Solheim Cup starts with 'total disaster' for fans
GAINESVILLE, Va. — The opening matches of the Solheim Cup began Friday morning in front of half-empty grandstands surrounding the first tee at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, with traffic problems preventing fans from getting to the golf course.
Fans posted on social media that they were stuck for hours waiting in line for buses at Jiffy Lube Live, a concert venue near a golf course about 40 miles west of Washington, D.C.
“2 hours in the parking lot and only 200 yards from the front requires issuing a dishonorable refund,” wrote John Davidson, a fan, on X.
“I've been on the line for about an hour and only moved 15 feet… and I expected to get on the first tee,” wrote Jason Burstein.
20 minutes before the match started, a small trickle of fans started walking towards the grandstand at a brisk pace, but there was no sign of the record crowd that the organizers had promised.
“We acknowledge and deeply apologize to all fans affected by the challenges from parking to the golf course,” LPGA X said in a statement. And we are working on ways to express our condolences to the victims.”
Esther Henselit hits the opening tee shot for Europe in the team's competition against the United States as part of an alternate shot pairing with Charlie Hull. Alisen Corpuz followed for the US, teaming up with top-ranked Nellie Korda.
Europe is looking to capture the Solheim Cup for the fourth time in a row.
“Solheim is the LPGA's time to shine,” Golfweek's Beth Ann Nichols wrote in X. Complete disaster. Worst I've seen in 20 years of covering this tour.
Players often describe the Solheim Cup's opening tee shot as more nerve-wracking than anything in women's golf, fueled in part by fans who fill the grandstands hours in advance to cheer on the home team.
The few hundred fans who made it to Friday morning's opening tee were quiet for the European tee shots and cheered as the Americans hit them, a departure from the golf etiquette that players have come to embrace in team competition.
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