Outrageous US Open Ticket Prices

And the players think they are tortured at the US Open.

The blue bloods running the USGA just love to tout how they’re using public access courses for some of their championships now, as if they care about the average golfer playing municipal tracks. In the words of the great motivational speaker Matt Foley, “Well, la-de-frickin-da!”

Face value of an adult general admission ticket for a single day of play at Congressional CC is $110 for Thursday or Friday and $125 for Saturday or Sunday. Contrast that to the normal PGA Tour event price of about $25 through early purchase or $35 at the gate. Given the importance of the US national championship, a higher ticket price is justified. But isn’t 4-5 times the cost of a PGA Tour event a little much?

I live in the Washington D.C. area and many regular folks around here look at these prices and will weigh going to the tournament against playing a few rounds with the same money. Don’t forget to add the cost of concessions, which would easily put your daily spend to $150+. I’m sick and tired of all this talk about “growing the game.” The only question I have is whether the USGA is totally out of touch with the average fan or if they just don’t care that they’re screwing them.

A few days ago, the announcement came out that there are still tickets available. Oh, really? The USGA ought to be ashamed of itself.