When the face value of 2025 Ryder Cup tickets became common knowledge a few months ago, golf fans were up in arms about the pricing for the highly anticipated event. Despite being held at Bethpage Black, a public course that can cost as little as $75 to play for local golfers, the PGA of America slapped a $750 price tag on single-day competition tickets, sparking widespread outrage.
The sticker shock doesn’t seem to have affected demand, however. More than half a million golf fans registered for the random ticket application process, and on Wednesday—hours after 2025 Ryder Cup tickets went on sale—the PGA of America announced that the event’s match days had officially sold out.
— PGA of America (@PGA) November 13, 2024
According to the PGA America, fans from 47 countries around the globe purchased the pricey tickets, including 2,500 transactions from Europe (expect the road team to have strong travelling support). Obviously, the $750 price tag—plus more than $200 in fees, and an additional $60 to park, as fans learned on Wednesday—wasn’t the deterrent it initially seemed, at least to golf fans of a certain socio-economic bracket.
The most interesting part of the PGA of America’s statement, though, was the organisation’s assertion that it “did not make any Ryder Cup ticket inventory available for initial purchase via any secondary markets.” Some fans, blindsided by the quick sellout, speculated that the PGA of America quietly released tickets on the secondary market, but the group that oversees the playing of the Ryder Cup in the U.S. asserted that fans were only redirected to SeatGeek, the 2025 Ryder Cup’s ticket resale partner, after the event had sold out. When reached by Golf Digest, the PGA of America had no additional comment beyond the online statement.
Despite persistent rumours of professional golf’s demise and the outcry over ticket pricing at a time when millions of Americans are limiting discretionary spending, Wednesday’s sellout proved the Ryder Cup is still one of the most popular spectator events in golf. Let’s just hope that U.S. golf fans still have a few coins left in their pocket for drinks, because we’ll want them loud and proud come next September.
Main Image: Andrew Reddington