Unsafe conditions, excess ejections defined 2024 WM Phoenix Open. What changes next year?

Scottsdale police arrested triple the number of people at this year's WM Phoenix Open compared with 2023 as the event devolved because of crowds, mud, overly intoxicated attendees and entrance gates closing early.

Officers arrested 54 people between Feb. 5 and Feb. 11 at the annual golf tournament at TPC Scottsdale compared with 18 in 2023 and zero in 2022, Aaron Bolin, a Scottsdale police spokesperson, said. The exact charges they were booked on weren't immediately available.

Bolin said 211 people were ejected from the event. Reasons could have included not following liquor laws that bar intoxicated persons from being at a place that serves alcohol, or for violating Professional Golfers Association rules for fan behavior, such as shouting as a golfer is about to swing or excessive heckling, he said. In addition, 73 people were removed for trespassing.

Bolin said the figures didn't include arrests involving underage drinking violations. The Arizona Department of Liquor License and Control was responsible for those figures, he said.

Bolin said previous year's numbers could have been affected because Glendale hosted the Super Bowl in 2023, and 2022 was a post-COVID year.

Taylor Davidson, a Phoenix resident who was seated at the 16th hole with her friends, posted a video on TikTok featuring a shirtless man running onto the course, another man sitting next to two standing officers with his hands cuffed behind his back and lines of countless people seemingly clogging every major thoroughfare.

Davidson told The Arizona Republic she didn't recall security checking her bag or even scanning her ticket and believed that was a factor in how busy the area was.

"I've never seen that many people in one place in my entire life," Davidson said.

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Davidson said she saw officers approach people who appeared passed out, escort them out of the area and arrest others for various reasons. Davidson said she saw one man wake up shortly before doing a flip into a sand bunker where he proceeded to make "sand angels."

Davidson saw people get arrested when she attended the Phoenix Open last year, but she said this year felt different.

"It was a lot crazier from what I saw this year," Davidson said. "Last year, I did more walking around, too — like in the general area. And I mean there were a lot of drunk people, but this year was definitely a lot worse. There were a lot of people non-responsive, stumbling all around, falling. I've seen many, many videos of people just going completely limp."

Davidson attributed some of the chaos to the muddy conditions that caused people to fall or slide down — whether they were sober or not — and caking themselves in mud.

"I think mud (was) just tracked everywhere," Davidson said. "Everyone's shoes were completely ruined. The ends of people's pants had mud. I think people were just kind of sliding everywhere — drunk or not. Honestly, I almost slid down a hill. It just made things a lot harder. It was a lot harder to get around."

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For next year's tournament, Davidson suggested organizers add more food stalls, as alcohol was much more readily available compared with some 90-minute-plus lines for concessions.

"I think a lot of people were getting super drunk on an empty stomach," Davidson said. "And then it was, on top of that, really hard to get food."

The tournament shut its gates in the early afternoon on Saturday, which kept fans with legitimate tickets from entering the event they paid for.

Pam Willis, a Gilbert resident, said she planned on attending the tournament on Saturday with her husband and nephew who was visiting from Chicago, and they planned on going in the afternoon after the rain had let up.

Her plans were dashed after shuttle staff turned them away, saying entry to the tournament was closed for the rest of the day. Willis said this left her confused as she saw a Facebook post from the WM Phoenix Open's official page saying the closure was temporary.

"The people that were at the shuttle service said, 'No, they're not letting anybody in for the rest of the day — go home,'" Willis said.

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She added that she wouldn't have minded waiting a little longer for a shuttle to arrive as her family only planned to walk around the area for a few hours, but ultimately decided to return home.

Willis said she has since searched for a contact to obtain a refund for the tickets, which cost her about $300, but hasn't found any announcement from tournament officials about where or when that process would be.

"The communication and lack of who do I call to remedy this and how can I even do this is, yeah, it's a little frustrating," Willis said.

The tournament's website seems to offer an unforgiving refund policy.

"All ticket sales are final with no refunds or exchanges," the site states.

Tournament chairman George Thimsen was not available for comment for the second day.

Muddy conditions left much of the course unsuitable for fans Saturday, forcing them to crowd into smaller areas.

Those inside the tournament gates were cut off from buying food or alcohol around the time Willis was turned away in an attempt to ease crowding near the entrance.

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The Scottsdale Police Department also cited the unusual weather.

“The course conditions were not normal due to the mud and rain,” Allison Sempsis, the department’s public information officer, said. “This resulted in the large crowds only occupying a small portion of the course and caused a large buildup of crowds.”

Sempsis also noted that, at one point, fans were allowed in without having their tickets scanned.

“There was a large group of attendees that were stopped before going through the gate,” Sempsis said. “Attendees were waved through for a short time period in order to keep everyone safe and to create a larger space for people to move around on the course.”

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Asked how Scottsdale police planned to alter its security strategy in the future, Bolin said on Monday that it was "entirely too early" to say.

"Those decisions are part of the entire planning process and weigh multiple factors including, challenges of the previous year(s), day of the week within the event, profile of golfers/elevated event status, historical population within the footprint, weather conditions throughout the operational period, venue activation locations, footprint condition and its ability to absorb attendees," Bolin said.

Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at perry.vandell@gannett.com or 602-444-2474. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @PerryVandell.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: PGA Tour Phoenix Open fans share refund woes, closed gates and chaos