[PHOTO: Angel Martinez]
The PGA of America, which jointly runs the Ryder Cup with the DP World Tour, defended itself overnight in response to comments made by U.S. Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis.
Yesterday, Lewis expressed disappointment when asked if the organisers of the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup, team matchplay competitions being held in back-to-back weeks in Europe for the first and perhaps only time, could have done more to jointly promote the events.
“I thought this could have been marketed together as two weeks in Europe, two cups for play. I think it was a missed opportunity for the sport of golf,” Lewis said on Wednesday from Finca Cortesin, site of this week’s Solheim Cup. “I wish people could get the sponsorship things out of their head and figure out how we can work together. This may not ever happen again, the two Cups being played in the same year. So I thought it was a massive missed opportunity.”
Lewis went on to say she “tried to do a little bit with the guys and just weren’t really able to move things along the way I would have liked… I just would like to see it for the good of the game. It’s not to further women’s golf. Let’s further the game of golf in general”.
The LPGA and Ladies European Tour oversee the Solheim Cup while the PGA of America and DP World Tour are responsible for the Ryder Cup. Ordinarily, the biennial events are played in opposite years, but when the Ryder Cup was delayed from 2020 to 2021 due to COVID-19, it created a one-time overlap for 2023. (The LPGA is moving the Solheim Cup to even years in 2024).
Overnight, the PGA of America released a statement in response to Lewis’ quotes.
“We are enthusiastic supporters of the U.S. Solheim Cup team and are promoting the Solheim Cup in a number of ways. For starters, we are creating digital assets and collaborating with our friends at the LPGA on our social media channels. For the first time, we produced a U.S. Ryder Cup Team video in which the players and our Captain expressed their support for the Solheim Cup Team.”
On Thursday morning in America, Ryder Cup USA posted this video via the social-media platform X (formerly known as Twitter):
https://twitter.com/RyderCupUSA/status/1704858105190994208
Additionally, the PGA of America’s statement noted: “We are also supporting the Solheim Cup with editorial content on PGA.com and by engaging with Solheim Cup content across PGA of America channels. Finally, our CEO Seth Waugh will be onsite in Spain to cheer on the U.S. Solheim Cup Team for all of us.
“While scheduling and logistics challenges precluded some other joint activations, the PGA of America will help to raise awareness in a meaningful way through our digital and social-media efforts.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
