it. But the festivities last week proved two things: that giving free rein to jackasses doesn’t end well, and that the Tour’s new reality will force an uncomfortable reckoning for its most popular event.
The social media era has spawned a disease in many sports, in which a handful of spectators believe buying a ticket makes them part of the entertainment, apparently convinced there’s an audience dying to hear their slurred witticisms or watch them guzzle beer from a shoe. In most venues, that group is blessedly small. Not so at the Phoenix Open. To an extent —certainly more than they’re accustomed to — Tour players need to suck it up and tune out oafs riding the rope lines while offering commentary. That’s just part of being a professional athlete. The issue in Scottsdale is that the rope line is no longer the final frontier. Players won’t — and shouldn’t — tolerate people running onto the course to make snow angels in the bunkers, or yelling during the hitting of a shot with the intent of distracting competitors.
The standard defense offered by WMPO loyalists — if you don’t like it, stay home — is no longer fit for purpose. Only the stars can vote with their feet and walk. For everyone else, starts in Tour events are tougher to come by than ever, so staying home is a luxury they can’t afford. And if the Phoenix Open sees the quality of its field decline because of boorish fan behavior, that’s a problem. If women working on-site feel unsafe because of groups of leering drunks, that’s a problem. If spectators are emboldened to go inside the ropes, that’s a problem. When fans gleefully initiate and record conflict with competitors, that’s a problem.
Whose problem? The PGA Tour’s, partially, since that’s the brand being damaged. But moreso for the Thunderbirds organization that runs the event.
It’s not like the Phoenix Open needs to be taken over by the temperance movement — and the game certainly needs reminders these days that fans matter just as much as players — but there has to be a line on appropriate conduct that is policed effectively, and right now that line hasn’t so much been blurred as entirely erased. The alternative is more elite players choosing not to compete, more fans opting not to put their kids in the middle of a bawdy piss-up, and more reluctance on the part of the Tour and its partners to embrace the entire experience.
Perhaps Riviera needs a little more TPC Scottsdale, but TPC Scottsdale needs a lot more Riviera. Perhaps it’s futile to ask spectators in search of a party to act responsibly, but it’s sure as hell not too much to ask of the tournament organizers.
Here’s the cool part that no one has talked about yet: Hadwin missed the cut on Saturday morning.
LOS ANGELES – Adam Hadwin learned his lesson. He wore his PGA Tour badge and didn’t go running on the green with a bottle of champagne to spray Nick Taylor when he holed the winning putt to win the WM Phoenix Open in a sudden-death playoff on Sunday.
On Sunday, Hadwin wore the same green hoodie and jeans he was wearing in Canada on that fateful day as Taylor battled it out with Charley Hoffman. Hadwin said he sported the same outfit that morning for good luck for Taylor, who shared the 54-hole lead. As one social media commentator noted, “It’s like he wants it to happen.”
This time, Hadwin watched the tying putt from a bridge between 18 green and the clubhouse at TPC Scottsdale along with fellow Canadian Corey Conners. Then he moved greenside with Conners, his wife, Taylor’s wife, Andie, and pro Kevin Streelman during the two-hole playoff.
“I wore my badge this time. At least this time they knew who I was,” he said.
Here’s the cool part that no one has talked about yet: Hadwin missed the cut on Saturday morning. He was part of the wrong end of the wave that shot about three strokes higher and he carded 75-71 and had Sunday off. He had no reason to be at TPC Scottsdale. It wasn’t as if he finished a few groups before and had time to kill. Most of the country was busy watching the first half of the Super Bowl. But Hadwin lives nearby and told Golfweek he was watching the golf on TV that afternoon rooting for his buddy.
“I live only like 12 minutes away,” he said downplaying the fact that he headed over to TPC Scottsdale on the chance that Taylor rallied from three strokes back of Hoffman with four holes to play. Still, as Dionne Warwick once sang, “That’s what friends are for.” We’re giving a golf clap to Hadwin for being there for his buddy’s win again – and we’re glad he didn’t get pummeled this time.
I asked him during the playoff @WMPhoenixOpen if he had checked that security know who he is this time? He said he’s wearing his credential specifically and not risking it with a bottle of champagne! https://t.co/PBKFc9U4yk
“I want to kick all these young guys’ butts, believe me,” Hoffman said after his WM Phoenix Open playoff loss.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Charley Hoffman lost in a playoff on Sunday at the WM Phoenix but he did earn a consolation prize.
Hoffman’s second-place finish, his 10th runner-up in 495 PGA Tour starts, earned him 300 FedEx Cup points and a total of 315.65 in the Aon Swing 5, good for fourth place. The top five players not otherwise exempt who earned the most FedEx Cup points from the Sony Open in Hawaii through the WM Phoenix Open qualify for this week’s Genesis Invitational via the Aon Swing 5.
When Hoffman was informed by a Tour media official at the end of his post-playoff press conference, he said, “Did it? That’s awesome. I’m excited about that. I guess I’m playing next week and not going skiing.”
Hoffman, who is playing this season on a one-time exemption for being top 50 on the Tour’s career money list, said he was planning a family ski trip for a few days to Mammoth Mountain in California.
“I guess we’re going to have to change those plans,” said Hoffman. He noted that he asked Tiger Woods, who he served alongside on the PGA Tour policy board as a player director, for a sponsor’s invite to the Genesis Invitational. Tiger’s foundation runs the event and is the chief beneficiary. Tiger gave one of the four exemptions to himself. “He said, ‘They’re all taken,’ so I said, ‘I’ll play my way in,’ so I guess I did,” Hoffman said.
Hard to top showing up at Tiger’s tourney at Riviera having done just that, but Hoffman made it clear that he feels there is more left in the tank at age 47 and in his 19th season on Tour.
“I want to kick all these young guys’ butts, believe me,” he said. “I sit back and I want to beat them. I want to be in these Signature Events. I want to be one of the best in the world again. If I’m healthy I can compete, and I want to show these guys I’ve still got it.”
One PGA Tour player admitted he’s unlikely to return to the event in the future.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A volatile mix of huge crowds, mud and alcohol at the WM Phoenix Open had fans and players talking about changes needed to keep the event safe while maintaining its unique atmosphere.
On Saturday, the tournament shut its gates in the early afternoon, leaving ticketed fans unable to gain entry. At the same time, alcohol and food sales were cut off — all in an attempt to ease crowding near the entrance. The issue, organizers believed, was that muddy conditions left much of the course unsuitable for fans, forcing them to crowd into smaller areas.
The Scottsdale Police Department also cited the unusual weather.
“The course conditions were not normal due to the mud and rain,” Allison Sempsis, the department’s public information officer, said. “This resulted in the large crowds only occupying a small portion of the course and caused large buildup of crowds.”
Sempsis also noted that, at one point, fans were being allowed in without having their tickets scanned.
“There was a large group of attendees that were stopped before going through the gate,” Sempsis said. “Attendees were waved through for a short time period in order to keep everyone safe and to create a larger space for people to move around on the course.”
The tournament stopped announcing daily attendance figures in 2019. The last time attendance was made public, 576,807 fans watched the four days of tournament action, including over 200,000 on Saturday, which is typically the most crowded and chaotic day.
Sempsis said, “Every year after the event, SPD and other partnerships continually assess and evaluate what can be done the following year to ensure everyone attending the event is safe and has a good experience.”
As intoxicated fans reveled in the conditions Saturday, safety came into question.
All over the course, shirtless fans found muddy hills to slide down. A shirtless fan leaped into a bunker on the 16th hole to do sand angels. Videos of fans who were unable to stand straight took hold on various social media sites.
For many tournament regulars, those events and other logistical issues tipped the scales.
One regular attendee, Todd Williams of Phoenix, has gone to the Open for 10 straight years but said the tournament would need to announce “drastic changes such as multiple new entrance points and more concessions” for him to continue attending.
“I’m all for the party and craziness,” Williams said. “The insane and rowdy crowds make the event. This year, Friday felt like a normal Saturday, and Saturday was just complete chaos. It was hard to enjoy the event when it took 30-plus minutes at any concessions and bathrooms were long waits, too.”
Fans cheer from the stands on the 16th hole during the 2024 Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on Feb. 8, 2024.
Elizabeth Suchocki, a regular attendee who lives in Tempe, echoed that sentiment.
“I felt cramped and anxious,” Suchocki said. “All of a sudden, there were just so many people in our area. … But people just kept packing in and packing in and there were people all over. And I was like OK, this is a lot of people, this is very uncomfortable.”
Suchocki was frustrated by the lack of communication from the tournament. At 2:05 p.m. Saturday, the Phoenix Open’s X account posted a message notifying fans that gates were closed but made no mention of food or alcohol sales being impacted. And with overcrowding on the course, many fans were unable to get cell service.
“If you’re going to shut down alcohol, if you’re going to shut down food, you need to communicate that over the speakers,” Suchocki said, “because it created more chaos.”
When the tournament’s account posted a video on X on Sunday morning celebrating the party atmosphere on the 16th hole, it received 50 replies, almost all of which were critical.
“Your event has become an embarrassment,” one reply read. “It’s out of control.”
“Embarrassing the game,” read another. “PGA players need to boycott next year.”
Fans pack the walkway near the 10th hole during the third round of the 2024 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
Tour pros debate where to draw the line
Billy Horschel likes the WM Phoenix Open. Loves it, even. Every year, playing in the event is a priority for him. Partly because he believes TPC Scottsdale suits his game, but for more than that, too.
“I love the energy, I love the crowds,” Horschel said. “I love some of the funny things they say.”
Typically, the players who choose to participate in the Phoenix Open revel in the event’s unique role on tour. With a handful of notable exceptions, like Chris DiMarco’s famous comments in 2004, they celebrate the atmosphere.
After his win in Sunday’s playoff, champion Nick Taylor said, “The atmosphere has been incredible all week.”
But that sentiment began to shift for some. By Sunday afternoon, Horschel had seen enough. That’s when he was shown on video yelling at a fan for heckling during Nicolo Galletti’s backswing. “Buddy, when he’s over a shot, shut the hell up, dude,” Horschel told the fan. “He’s trying to hit a damn golf shot here. It’s our (expletive) job.”
Outside the clubhouse after his round, Horschel explained to The Republic where he draws the line.
“When you’re impacting the golf tournament, that’s where it gets a little bit too much,” Horschel said. “And when you’re saying personal things. The last couple of years, the guys I’ve played with, I’ve heard some personal stuff yelled at them. And I think that’s just not right.”
Whether players decide not to return to the tournament remains to be seen, but Horschel said it became a discussion point this week.
“It’s been talked about amongst players about, if this would continue to escalate over the next few years, you could see players not want to come here,” Horschel said. “And that’s an unfortunate situation.”
Horschel said he would be back, but Zach Johnson — another player who was shown in a viral video over the weekend arguing with fans — was not so committed.
“You’re hitting me at a very emotional point right now, so if I were to say if I’m gonna come back, I’d probably say no,” Johnson told The Republic. “But at the same time, I have no idea.”
Johnson added, “This tournament has been inappropriate and crossed the line since I’ve been on tour and this is my 21st year.”
He plays in it, he said, because he likes the course. But this week, his frustrations mounted.
“I don’t know what the line is, but you have people falling out of the rafters, you have fights in the stands,” Johnson said. “It’s to the point where now, how do you reel it in? Because it’s taken on a life of its own. I think the Thunderbirds probably need to do something about it. I’m assuming they’re ashamed. Because at some point, somebody’s either gonna really, really get hurt or worse.”
Fans cheer from the stands on the 16th hole during the 2024 Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.
Like Johnson, Horschel worries about a tragedy occurring with the number of intoxicated fans on the course.
“We all know alcohol plays a massive factor in all of this,” Horschel said. “And I think limiting the alcohol sales, limiting what time alcohol starts, limiting how many drinks someone can buy. I think there’s a couple different (solutions) that can happen.”
Horschel said he spoke with the Thunderbirds — the group that runs the tournament — to voice his complaints.
“I think they understand the situation and they want to do right for everyone involved with this tournament,” Horschel said. “So we’ll see what happens.”
It pays to play well on the PGA Tour. Just ask this week’s winner, Nick Taylor.
The 35-year-old Canadian won the 2024 WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale in Arizona after making clutch putt after clutch putt to take down Charley Hoffman in a two-hole playoff on Sunday. For his efforts, Taylor will take home the top prize of $1,584,000. Hoffman earned a hefty consolation prize of $959,200. Best friends and Ryder Cup partners Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns finished T-3 and each earned $519,200.
With $8.8 million up for grabs, check out how much money each PGA Tour player earned this week at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open.
