The WM Phoenix Open has promised an occasional audit to avoid any future chaos at the venue. The event finished on a Sunday evening, but it will be remembered for its chaotic memories with rain, mud, overcrowding and alcohol-infused ruckus fan behavior. To avoid this next time, event director George Thimsen said that there have been conversations to better the situation, especially on Saturday, which is the most attended third round.
Let’s see what he said in an interview about the upcoming plans of the management!
WM Phoenix Open Authorities VowTo Improve The Situation At TPC Scottsdale
In an interview, Thimsen said,
“With respect to Saturday, I think we have a lot of things to learn from…I think that we understand that it was a challenging set of circumstances that we had to navigate.” Thimsen said an “operational audit” will take place as well.
Added to that, he continued,
“Thunderbirds and all of our partners in law enforcement and first responders, we meet and we do a post-mortem of the event…major improvements and operational things that we are looking to make and the Thunderbirds are committed.”
He stated how they wanted to make it the best event, but the Saturday weather and a huge crowd wanting to witness the event created the congestion. He also addressed the drinking problems and said,
“We’re going to be addressing the distribution… alcoholic beverages to our guests and we’re going to make the necessary changes.”
Billy Horschel and Zach Johnson were eseen shouting at fans and Johnson claimed that he was thrown personal comments. The organizers of the event also came to a point to refund the money for the ticketed fans who couldn’t enter the tournament. After the tournament, a member of the Thunderbirds and WM Phoenix Open’s next-year chairman visited the players and took feedback from them to improve the quality. Besides, Thimsen couldn’t give an answer regarding the fan count this year because the event stopped keeping a record since 2019. In 2018, the weekly record was 719,179. The increasing crowd also raises public safety issues. Here’s a list of increases in a few aspects:
| Security issues | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
| Calls for service | 440 | 558 | 653 |
| Arrests | 0 | 18 | 54 |
| Ejections | 90 | 102 | 211 |
| Trespass | 14 | 41 | 73 |
The operational audit will take time and to rectify the situation in the coming year, lesser tickets might be sold. Thimsen assured,
“We’re going to make improvements and diagnose through our operational audit what makes the most sense for our tournament.”
Apart from these, the WM Phoenix Open has made a charitable donation by giving $14 million in 2023. Thus, as the event moves forward to grow, it is important to look after a few things to ensure security at the location.
