Open Waste Management has always been buzzing – but in 2024 it crossed the line into uncharted territory.
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The last 12 months had it all – crazy winning streaks, great new champions, a major weekly arrest (!) and more. With 2025 on the horizon, our writers are looking at the most memorable moments from 2024.
Nick Taylor won the 2024 WM Phoenix Open in thrilling fashion, defeating Charley Hoffman in a play-off to claim his fourth Tour title. Most years in the desert, a championship win in overtime would be a thrilling story that punctuated a successful week. However, 2024 was anything but an ordinary year at TPC Scottsdale.
The WM Phoenix Open 2024 will go down in infamy – and almost entirely for what happened OUTSIDE the ropes.
The tour’s annual early-season stop in Scottsdale, Ariz. has long been known as the biggest party in golf. With many tired fans and monstrous stadium construction – headlined by the stands surrounding the 16th hole – the Phoenix Open is unlike any other golf tournament.
That reputation – while loud – has largely not caused any major problems in the tournament’s nearly century-long history. Sure, there have been minor incidents of cramping and the occasional over-served patron, but for the most part, the fun has been relatively harmless.
Everything changed in 2024.
As the tournament has grown in popularity over the years, the identity of the event has changed. What was once a golf tournament played in a party-like atmosphere has turned into a frenzy with a golf tournament attached. If you arrived at TPC Scottsdale just to watch golf last February, you were in the minority.
The 2024 Wm Phoenix Open actually started somewhat subdued. Thursday and Friday featured heavy weather (by Scottsdale standards) and that helped keep the crowds somewhat subdued. When play was suspended on Friday night, there was optimism that the weekend would go smoothly. The weekend, however, quickly turned into an unmitigated disaster.
The gates opened early on Saturday morning and fans quickly got to work drinking. It wasn’t long before things went sour.
Social media exploded with videos of fans stumbling down wet hills. Grown men were photographed huddled under trees, and the noise of players from outside the ropes became increasingly common.
Claire Rogers of GOLF was on the ground and had this to say about what he saw:
“I have observed more chaos in the last eight hours than I have cumulatively in the last decade of my life. I saw men bleeding from the face, people dozing on muddy hills, and adults knocking each other down because they couldn’t walk straight. Imagine the first few minutes of trying to get out of a sold-out concert and multiply that by 15. There we were.”
A viral clip showed two-time major winner Zach Johnson confronting a group of fans after the ruckus became too much to bear. He later he told a reporter he wasn’t sure he would ever return to the event.
“At some point – I don’t know what the line is, but you have people falling from the rafters, you have fights in the stands. It’s to the point where now, how do I wrap it up? Because it has taken on a life of its own,” said Johnson. “I think the Thunderbirds should probably do something about it. I suppose they are ashamed. Because at some point, somebody’s either going to get really, really hurt or they’re going to get hurt worse.”
The 16th hole, long known as the loudest hole on Tour, also featured plenty of pranks, with an injured fan falling from the stands while another stormed the green and drove into a bunker. Heavy crowding at various obstacles around the course prompted officials to cut the fences as crowd safety became a concern.
“I definitely started to feel like I was stuck in an overcrowded fraternity basement by mid-afternoon,” Rogers reported. “I spoke to a member of the security team and there was a real concern that people would be seriously injured, especially because so many spectators were getting stuck in the crowd.”
By mid-afternoon, tournament officials took two drastic measures to quell the chaos. First, they closed the gates to any fans trying to enter the event. And secondly, they temporarily suspended the sale of alcohol.
Tournament officials released a statement addressing the chaos the following day:
“As an organization, our fans and their safety is our top priority. Due to the continued rain in Scottsdale this week that created deteriorating course conditions, we unfortunately had to close the tournament entrance gates and stop allowing fans onto the golf course Saturday afternoon. The stadium-style course layout at TPC Scottsdale, which features large banks for crowds to stand and sit on, was wet and unusable. This pushed customers who would normally congregate in those areas into high-traffic areas, causing severe congestion at key points on the grounds, including entry and exit. After consulting with partners and event officials, we made the decision to temporarily close the entrance to the tournament to ease the crowd in those areas in the interest of public safety. We know fans with Saturday tickets were turned away. Thunderbirds as an organization is gathering more details and discussing options on how to remedy their concerns. To golf’s biggest fans, we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused, as we always strive to create the best event possible.”
The Thunderbirds were true to their word in the following weeks as they described a number of changes for their operating procedures for the following years. However, the damage to the tournament’s reputation is sure to be long-lasting.
“From the videos I’ve seen, those cases are unfortunate, but I don’t think it’s independent, it’s been like that for a while,” Taylor said. “But I think the cat is probably out of the bag.”
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Zephyr Melton
Editor of Golf.com
Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. Before joining the GOLF team, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists with all lessons and covers amateur and women’s golf. He can be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.
