Months later, the Solheim Cup parking fiasco reverberations are still felt

The past 12 months have had it all – winning streaks, big new tournaments, big week arrests (!) and more. As 2025 approaches, our writers look back at the most memorable moments from 2024.

No. 15 – Charley Hull goes viral
No. 14 — LIV, LPGA CEO said goodbye

Long before the title parking entered the fray, the LPGA had listed the 2024 Solheim Cup as a reputation-changing event.

For good reason, too. The 2023 iteration of the Solheim Cup, held in Andalucia, Spain, featured the most exciting finish in the Cup’s history – a final day comeback for the Europeans associated with hometown hero Carlota Ciganda’s birdie-birdie finish to defeat Nelly Korda and the Americans. Korda followed that experience with the best season of his professional life, winning every event he played in for the better part of six months and establishing himself as the sport’s sought-after force. Now, as attention turns back to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club near the nation’s capital in 2024, the stakes have been set. The Americans and Europeans were ready to lock horns, and the LPGA faced a golden opportunity to show that it could capture the attention of the world’s elite sports, not to mention give the much-needed blessing of commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan.

The sun rose on the morning of the first day, and the juice escaped the party like a needle pricking a balloon. The first children’s stalls, a universal indicator of the strength and intensity of the game’s event, are always empty. The first games of the tournament week were released with a small number of fans. As disappointment began to set in among those expecting the spectacle, news broke a few miles away, where thousands of fans had been trapped since early morning in the tournament’s parking lots.

Eventually, the golf world discovered that the LPGA had messed things up, failing to line up enough shuttle buses to take fans to the golf course until the tournament started. We learned a little about the specifications, incl Howindeed, a tournament with an already well-written playbook – RTJ Golf Club has hosted four PGA Tour events and the Presidents Cup before Solheim – has failed to respond well to the two main problems of golf tournaments: people and parking.

Oversight was expensive. The LPGA had lost the trust of at least some fans, and the players weren’t far behind. All the shuttle buses in the world over the next two days of competition weren’t enough to make up for that first, critical mistake. Reputation is gained in drops and lost in buckets.

Just two months later, Marcoux Samaan stepped down, leaving golf’s major women’s tour after just three years at the helm. Liz Moore, LPGA’s chief legal officer, replaced him as interim commissioner. The Solheim Cup parking fiasco was not the only one the reason for Marcoux Samaan’s departure, but there was little question involved.

Marcoux Samaan left his position having dramatically increased LPGA professional salaries, increased purse sizes, and expanded broadcast deals with broadcast partners such as ESPN. But her legacy was quickly and perhaps irrevocably linked to the missteps that plagued her tenure: ignoring the pace of play, struggling with star formation during the boom in women’s sports and, of course, the Solheim Cup.

Now the LPGA enters another important first season with a completely clear slate. The runway is clear with a new CEO with a new vision to reshape the future before the boom in women’s sports overtakes golf.

The LPGA has a chance to rewrite its reputation once again. This time, with the Solheim Cup serving as a precursor.