There is nothing bigger than WM Phoenix open to TPC Scottsdale.
We are talking about 1 million square feet of stands, concession stands and standing stands only, welcoming 750,000 fans on a 700-acres golf course, generating half a billion dollars in local economic impact and 200 million Dollars to local charities, partly by selling (preservative) about 70,000 gallons of beer.
All of this is worth being recalled while we are preparing for “The People’s Open”, which begins with the Annexus Pro-Am on Wednesday, February 5. Because I guess that is what the organizers thought when they found this year’s motto, “better, no bigger.
“We are going to be really sure that we do not overdow,” said tournament president Matt Mooney in a Tuesday telephone interview with Arizona Republic. “The reality is that, at a time when golf is going through a lot of changes and people try to understand the future of the game, we have an event here which is, by a wide margin, the biggest of the PGA turned. … We have a model that works exceptionally well. »»
Despite the emphasis on “better”, I will not be surprised if this year’s tournament is as big as ever.
Fans know exactly what to expect in “The Greatest Show on Grass”.
This is not the tournament where you will hear a polished blow for a nice putt to save the peer.
This is the tournament where you meet your former college friends and roar a hole in one or a Boo when a guy explodes one in the sand out of 16.
It is a place to see and be seen, especially Friday and Saturday. People display money, influence and, Ummm, assets while walking with bracelets and sipping cocktails at the start of the New Year of Phoenix Sports.
It’s the party before the Super Bowl.
It is the turning point in training in the spring.
It is a place to celebrate one of the few places in the country where you can walk in shorts in February.
This year’s extended forecasts seem much better than those last year, when the pro-am was canceled and the good people from Seattle brought their rain and their gloom in town for a week’s visit.
Mooney has participated in the event for almost 20 years as a spectator, organizer (he is a member of the civic organization known as Thunderbirds) and now president. He never saw anything like the weather in 2024.
“My first Phoenix open was 2006,” he said. “We had years of bad weather, but the amount of rain in a short time, I don’t think we have ever seen something like it. We have had freezing and a few years that the rain has passed. But the volume of rain last year was really unique in the worst way. »»
Came out.
I was there last year.
Yes, it was wet.
Yes, it’s cold.
But I remember thinking: “It will make a cool story in 20 years when I tell my children that we had to go up in both directions to go from parking to 16 years.”
In addition, there were more than a few opportunistic fans (and almost certainly intoxicated) who began to zip the hills around the course as if they were giant and muddy slides. (If I did not work, I might have taken a turn or two, myself.)
This year, to relieve some of the bottlenecks, they added an entry and created certain attractions to attract fans of the course.
The Taylor-Morrison Fairway house has been extended, the steep hill over 12 has been scraped flat and the dirt of the excavation was used to raise the desert oasis so that fans can look at the golf on 5, 6 and 7 of a place.
“Last year, we had really difficult conditions, but that gave us the opportunity to make some changes“Said Mooney.
He added: “Everyone wants to come and see the 16thth Hole. This is a list of international buckets. … People will come to line up for hours and hours and hours to enter 16, but we wanted to continue to create these areas particularly suitable for the general admission fan. »»
This is what they do at the Phoenix Open.
They always refine and add and improve.
Take a look at the success of Tiger Woods wood in 1997. Fans are only looking at.
Flash forward almost 30 years old, and there is a complete stadium around the most emblematic hole of the PGA Tour.
A few years ago, church bench bunkers were added to 18.
There are tribune seats out of 17.
This year’s improvements, which also include wider alleys and golf trails, are not only the possibility of botched time.
“We really feel like we are improving the experience of fans and giving fans the opportunity to spread,” said Mooney.
Despite the emphasis on “better”, do not be surprised if the crowds of this year are still as large.
There is nothing bigger than WM Phoenix Open. And if it becomes a little exuberant, it’s perfectly good. Fans know exactly what to expect in “The Greatest Show on Grass”.
“We are proud to be” the people open, “said Mooney. “We want to be accessible to all golf fans.”
Reach moore at [email protected] or 602-444-2236. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @Sayingmoore.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The open organizers WM Phoenix focus on “better”, but I expect more
