GAINESVILLE, Va. – The first-tee experience at a Solheim Cup is arguably the best in women’s golf, particularly on Friday morning. The 19th staging of the biennial event has been touted as the biggest ever based on advanced ticket sales.
So to see empty chairs on the first tee in a grandstand that seats 2,000 early Friday morning was more than shocking. Turns out most of the fans – thousands – have been stuck in a Jiffy Lube Live parking lot for hours waiting on shuttle buses.
Fans tweeted video of outrageously long lines, reporting that they’d been waiting for hours, mostly in a standstill. This comes one day after fans waited hours to leave the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club after Wednesday’s opening ceremony.
When Lexi Thompson came on the first tee to rev up the fans Friday morning, there were entire sections of the grandstands completely empty. By the time the final group teed off at 7:41 a.m., there were still a number of empty seats.
“Been here more than an hour and nowhere near the front of the line,” tweeted Alan Fisher. “People are leaving and going home, worried about the trip. Some kids in tears. Not enough security checkpoints not enough buses.”
One fan even noted that the porta potties in the parking lot were closed. Some fans on twitter called for refund.
As the biggest stars in golf got their foursomes matches underway, LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan stood off to the side of the first tee huddled with several top tour officials. When asked for a statement on the transportation issues that had not improved after several hours, a tour spokesperson said they’re working on it.
“We gotta fill this thing up a little bit more,” U.S. captain Stacy Lewis told Golf Channel’s Amy Rogers on the first tee.
The Solheim Cup is the crown jewel of the women’s game, the best chance to reel in fans who don’t normally follow the tour but are drawn in by the passion and patriotic fervor.
Relief can’t come quickly enough.
