SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Just before the conclusion of the weather-delayed second round just before 2 p.m. Saturday at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open, tournament organizers temporarily closed all of the entrances to TPC Scottsdale. No more fans were being allowed into the tournament.
This is the first time this has happened in event history.
The grassy hillsides of the Stadium Course normally can accomodate thousands of fans watching the tournament but those slopes became muddy slip-n-slides, which pushed all the fans on the walkways, creating massive logjams where fans who were on site struggled to move about.
Because of all the congestion around the course, golf carts were parked. Typically, TV crews with big cameras or tournament or PGA Tour officials motor around the property throughout the day but with so much foot traffic, golf carts are being put away.
In addition, alcohol sales were halted. For a while fans could be seen lined up at the beer tubs around the course, awaiting the good word they could start buying again, but that didn’t happen.
The tournament’s Friday and Saturday rounds were declared sellouts a few days before the tournament.
In 2019, tournament organizers stopped announcing daily attendance numbers. In 2018, the Phoenix Open reported the largest single-day crowd of 216,818 for Saturday’s third round as well as an overall attendance for the week at 719,179.