The WM Phoenix Open will look a little different in 2025.
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Golf's biggest party is about to reach capacity.
On Monday, organizers of the WM Phoenix Open announced a series of infrastructure and tournament flow improvements at the annual Scottsdale tournament, announcing for the first time their approach to building a “better, not bigger” event in 2025. The announcement comes after months of furor surrounding the 2024 Phoenix Open, which descended into chaos after record-breaking weather and record crowds overwhelmed tournament organizers and threatened the safety of fans.
“Each year, the Thunderbirds review past tournaments and look for ways to improve,” tournament chairman Matt Mooney said in a statement. “We have been working closely with the PGA Tour, Scottsdale Police and Fire, title sponsors WM and other key partners to make impactful changes in 2025. We are pleased to announce these developments as the countdown to 'The People's Open' begins. “
Major changes for tournament week will be in the form of infrastructure improvements aimed at increasing traffic around the famous 16th hole of TPC Scottsdale, as well as reducing bottlenecks that have caused safety concerns in 2024. This development will take the form of a new fan. entrance area near the 18th hole and widened walking fairways between the 17th and 11th holes, and repositioned food and liquor vendors along the course in hopes of balancing crowd flow.
“We understand the importance of ease and accessibility for our fans to be able to navigate the golf course,” said Mooney. “Expanding these important walkways and repositioning some of our vendors, especially in high-traffic areas like the 16th and 10th holes, will give fans better access to popular areas and viewing areas.”
In addition to the physical tweaks, the Phoenix Open will also switch to a digital ticketing system in 2025 – a change that should allow organizers to better track the size and movement of tournament crowds. Crowd sizes were a major concern for 2024 after poor weather led organizers to sell off tickets over the weekend. At several points on the Saturday of the tournament, the influx of visitors to the course grew so much that volunteers stopped scanning tickets altogether, leading to the tournament closing the gates and a partial halt to alcohol sales.
“We are developing technology to provide a seamless experience for our fans who purchase general admission tickets,” Mooney said. “By eliminating general admission tickets, day tickets and tickets sold through third-party partners, we are not only streamlining the purchasing and scanning process, we are also improving our oversight of crowd management.”
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The Thunderbirds – the public organization that hosts the annual Phoenix Open – has vowed to review its 2025 policies after problems with alcohol sales, tournament security and ticketing led to unprecedented arrests and hospitalizations in 2024.
“We don't like what happened on Saturday, the players don't like what happened on Saturday, our fans don't like what happened on Saturday,” said Thunderbirds CEO Chance Cozby in February. “So nothing is off the table.”
The “Greatest Show on the Turf,” as the event has been dubbed, has earned its reputation as golf's biggest party, attracting more than a quarter of a million visitors during tournament week and seemingly doubling in size in recent years.
Now, it seems, one of the tour's biggest success stories is entering a new phase in its tournament life: it's not growing from the outside, but from the inside.
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