One of the endearing elements tied to the Ryder Cup matches is how the contest between the United States and Europe only takes place in a biennial time frame.
In short, the home team only has the matches once every four years. And the desire to make the most of that opportunity will bring to fruition a new reality when the event is hosted at Bethpage State Park and its illustrious Black Course in late September 2025.
Ticket prices are going up—way up.
How much?
Try $255 for any of the practice rounds and a whopping $750 for any of three days of competition.
That’s no misprint.
Free food and non-alcoholic drink vouchers are included but the outlay of money for the tickets will be a hard pill for many to swallow.
On the flipside, the PGA of America views the Ryder Cup as a “tier one” sports event alongside NBA finals game 7 and the Super Bowl. What’s missing in that linkage is that golf has nowhere near the numbers of the events just mentioned.
Keep this in mind, when Bethpage emerged on the global golf stage in 2002 in becoming the first taxpayer-owned facility to stage the national championship of USA golf—the event was rightly tagged as the “people’s country club” because of the close connection many people have with the facility given the countless rounds played there.
Projected ticket sales will be in the range of 45,000 to 50,000. Over 500,000 people applied for tickets and the PGA of America had a cutoff date this week for people submitting an interest in being considered.
There’s little question the event will likely sell out—even with the spike in ticket costs. But the juxtaposition of what Bethpage represents on a daily basis will be undercut by what the PGA of America is looking to cash out from the event.
The 30,000-plus members of the PGA of America are the main constituency for the leadership of the organization, but all the previous talk of “growing the game” can only be meaningfully implemented if some sort of ticket possibilities exist for those without the deepest of pockets.
The PGA of America has not backed away from what the costs to attend will be. The mindset is that the time is ripe to reap a mega-windfall given how the Ryder Cup only comes to the United States once every four years.
For those fortunate enough to actually purchase tickets, the attendance at a Ryder Cup match will be an incomparable experience. Nonetheless, there are only four matches in the morning and afternoon sessions for the first two days with 12 singles matches the last day. Many attendees will have hard time in seeing actual golf played and will likely do so via a large jumbotron onsite.
The involvement of Long Island fans rooting loudly and proudly could well be muted. When Bethpage hosted the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens and the 2019 PGA Championship the involvement of the galleries was clearly engaged. Some may say too engaged on a negative level—just ask Sergio Garcia on that front.
At the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, limited daily ticket sales were implemented and the atmosphere was noticeably muted. The audience consisted mostly of well-heeled upper-income types representing only a tiny slice of the broader population from the SoCal area.
Closer to Bethpage is the annual staging of the USTA Open at Flushing Meadow. The event is a classic example of a vast number of tickets swallowed up by corporate purchases. Should not the U.S. Open in tennis—one of the four Grand Slam events—be geared toward getting others on the socio-economic ladder a reasonable price point in attending the event?
Sports organizations are always seeking ways to secure revenues from a range of sources. Nothing wrong with that on its face. However, the scale of such increases cannot be an unconscionable outright money grab followed by a quick dismissal from those who see things differently.
Interestingly, Bethpage is no stranger to previous administration issues when dealing with tickets. In 2009, the U.S. Open returned for the second time in just seven years. The weather for that event was abysmal and Thursday’s opening round was cancelled after just a few groups commenced play.
The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) opted not to provide a “raincheck” for those with tickets Thursday by having them honored for a final round on Monday. No refunds would also happen. In sum—those with first-round tickets were screwed.
Enter the picture of then-New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who stated he would seek an injunction stopping the event if the USGA did not relent and either provide a Monday option or some sort of refund.
The USGA soon realized the public relations folly of holding firm to its original position and relented with an honoring of Thursday’s tickets for the final round that concluded play on Monday. Those unable to attend were also given the alternative option with a 50 percent refund.
The resolution did not endear the USGA to Bethpage and the relationship caused a parting. What appeared like a closed door provided an opening for the PGA of America, which successfully courted the Long Island club to stage its marquee events.
The energy of a Ryder Cup is a key element in what makes the event so fascinating and appealing. Core golf fans have long viewed the matches at Bethpage as something of real interest. Do such price points deter more than they encourage others to be present? We will have to wait until the matches to have a definitive answer on that.
Keegan Bradley, the U.S. captain, stated at a recent joint New York City media conference with his counterpart, Euro Captain Luke Donald, how he wanted those attending to stand up and cheer enthusiastically for the U.S. squad.
Emotions are always a core element in any Ryder Cup. The teams know this and the fans fuel the build-up. The PGA of America dragged its feet in a timely announcement for the captaincy of the U.S. team. Now, the pricing of tickets has caused a secondary issue to rear its head.
In the months to follow a number of other key announcements will be made with regard to the Ryder Cup matches at Bethpage. Will the issue of ticket prices linger? It’s doubtful. The PGA of America is hoping the feverish pitch of emotions leading into the matches will drown out such concerns.
We shall see.
