The Waste Management Phoenix Open, which typically has a fun atmosphere for players and fans, turned ugly over the weekend.
There were fights, people running onto the golf course and multiple issues with negative interactions between players and fans throughout the tournament.
The Waste Management Open looks like a shit-show. This dude is just sitting here pissing his pants. It’s pretty clear we’ve deteriorated as a society pic.twitter.com/HgWDOy92E5
— ND (@CopaceticNuts) February 10, 2024
???? Scenes from The Waste Management ?
(Via shmebecca / TikTok) pic.twitter.com/AlRjXZ9GPc
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) February 10, 2024
Never know what you’ll see at the Waste Management Open pic.twitter.com/m4eyS3xTuq
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) February 10, 2024
Waste Management bartender explains why they cut off alcohol: pic.twitter.com/mfbwKuWfoA
— Tour Golf (@PGATUOR) February 13, 2024
While speaking with Golf Channel, Josh Cozby, who is the executive director of the Thunderbirds who host the tournament, said there will be a “complete operational change” to the event going forward.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve built,” Cozby said.
“I think, we’ve been tournament of the year on the PGA Tour five of the last seven years. But we don’t like what happened on Saturday. The players don’t like what happened on Saturday. Our fans don’t like what happened on Saturday, and, so, nothing is off the table.”
“We are going to make changes,” he said. “There’s no time off, we have 365 days to fix this.”
Cozby indicated there may be a limit of ticket sales as well as enhanced security for the event.
“Nothing is off the table,” Cozby said.
“We are going to look at our general ticket exposure and how many are out in the marketplace, we are going to look at our complete security plan and how we operate.”
“Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open in 2024 is going to end up being a turning point for our tournament and our organization to make our event better.
“We learned so much and we know that we have to make improvements. We owe it our fans, we owe it to the PGA Tour players that come and support this event, we are not going to let this happen again.”
