Eyebrows were raised in October when eye-watering Ryder Cup ticket prices were spotted for the Bethpage Black showdown scheduled for September next year.
The FAQ section on the Ryder Cup website revealed that a Ryder Cup+ ticket would cost almost $750 for one day of the action, along with access to the grounds, seating areas and the shop, as well as unlimited food and non-alcoholic drinks.
That marks a steep increase on the maximum cost of a ticket for the 2023 edition of the match at Marco Simone, which charged $277.
That jump inevitably led to concerns that genuine golf fans would be priced out of attending, and therefore potentially diminishing one of the key advantages the US team could enjoy - the full-throated backing of the raucous home crowd.
If the near-$500 jump for the most expensive ticket between 2023 and 2025 was galling, a newly discovered ticket order form for the 1979 Ryder Cup, which has been unearthed by former pro-turned-commentator Ken Brown, is even more incredible.
The Scot, who played in five editions of the Ryder Cup including the 1979 contest, posted an image of the form on X and pointed out that the cost of watching players including Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros at the Greenbrier match was just $10 a day.
Just found this from the 1979 Ryder Cup Matches a ticket order form. The price to watch Jack Nicklaus, LeeTrevino Tom Watson Nick Faldo and Seve $10.00 a day for upcoming matches it’s $750.00 🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/5OXyU8qXJJDecember 11, 2024
Of course, the 46 years between 1979 and now has seen significant inflation. However, even taking that into account, that $10 would only have risen to around $43 now.
At the time of the 1979 encounter, which saw Billy Casper’s Americans beat John Jacobs’ Europeans 17-11, Nicklaus was firmly established as one of the greatest players of all time, having claimed 15 of his 18 Majors by that point. Meanwhile, Trevino had already won five of his six Majors, with Watson having already claimed three of his eight Majors.
In contrast, Faldo and Ballesteros were up-and-coming stars, although the Spaniard entered the event just two months after his maiden Major title at The Open. Other notable names across the two teams in 1979 were future Ryder Cup captains Tom Kite, Lanny Wadkins, Bernard Gallacher, Tony Jacklin and Mark James.
It’s not just the cost of attending modern-era Ryder Cup matches that is contentious. The issue over whether Ryder Cup players should be paid for their participation has also been in the news in recent weeks with a report stating that US players will be paid $400,000 in 2025.
