Rain creates parking nightmare at drenched WM Phoenix Open

A couple huddled together at the foot of a grandstand. An elderly man took refuge under his umbrella. A group of women crouched inside the oversized letters of an advertising sign. Hordes made their way into the merchandise tent, then got back in line for more shelter after making their purchases. Some fans, perhaps the smarter cohort, made their way to the exits, some leaving before play had even been called.

This was the scene at Round 1 of the WM Phoenix Open on Thursday. Only 15 golfers finished their rounds before play was suspended at 12:33 p.m. Fifty-seven players never teed off before the delay, which ended shortly after 4 p.m.

And many of those who made the trek to TPC Scottsdale were left regretting their decision to do so in the first place.

“I thought I was coming to Phoenix,” said Joel Rodriguez, a fan who had only a rain jacket to shelter him from the environs. “I'm from the Pacific Northwest and it feels more like home here.”

Rodriguez has tickets to return on Saturday, though that might not be much better. As of Thursday afternoon, Saturday’s forecast calls for a 60% chance of rain.

That would be a problem for Dick Connors and his family, who flew in from South Dakota to catch three days of golf before heading back Saturday. His plan this week was to escape the cold. Instead, when he checked the weather Thursday, it was only six degrees warmer in Phoenix than back home.

Connors, though, had no regrets about his decision to brave the weather to catch a fragment of the first round.

“We’ve seen quite a few holes,” Connors said. “I was trying to get to 16 and just stopped three or four times. Before the rain came, we probably saw half of it, some of (the players) were half done.”

Phoenix Open updates: Round 1 play to resume after long weather delay

With traffic backed up approaching the course, Connors said it took his family an hour to get from Camelback Road up to TPC Scottsdale, where his son dropped him off near the front entrance before searching for parking.

That quest for parking proved to be the worst part of the day for many fans. Due to heavy rain throughout the week, the grass parking lots near the entrance turned into a mud pit by Wednesday night, forcing the tournament to re-route fans to more distant lots, with shuttles waiting to take them to the course.

Chet Pearson, a Phoenix Open regular who lives in Tempe, pulled into Lot C at Westworld just after 11 a.m. He said it took him an hour and a half to crawl just over a mile from the Loop 101 exit at Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. to the parking lot. His pass was for a lot within walking distance of the course. Instead, he was boarding a 15-minute shuttle bus that still left fans with an additional 15-minute walk to the front gate.

Pearson said he “probably” would have skipped the round “if I'd have known it was gonna be an hour and a half to sit in line just to park.”

“Worst it's ever been,” he added.

Friday might not be much better on the parking front. Organizers expect the lots near the course — lots 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 — to remain closed Friday, except for a small portion of lot 3 that was open for ADA access. Even accessing that lot took half an hour for Rodriguez and his family, who arrived around 11 a.m.

The tournament organizers recommend that those with parking passes for the aforementioned lots instead find parking at the corner of Mayo Blvd. and Hayden Road. Other options are the Westworld location and Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Resort, which is eight miles south of the course. All locations have shuttle buses for fans.

As for the golf itself, organizers are hoping to be able to finish play by Sunday. Otherwise, the tournament would likely have to spill into Monday, as it did back in 2011, with frost delays causing chaos. Last week’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am was called after 54 holes — an outcome that the PGA Tour will hope to avoid repeating this week.

At the time play resumed on Thursday, Sahith Theegala topped the leaderboard at 5-under par through 14 holes (he started on the back nine) followed by three golfers at 4-under: Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry and S.H. Kim.

Despite the rain-induced inconvenience, not all fans regretted their decision to go to TPC Scottsdale. Arturo Velazquez and a friend stood inside a large advertising board near the ninth hole, sipping from a bottle of Coors Light. The pair arrived just minutes before play was canceled but their transportation was straightforward — they went to K O’Donnell’s Sports Bar and Grill in the morning and took a free shuttle from there to the course.

“Within five minutes, we got in the shuttle and we were here within 10 minutes,” Velazquez said. “We didn't have to deal with all the crazy parking that got all messed up.”

Velazquez never even saw a shot of golf. After ordering a beer, he headed straight for shelter — a far cry from his typical experience at the tournament, which he tries to attend every year.

But half an hour into the rain delay, he was making the best of this new, unusual version of the Phoenix Open.

“It's all good,” Velazquez said. “We're still having fun.”

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Rain creates parking nightmare for fans at drenched WM Phoenix Open