One of golf’s most in-demand tickets will be a little easier to obtain for the right kind of fan.
The PGA of America announced “The People’s Perk,” a “grassroots program” to give 3,000 tickets to this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black to local New York residents.
“As we kept thinking about what Bethpage represents, it’s the people, it’s the tie to public golf. We’ve gotten to know the culture very well, the challenge of playing public golf,” Bryan Karns, the PGA of America’s championship director, told GolfChannel.com. “Very early on, in 2023, we were kicking around the idea [of a giveaway] because we knew the demand would be so high with a global audience.
“At the Ryder Cup you’re competing with people all over the world and that was actually the north star. We didn’t have any way to carve out tickets for the people who are the essence of Bethpage.”
The giveaway will be a targeted program to “meet the people where they are, at public golf courses.”
“We collaborated with a number of our key stakeholders and it’s shown me there is a massive community of golfers and facilities that very rarely get their story told,” Karns said. “At the end of the day, we’re guests in this market.”
“The People’s Perk” tickets will be awarded throughout the summer to residents who represent the fabric of public-access golf at various New York-area courses and facilities. PGA officials will use input from local clubs and courses to determine the recipients. Fans who are selected will be given a ticket for themselves and a “plus one” — for a total of 3,000 tickets — for either a competition or practice round day.
The PGA of America had been criticized for the price of this year’s Ryder Cup tickets, with Friday through Sunday tickets costing $750 – which includes unlimited food and non-alcoholic beverages. Karns said the “The People’s Perk” giveaway is not a response to that criticism.
“We know this isn’t some sort of silver bullet that will take care of everyone,” he said. “In no way is this a reaction to anything other than what we knew was going to be competition for the tickets because the demand was going to be so high. We didn’t want this to feel reactionary [to ticket prices].”
Thursday-through-Sunday tickets have already sold out for the Ryder Cup and Karns said there’s “a very limited amount of tickets on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
