Why gates closed, alcohol sales stopped at WM Phoenix Open Saturday
SCOTTSDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — The WM Phoenix Open is over, and there is a lot of attention on the tournament that doesn’t have anything to do with golf.
There is still a lot of discussion about what happened on Saturday. The crowds were so large that organizers stopped letting people into the tournament and stopped selling alcohol, saying it was in the best interest of public safety.
Officials say it all came down to the weather and what it did to this area. It started earlier in the week when rain and mud closed parking lots. And on Saturday, which is historically the busiest day of the tournament, people stuck to the walkways instead of walking into muddy grass, which caused major backup and congestion.
People at the WM Phoenix Open on Saturday were left confused after alcohol sales came to a stop. Videos posted to social media highlight the massive number of people at the tournament and what the environment was like.
Because of the wet weather during this week, areas where people would normally walk or sit were wet and muddy. This had people gathering in the same areas. “It kept things too congested for too long,” Scottsdale Police Officer Aaron Bolin said.
Around 2 p.m. Saturday, public safety officials decided to shut the front entrance down and stopped serving alcohol in general admission concessions. “The idea behind that was just to get some more movement,” Officer Bolin said.
Before this happened, some people say they were let into the gates in massive groups without their tickets even being scanned. Bolin says there were too many people between the metal detectors and the front entrance where they scan tickets. They say they needed to get people out of that caged area for safety reasons, so that’s why tickets weren’t getting scanned.
On the flip side, some people say they had tickets but were turned away once the entrance closed. WM Phoenix Open officials say they are aware fans with Saturday tickets were turned away and said The Thunderbirds are gathering more details and discussing options on how to remedy their concerns. “It was 100% the right decision,” Scottsdale Fire Capt. Dave Folio said. “If it saved one life because someone didn’t get an alcoholic beverage, so be it.”
Despite what could have looked like chaos, Folio says the number of calls they responded to was nothing out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, Scottsdale police say they arrested 54 people this year compared to 18 last year and ejected 211 people, which is up 109 people from 2023. “We’re making the best choices so we can to protect the safety of fans,” Bolin said.
We asked officials at the Open if people would be refunded for their tickets on Saturday if they were not let in. We will keep you posted once they get back to us.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
