GAINESVILLE, Va. – LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan addressed the media Saturday morning in relation to Friday’s shuttle-bus debacle that left thousands of fans waiting for hours to enter the Solheim Cup.
Marcoux Samaan explained what went wrong and what the tour did to resolve the many issues. She didn’t, however, properly address why there was such a massive problem in the first place.
“A miscalculation,” Marcoux Samaan answered vaguely when asked the root cause. “It wasn’t trying to cut costs. It was trying to do what was going to work for the tournament.”
That miscalculation could have and incalculable effect on how some view the LPGA’s crown jewel and the organization itself.
“We’ve been working really hard to bring in more fans to the sport, bring in more fans to the LPGA,” Marcoux Samaan said. “We’ve worked very hard to do that and to market this event, which is a marquee event, so yeah, it was extremely disappointing that we had any fan that didn’t have the perfect experience that we expect.”
With gates opening at 6 a.m. ET and play commencing at 7:05 a.m., fans were stuck offsite in lines that extended over a mile long to board shuttles to get into Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Instead of enjoying what is supposed to be one of the most exciting moments in golf – the first tee on the opening day of a cup – thousands who paid to attend (and park) were stuck in wait. Some opted to park well offsite and walk for miles just to avoid standing around.
Marcoux Samaan admitted the issues were:
- Not enough buses
- The staggering of the buses
- Inefficient loading and unloading of the buses
- More traffic than anticipated
- Not enough manpower
- The “bathrooms were a mess”
Basically, everything.
Marcoux Samaan and her team were on the first tee Friday morning – well after complaints began circulating on social media – and, curiously, said Saturday, “we finished at the first tee and then we moved right into trying to figure this out.”
The LPGA sent out an apology post on X at 9:21 a.m. and didn’t send out another public response until almost 9 p.m. When it did, the LPGA initially stated that those affected by Friday’s mishap would be compensated with two complimentary tickets to either Saturday’s or Sunday’s play. That post was deleted and another was sent out without that mention.
Marcoux Samaan confirmed Saturday that fans did receive those digital passes but would not get a refund.
“We spent time yesterday trying to figure out logistically what was possible, and it’s challenging to figure out who was affected, who wasn’t affected, how we could handle it logistically from all parts of the organization, and this is what we felt – if they wanted to come back, they [could] bring a friend if they were coming back,” the commissioner said.
After adding more buses and altering the staging areas for those leaving the grounds Friday evening, Marcoux Samaan said even more buses were added for Saturday morning (she would not say, however, how many).
The LPGA also started the shuttle service earlier (4:30 a.m.), opened gates earlier and had volunteers use a different park-and-ride than patrons.
“This morning was obviously a lot better. We’re not up here patting ourselves on the back. I think that’s the way it should have been yesterday. But we did feel like we accomplished our goals for this morning,” she said.
Day 2 began noticeably different with the first-tee grandstands reaching capacity. Fans on social media stated the process of arriving to the course was much more efficient.
Marcoux Samaan praised the environment at RTJ, which has hosted a number of high-profile events, including four Presidents Cups and a PGA Tour event, particularly after fans starting arriving in full late Friday morning.
So, why, after years of planning, on a course accustomed to such a tournament, and being able to self-correct in a day, did such a chaotic mess ever happen?
“This was an LPGA issue,” Marcoux Samaan said.
“At the end of the day, I’m the leader of the organization and I have to own it. We have a tournament team that runs all of this, but I’m sitting up here in front of you as the leader of the LPGA, and I need to own that.”