Despite price complaints, 2025 Ryder Cup tickets sold out in a matter of hours

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[PHOTO: Andrew Redington]

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 $US75 to play for local golfers, the PGA of America slapped a $US750 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.

 

According to the PGA of America, fans from 47 countries around the globe purchased the pricey tickets, including 2,500 transactions from Europe (expect the away team to have strong travelling support). Obviously the $750 price tag – plus more than $US200 in fees, and additional $US60 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 US 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.

Here’s the one key reason European Ryder Cup players say they are OK not getting paid to play in the matches

Despite persistent rumours of professional golf’s demise and the outcry over ticket pricing at a time when millions are limiting discretionary spending, the sellout proved the Ryder Cup is still one of the most popular spectator events in golf. Let’s just hope these golf fans still have a few coins left in their pocket for beer, because the US will want them loud and proud come next September.