Solheim Cup 2024: Empty Grandstands on the First Tee
09/13/2024 by Alexandra Caspers
The first tee shot of the Solheim Cup is the highlight of the year – and many fans missed it because the shuttle transport is a disaster.
Long lines and empty seats at the Solheim Cup 2024. (Photos: X.com/@fried_egg_golf und @lori_schreiner)
09/13 – 09/15/2024
LPGA Tour: The Solheim Cup 2024
Robert Trent Jones Golf Club – Gainesville, Virginia, USA
- Round 5/5
- Foursome
- Prize money: Race to the CME Globe: Points
- Defending champion: Team Europe
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The first tee shot at a continental competition is an unrivalled experience. Fans get up in the middle of the night to sit on the first tee at dawn and create a great atmosphere, eagerly awaiting the first flights. The Solheim Cup is usually no exception.
Spectators miss the first tee shot at the Solheim Cup 2024
On the first day of the Solheim Cup 2024 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, however, many fans were denied this joy. The reason: too few buses to take spectators from the car park to the golf course. Fans report on X (formerly Twitter) that they have been waiting at the car park for over an hour and still have ‘1000’ people in front of them in the huge queue that has formed. A queue that is not moving as the first tee shot approaches.
‘The first tee on Friday morning of a Solheim is typically the best atmosphere of the year. For the fans to not be here is an absolute travesty.’ writes Beth Ann Nichols of Golfweek.
Just before the first tee shots, much of the grandstand on the first tee was still empty.
blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”>First tee shot goes in the air at 7:05 (in 25 minutes) and there are so many empty seats. Serious transportation issues going on this morning. Wish they could push back tee times but too much golf to get in. pic.twitter.com/VMSK9V2bh0
— Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) September 13, 2024With only four flights, the spectacle is not only over quickly, but with so many people waiting, it is foreseeable that many will also miss a large part of the morning session. “Complete disaster”, writes Nichols who covers the issue on X.
2 hours in the parking lot and only 200 yard from the front it’s a disgrace refunds need to be issued pic.twitter.com/Ky7eudA2Nc
— jon davidson (@davidson_jon) September 13, 2024
The transport problems were already becoming apparent the day before, when it took a very long time after the opening ceremony before all the spectators could be transported back.
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