Phoenix Open headed for change after Saturday's incidents - ESPN

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Changes are coming to next year's WM Phoenix Open in the wake of a series of incidents involving fans and golfers, overcrowding on the course, and the suspensions of both admissions and alcohol sales on Saturday.

Chance Cozby, the executive director of the Thunderbirds, the civic organization that hosts the Phoenix Open, told the Golf Channel on Monday that the tournament is already looking at ways to fix the issues that plagued the largest tournament on the PGA Tour this year.

«I think that you will see a complete operational change of how we manage, really, our Friday and Saturday, but the entire week,» Cozby said. «We're very proud of what we've built. 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.»

Cozby said the Phoenix Open's leadership team spent «five or six hours» on Saturday afternoon as fans were starting to leave brainstorming what changes needed to happen. The initial focus will be on the sale of general admission tickets and the tournament's «complete security plan.»

The Phoenix Open sold out of general admission tickets for Friday and Saturday, historically the two most attended days of the tournament, after putting caps on both days. The Phoenix Open stopped announcing attendance numbers after the 2018 tournament, when it set tournament records for attendance with 191,400 people on Friday and 216,818 people on Saturday.

Cozby explained that the onslaught of rain last week led the grounds at the TPC Scottsdale, where the Phoenix Open has been played since 1987, to become