The most notable change from the upcoming WM Phoenix Open, tournament chairman Matt Mooney said Wednesday, is the new TPC Scottsdale entrance gate that will be installed at Greenway-Hayden Loop, just past the Boulevard intersection. Frank Lloyd Wright.
The gate won’t open at exactly the same time as the tournament’s main entrance, but it should alleviate the foot traffic that became a problem during the rain and bad weather that hampered everyone’s experience at the Open in February this year.
“We will still have the main entrance and so everyone who arrives by shuttle or into the parks will still go through that main entrance,” Mooney said during the WM Phoenix send-off luncheon at Chase Field. “But to have this new entrance that basically drops you off at the 18th tee, one of the most amazing views on the course is above the 18th hole, looking down at the 17th and 16th.
“And so one of the things we’ve been planning is how do we accommodate the fact that we think everyone is going to come and want to take a selfie or a photo to look at that background, because it’s really amazing.”
The new entry gate is part of improvements to the 2025 WM Open. Problems at the 2024 tournament, largely due to weather, included overflow crowds, a lack of space on fairways and cart paths, parking lots closed due to flooding and players complaining that fans – drunk or not – were too close to the action. .
Ultimately, conversations with players, title sponsor Waste Management and the city of Scottsdale did not result in any changes to the nature of the tournament, only some adjustments to the course infrastructure.
Mooney and Thunderbirds executive director Chance Cozby flew to Southern California 36 hours after the 2024 WM Open to meet with members of the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council.
“What we took away was how much they all love it,” Mooney said. “We were honestly surprised at how few recommendations or adjustments were made to the event.
“We want to find the right adjustments. But there’s a reason why this has been the five-time tournament of the year for the last decade and the biggest event on the PGA Tour. So we’re very careful not to change this fabric.
So the Thunderbirds looked better, not bigger, in 2025.
Other changes in 2025:
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Do away with day-long general admission tickets and have day-specific tickets, allowing organizers to control crowds to exactly the number each day. “And then, by going digital, we know we’re going to be much more efficient at our entry, but also have better data on our users and more accountability to each user,” Mooney said.
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Infrastructure changes such as opening the Taylor Morrison Fairway House and Desert Oasis venues on the course to all participants. New landscaping atop some of the course’s small grassy hills will allow fans to view several golf holes from a higher vantage point.
Some of these peaks have been roped off in the past, and this year people used one of these hills to form a muddy slide in the rain.
The morning run to the stadium hole at 4 p.m. will continue to be a staple of the WM Open. Mooney remembers thousands of fans lined up in 38-degree heat and rain, ready to embark on a wild ride.
“People come from all over the world to do this,” he said. “We love this moment, we wouldn’t want to stray too far from that.”
Also at Wednesday’s luncheon, the Thunderbirds presented Joséle Ballester, a member of the Arizona State men’s golf team, with a sponsor exemption to the WM Open in 2025. Ballester, of Spain, won the American amateur tournament this year.
National championship-winning football coach Nick Saban, now an ESPN media personality, took questions from Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall on Wednesday. Saban reiterated that ASU running back Cam Skattebo is his favorite college football player, as he said on ESPN’s “College Gameday” this past weekend.
Saban said he would pick ASU to beat Iowa State for the Big 12 championship on Saturday’s broadcast, which drew applause from the hundreds of people sitting at the DBacks’ home court.
Saban competed in the 2024 Pro-Am tournament, calling it one of the most enjoyable events he has ever participated in.
“What was interesting was every SEC fan in that arena made sure I knew they were there,” Saban said, remembering his tee shot on the 16th hole.
This article was originally published on Arizona Republic: WM Phoenix Open Kickoff Luncheon Features Nick Saban, President’s Comments
