The Solheim Cup is underway, but not quite in the fashion tournament organisers would have liked with a rather muted first tee due to half-empty stands.
It’s not because of a lack of interest, however, as thousands of fans who’d planned to be in the grandstands and lining the first fairway were left stranded at pick-up points due to shuttle bus issues.
GolfWeek senior write Beth Ann Nichols, shared the news on ‘X’ that fans were left frustrated as lengthy queues waited on buses that didn’t arrive until it was much too late to get to the first tee on time.
This explains why there so are many empty seats on the first tee. What a disaster. https://t.co/bNWwrus536
— Beth Ann Nichols (@GolfweekNichols) September 13, 2024
It’s a disappointing start to the week for what are expected to be record-breaking crowds for the showpiece team event in women’s golf.
German rookie Esther Henseleit got the action underway at 07:05 local time, almost two hours after queues began forming at the shuttle collection points, so the frustration of the fans was understandable, but by the time the fourth and final match of the morning foursomes session got underway, the volume had picked up considerably and if early indications on the course are anything to go by, it’s going to be another action-packed three days on the golf course.
What is going on @TheSolheimCup … these kids have been in line since 5.30am and end up having to watch the opening tee shots on a phone. They are not even close to getting on a shuttle bus. They haven’t moved more than 10ft since they arrived 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ pic.twitter.com/xNoxUwft4J
— Michelle Holmes Golf (@mholmesgolf) September 13, 2024