Transport breakdown at the Solheim Cup: Thousands of fans wait for hours in the bus queue

GAINESVILLE, Va. – The experience on the first tee of a Solheim Cup is arguably the best in women's golf, especially on a Friday morning. The 19th running of the biennial event has been touted as the biggest ever based on advance ticket sales.

So it was more than a little shocking to see empty chairs at the first tee of a 2,000-seat grandstand early Friday morning. It turned out that most of the fans – thousands – had been stuck in a Jiffy Lube Live parking lot for hours waiting for shuttle buses.

Fans tweeted videos of outrageously long lines and reported waiting for hours, mostly in a dead-end area. This came a day after fans waited for hours to exit the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club following the opening ceremony on Wednesday.

When Lexi Thompson arrived at the first tee on Friday morning to get the fans fired up, entire sections of the stands were completely empty. When the last group teed off at 7:41 a.m., there were still plenty of empty seats.

“I've been here for over an hour and I'm still nowhere near the front of the line,” tweeted Alan Fisher. “People are leaving and going home, worried about the journey. Some children are crying. Not enough security checks, not enough buses.”

One fan even noticed that the portable toilets in the parking lot were closed. Some fans took to Twitter to demand a refund.

As golf's biggest stars began their foursome matches, LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan stood near the first tee, consulting with several senior tour officials. Asked for comment on the transportation issues, which had not improved after several hours, a tour spokesman said they were working on it.

“We need to fill this thing up a little bit,” U.S. captain Stacy Lewis told Golf Channel’s Amy Rogers on the first tee.

The Solheim Cup is the pinnacle of women's tennis and the best opportunity to attract fans who do not normally follow the tour but are swept up in the passion and patriotic fervor.

Help cannot come quickly enough.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Transport breakdown at the Solheim Cup leaves thousands of fans waiting in bus queues for hours