Nick Taylor will return to the WM Phoenix Open as the defending champion next year, but he understands why some of his fellow PGA Tour players may avoid the event in the future.
This year’s event came under heightened scrutiny as several players took issue with unruly fan behavior. Heavy rains throughout the week led to delays in play and created a muddy landscape for fans to navigate.
Some fans took to belly sledding down slopes around the course. Others congregated in congested areas because access was limited in several locations. As fans struggled to move around the course, scenes went viral of fights among fans, rowdy behavior and testy interactions with players including Zach Johnson and Billy Horschel.
Taylor endured it all to claim his fourth career PGA Tour victory in a playoff over Charley Hoffman.
“From the videos that I’ve seen, those instances are unfortunate, but I don’t think it’s a standalone, it’s been like that for a bit,” Taylor said on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Genesis Open. “It’s a shame when only a very small percentage of fans are like that, it gets exposed a bit. But the majority of the fans are great, they’re just trying to watch some good golf and cheer.”
At one point on Saturday afternoon, ticketed fans were denied entry to the event while alcohol sales were halted. The scene led Byeong Hun An to take to social media and write that it was “totally out of control on every hole.”
Chance Cozby, the executive director of the Thunderbirds group that organizes the event, said the issues will serve as “a turning point” for the event and that hours of planning meetings have already been held.
However, Taylor isn’t certain what can be do to change the atmosphere around what has been dubbed “The People’s Open.”
“I think the cat’s probably out of the bag. I don’t know how much they can change,” he said. “I think it’s a week where the classic line is that ‘I can do this for one week but multiple weeks, probably not.’
“I don’t know how they’re going to be able to do that. I think this year again with the weather, everybody kind of getting in the same area waiting around, it was probably a perfect storm to cause some of that a little more, but I’m not sure how they would reel it back to be honest.”
Taylor earned more than $1.5 million with the win. He also arrived at Riviera this week with a career-best world ranking of No. 28. After a long week that wrapped up during the middle of Sunday’s Super Bowl, Taylor is focused on resting his body and resetting his mind ahead of the third signature event of the year.
“The next day and a half, two days until we start is kind of keep my energy up, conserve,” he said. “I’m not going to do a whole lot today, but tomorrow it will be nice to see the golf course the day before and from there just kind of ride the momentum.”
–Field Level Media