Remembering the chaos at the PGA WM Phoenix Open last year: Drunken highlights from 2024

“I saw more chaos in the last eight hours than in the last decade of my life. I saw men bleeding from the face, people rolling on muddy hills, and adults hitting each other because they couldn’t walk straight. Imagine the first few minutes of trying to leave a sold-out concert. and multiply it by 15. That’s where we were,” said Claire Rogers of Golf.com about the events that occurred on Saturday in 2024 during the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open. Due to those unsavoury incidents, the tournament had to temporarily close its doors and has banned the sale of alcohol permanently.

“For reference, the walk from the practice area to the 16th tee has taken me about 12 minutes all week. Today? Forty-five (45). The place was full. A little later, I witnessed a fan break into the 16th hole. He dove into a green-side bunker, ran, and was quickly arrested about 15 seconds later,” Rogers said.

Security issues

By closing the doors, the organizers intended to reduce the number of spectators with some leaving as a mountain of empty bottles, glasses and other plastic containers littered areas of the golf course. Safety problems arose due to overcrowding, with the risk of potential incidents causing injuries as some parts of the course that had been subject to heavy rain started to give way at the Scottsdale TPC course.

“On the spectrum from anti-fun to chaos-loving, I’m probably somewhere in the middle, but I definitely started to feel like I was trapped in a crowded frat basement in the middle of the afternoon,” added the Golf.com journalist.

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The proximity of Arizona State University guarantees a sizeable student population in the crowd, congregating primarily around the 16th hole, where a 20,000-seat grandstand makes for one big party but it appears that on Saturday, that party got out of hand.

After play on Thursday, the tournament seems to be running smoothly. Authorities have increased the security this year, but we’ll have to see how things develop on Saturday and Sunday.