SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The warm-up acts are complete. Now it’s showtime.
The 2025 WM Phoenix Open tournament officially starts Thursday morning at 7:20 a.m. local time (9:20 a.m. ET) when the first groups tee off on the 1st and 10th hole.
All the planning, all the organization and all the changes made as a result of a sloppy 2024 experiences will now be put to the test.
What happened at the WM Phoenix Open in 2024?
First of all, the weather was awful. Heavy rain soaked the course and cold weather made things miserable. Eventually, the grassy hillsides, normally a great spot for fans to sit and watch golf, became unusable. That forced everyone onto the sidewalks and that made it difficult to get anywhere.
The party then got out of hand. Fans were sliding down those soaked grassy hillsides. Some on accident, many intentionally. At one point during the third round on Saturday, beer sales were cutoff.
Then the main entrance was closed, then re-opened, with tickets no longer being checked. These decisions were made to try to ease congestion but also led to confusion, with some fans scaling walls of adjacent neighborhoods to get in. Social media magnified it all with videos going viral.
Other social media videos showed Zach Johnson and Billy Horschel getting into it with fans who crossed the line with comments to the golfers. Horschel, in particular, made a point to quickly re-up for this year after an extensive conversation with the Thunderbirds, who run the tournament.
“I said, I love this event. I love the golf course. I love playing in front of fans. I love a little banter back and forth, and I have no problem with that, but there gets a point where it crosses a line, and it’s crossed the line a little bit the last couple years,” Horschel recalled.
What’s new at the WM Phoenix Open in 2025
The biggest change probably pertains to a new ticketing policy. The Open used to sell “good any day” tickets, but those are gone. So are the physical paper tickets. Everything in 2025 is digital and fans can only buy tickets for a specific day. Prices are $75 for Thursday’s first round and Sunday’s final round and $125 for the two most popular days, Friday and Saturday.
Another big change is a new entrance. The main one will still take fans past the DraftKings Sportsbook and under a bridge to bring them to the backside of the 18th green. A big, new entrance will be near the 18th tee box, right off the main road to the south of the golf course. This will allow fans to get to the 17th hole and just behind that the famous 16th hole even faster and presumably with less congestion.
Can fans still sprint to the 16th hole?
Yes they can. In fact, that’s still encouraged. If you’re thinking about doing it, be ready to get in line just outside the gates around 2 a.m. And then get ready for an all-out footrace. The reason for the race is that while the arena around 16 can host more than 17,000 people, most of the area is the suites.
The runners are trying to get to one of the 3,750 general admission seats, most of which are behind and to the right of the green with another stretch down the left side off the tee box. Those are first come, first serve, and once they’re full, no one gets in unless someone else leaves.
Other changes made inside TPC Scottsdale include:
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Walkways on the course will be twice as wide. The slimmer walkways jammed up when the 2024 event became crowded.
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There are new bridges for players to navigate crowded areas around the practice putting green, behind the ninth green and next to the 11th tee box.
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A redesigned Taylor Morrison Fairway House at the 12th hole. It will include more accessible viewing areas, along with expanded space for upgraded concessions.
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Changes at the Desert Oasis BBQ and Beer Garden near the 7th hole that event runners say will provide fans with elevated views of multiple holes.
‘Not bigger, just better’
Matt Mooney, tournament director here in 2025, has been at the forefront of all these changes, which have been in the works since basically the conclusion of last year’s tournament.
“We always talk about bigger and better,” Mooney said. And now? “We’ve just said ‘not bigger, just better’ this year.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: WM Phoenix Open 2025: Changes made after last year kick in for 2025
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