Thousands Of Random Golf Fans In New York Will Be Handed Very Expensive Ryder Cup Tickets For Free
The Ryder Cup returns to the United States later this year with the biennial event set to take place at Bethpage Black on Long Island, just outside of New York City. With Bethpage being a public golf course, the PGA of America, which governs the event Stateside, has announced it will be giving away thousands of free tickets to the event.
In a giveaway called ‘The People’s Perk,' the PGA is set to give away tickets to random New York residents who happen to be out at Bethpage Black or other public courses in the New York area in the weeks and months leading up to September's Ryder Cup.
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The Metropolitan PGA Section will help in choosing public courses where tickets will be handed out, while the PGA of America will conduct randomly selected visits to distribute said tickets. Community groups and first responders will also receive special visits from the PGA of America, with free tickets being handed out during those visits as well.
Five hundred tickets will be given out per day from Tuesday through Sunday, with each person receiving vouchers for two tickets.
Thousands of New Yorkers will receive free tickets to this year's Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. (Adam Cairns-Imagn Images)
While the ticket giveaway certainly aligns with the ‘theme’ of the 2025 Ryder Cup being held at a public golf course, it also may soften some of the pushback the PGA of America and event organizers have received about the price of admission.
As tickets went on sale in the Fall of 2024, tickets for the Tuesday and Wednesday practice rounds were priced at $255 a piece. Thursday's practice round tickets that include the opening ceremony are listed for $423, while a ticket to the real action on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday costs $750. All of those costs are final as well, with no added taxes or fees at checkout.
Many immediately pointed to the very high ticket prices as misrepresenting everything Bethpage Black and public golf stands for, especially considering the Ryder Cup only featured 24 players.
While some may have been upset or borderline outraged over the high ticket prices, it took golf fans almost no time to buy up every ticket available after they went on sale.
More than 500,000 people entered the random lottery selection process. Orders were filled from across the United States and 47 different countries, and more than 2,500 tickets were sent to Europe, resulting in a very quick sell-out.
The 2025 Ryder Cup will begin on September 25.