LPGA commissioner takes blame for Solheim Cup transportation issues - ESPN

GAINESVILLE, Va. — LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan took responsibility Saturday for the tour's failure to get fans to the Solheim Cup in time to see the opening tee shots a day earlier but did not offer a full explanation of the debacle that has led to speculation about her future.

Players teed off Friday morning in front of half-empty grandstands at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, muting what could have been a raucous first-tee atmosphere in the team competition between the United States against Europe. The stands were full on Saturday, but the damage had been done, with media coverage more focused on the logistical problems than the dominant first day of golf by Nelly Korda and the U.S.

«At the end of the day, I'm the leader of the organization and I have to own it,» Marcoux Samaan said.

RTJ is tucked into a private residential community serviced by a single road off U.S. Route 29 in an exurb about 40 miles west of Washington, D.C. The venue hosted four Presidents Cups in the 1990s and 2000s and a PGA Tour event in 2017 without any significant transportation problems.

Marcoux Samaan said there simply weren't enough buses at Jiffy Lube Live, the concert venue where fans paid $30 for parking, without explaining why the LPGA didn't have a fleet of vehicles ready to shuttle spectators who were motivated to get to the golf course before dawn but instead spent hours standing in lines with little or no access to restrooms.

Asked how many buses were available, Marcoux Samaan declined to answer directly.

«It's a complicated question, and again, we were writing spreadsheets and trying to figure it all out,» she said. «We didn't have enough buses in the morning, clearly.»

The LPGA Tour is responsible for on-site operations