Waste Management Phoenix Open breaks attendance records again
Feb 6, 2017, 5:07 PM
(Waste Management Phoenix Open Photo)
(Waste Management Phoenix Open Photo)
PHOENIX — They call it “The People’s Open,” and in Scottsdale this weekend, the people were aplenty.
The 2017 Waste Management Phoenix Open, the annual PGA Tour event known for its raucous atmosphere, drew 655,434 fans over the weekend — crushing last year’s record-setting total of 618,365.
They also broke tournament records for single-day attendance on Wednesday with 77,906 fans (the day of the celebrity Pro-Am), Friday with 169,004 and Saturday with a whopping 204,906.
The final round on Sunday didn’t set an attendance record, but it did draw a crowd of 55,654 that saw Hideki Matsuyama win the tournament in a playoff for the second straight year.
With more people comes more waste: The tournament produced more than 500 tons of trash. According to tournament staff member Brad Pollock, all of the trash will either be recycled or sent to compost.
“It starts really with the vendors, the folks who are bringing stuff in,” Pollock said. “We work with them quite a bit so they’re bringing in the material we can recycle and send to compost.”
Waste Management crews will be cleaning up until April, but golfers were back on the course Monday.
KTAR’s Ashley Flood and Corbin Carson contributed to this report.
