By Ronald Sampson
What was long a cherished event for the Valley has recently given itself a black eye. The Waste Management Open: it has always been a party. The 16th hole has long been known as one of the craziest atmospheres in all of golf. It has always been different. But in the last few years and especially last year, that vibe has turned darker. Different turned into the tail end of a frat party: ugly, sloppy, and a mess.
It would have been difficult for the Thunderbirds, the planners of the event, to have not gotten the message. Negative headlines pervaded, some went across the world, and something needed to be done.
Enter “Better, Not Bigger”, the theme for this year’s event. So what does that mean? For starters, a larger police presence walking the grounds looking for problematic attendees. That would certainly be an upgrade, and simply a larger more visual presence may be enough to keep some people in line to some degree.
Next is a whole new entrance; a chaotic bottleneck was a problem during the weekend of last year’s event, with a significant amount of gate-crashings taking advantage of the lack of order and getting in without paying. A new entrance should not only minimize that bottleneck but also allow for better monitoring of potential gate-crashers and adjust accordingly.
Next are day-specific tickets. Frankly, it is strange that this is only now being implemented, as nearly all large multi-day events have day-specific passes. Without this, the actual attendance was nearly impossible to predict, and as such appropriate law enforcement staffing and presence was nearly impossible to project.
Lastly, they are at least talking a bigger game about stronger enforcement of out-of-control activities. And this is where a fine line needs to be better drawn. No one wants to turn this into a typical golf tournament, but running across holes when they are in play and being loud during a player’s swing should be clearly set on the wrong side of that fine line.
If jail time for bad behavior was a real option, or if lifetime bans for people who act like fools and materially distract away from the golf were implemented, perhaps the bleeding would be materially stemmed and we could collectively chart a better path forward.