Start of the Solheim Cup marred by problems with fan transportation; LPGA announces changes

GAINESVILLE, Va. — The morning was supposed to be one of the biggest in women’s golf. The first tee of the Solheim Cup is always a memorable experience for fans, but on Friday, spectators trudged through the entrance of Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with somber faces. Meanwhile, some of the 2,000 seats surrounding the first tee box were conspicuously empty. But it’s not as if there weren’t enough fans to fill them. Four and a half miles down the road, those fans were stuck in the parking lot.

The team match play event between the United States and Europe was aiming for record ticket sales, but many of the thousands of ticket holders who had risen before sunrise to see the first tee shots were still waiting for shuttle buses when the morning foursomes began. Two-and-a-half hour long lines awaited the early risers, some of whom had traveled for hours to experience the atmosphere on the event’s opening hole.

“We recognize the difficulties associated with commuting from the parking lot to the golf course and deeply apologize to all fans. We have made significant changes to our transportation system to mitigate these issues in the future and we are working on ways to express our regrets to those affected,” the LPGA said in a statement.

Not a great situation here at the first tee of the Solheim Cup. The stands have space for 2,000 fans. Many seats are empty because they are all in the parking lot and still waiting for buses https://t.co/xBGadpNG90 pic.twitter.com/DqoGcNzvt4

— Gabby Herzig (@GabbyHerzig) 13 September 2024

The initial delay in getting the crowds to the grounds outside Washington DC was due to the volunteers for the event occupying the first shuttles to arrive. At major golf events, volunteers usually have a separate parking lot and their own shuttles to avoid this problem. At the Solheim Cup, they were crammed in with the fans and used their volunteer passes to get on the first buses to arrive, of which there were already very few.

“Of course we noticed that the stands were not full, but what counts is that everyone is out here now cheering us loudly,” said Nelly Korda after she and her teammate Allisen Corpuz won the opening game 3&2 against Charley Hull and Esther Henseleit.

Corpuz said they noticed more fans trickling in around the fourth or fifth hole. Korda said the back nine was where things really took off.

A family with three young daughters told The athlete They drove 11 hours from Florida to the course that evening before leaving to redeem their Friday tickets they purchased in November. They woke up at 4:30 a.m. ET to leave from their hotel, which is 40 minutes from the parking lot, only to get off the shuttle bus and arrive on site at 8:14 a.m. ET.

One mother and daughter considered taking an Uber to the club’s entrance and ignoring the rules to walk to the venue and avoid the shuttle bus back – a loophole that many fans ended up using. Instead, the pair stayed in line, streaming the first tee shots on their phones and debating whether they could give up their Saturday and Sunday tickets to watch from home instead.

The Old Dominion women’s golf team met and lined up before 6:00 a.m. ET. They entered the Solheim Cup fan zone at 8:24 a.m. ET. As spectators slowly filed onto the course to watch the morning foursomes session, there were murmurs that the set-up for the event was a “disaster” and “a mess.”

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(Photo: Scott Taetsch / Getty Images)