GAINESVILLE, Va. (AP) — LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan took responsibility Saturday for the tour's failure to get fans to the Solheim Cup in time to see the opening tee shots a day earlier but did not offer a full explanation of the debacle that has led to speculation about her future.
Players teed off Friday morning in front of half-empty grandstands at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, muting what could have been a raucous first-tee atmosphere in the team competition between the United States against Europe. The stands were full on Saturday, but the damage had been done, with media coverage more focused on the logistical problems than the dominant first day of golf by Nelly Korda and the U.S.
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GAINESVILLE, Va. (AP) — LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan took responsibility Saturday for the tour's failure to get fans to the Solheim Cup in time to see the opening tee shots a day earlier but did not offer a full explanation of the debacle that has led to speculation about her future.
Fans are seen during a Solheim Cup golf tournament foursomes match at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Gainesville, Va. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
LPGA commissioner takes the blame for Solheim Cup transportation issues
Empty seats on a grandstand are seen on the first hole during a Solheim Cup golf tournament foursomes match at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Gainesville, VA. (AP Photo/Matt York)
LPGA commissioner takes the blame for Solheim Cup transportation issues
“At the end of the day, I’m the leader of the organization and I have to own it,” Marcoux Samaan said.
RTJ is tucked into a private residential community serviced by a single road off U.S. Route 29 in this exurb about 40 miles west of Washington, D.C. The venue hosted four Presidents Cups in the 1990s and 2000s and a PGA Tour event in 2017 without any significant transportation problems.
Marcoux Samaan said there simply weren't enough buses at Jiffy Lube Live, the concert venue where fans paid $30 for parking, without explaining why the LPGA didn't have a fleet of vehicles ready to shuttle spectators who were motivated to get to the golf course before dawn but instead spent hours standing in lines with little or no access to restrooms.
Asked how many buses were available, Marcoux Samaan declined to answer directly.
“It’s a complicated question, and again, we were writing spreadsheets and trying to figure it all out,” she said. “We didn’t have enough buses in the morning, clearly.”
The LPGA Tour is responsible for on-site operations at the Solheim Cup when it is played in the United States. The last U.S. event was in 2021 in Ohio, with the COVID-19 pandemic limiting the number of international fans.
“This was an LPGA issue,” Marcoux Samaan said.
The commissioner said the tour staff spent much of Friday in “triage mode” trying to diagnose the problem and ensure departing fans would be shuttled off the golf course efficiently. More than 12 hours passed before the LPGA posted a statement on social media promising improvements for Saturday and emailed a letter to fans that included an offer of free tickets for use this weekend.
“We had some staff out there and we were trying to communicate to the people that were there,” Marcoux Samaan said. “I think we thought that was more important than getting something out more broadly on social.”
Marcoux Samaan, who has been the LPGA commissioner for three years, also faced questions earlier this year about the tour's marketing of top-ranked Korda, whose historic run of six wins in seven starts, including a major championship, attracted modest television audiences.
The commissioner pointed to increased participation in the sport as a sign of her tour's growing popularity.
“The percentage of women playing has escalated over the last several years. Young girls playing golf has continued to grow,” she said. “I think our team is working really hard to grow the game.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Fans watch from the 11th fairway during a Solheim Cup golf tournament foursomes match at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Gainesville, VA. (AP Photo/Matt York)
Fans are seen during a Solheim Cup golf tournament foursomes match at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Gainesville, Va. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)
LPGA commissioner takes the blame for Solheim Cup transportation issues
Empty seats on a grandstand are seen on the first hole during a Solheim Cup golf tournament foursomes match at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Gainesville, VA. (AP Photo/Matt York)
LPGA commissioner takes the blame for Solheim Cup transportation issues
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — A three-phased election for choosing a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir opened early Wednesday in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.
Authorities deployed thousands of additional police and paramilitary soldiers in the region’s seven southern districts where over 2.3 million residents are eligible to cast their votes and chose 24 lawmakers out of 219 candidates in the first phase of the polling.
Wearing riot gears and carrying assault rifles, troops set up checkpoints and patrolled the constituencies in the districts as locals lined up to cast their votes in villages and towns.
The second and third phases are scheduled for Sept. 25 and Oct. 1 in a process that is staggered to allow troops to move around to stop potential violence. Votes will be counted on Oct. 8, with results expected that day.
For the first time, authorities limited access of foreign media to polling stations and denied press credentials to most journalists working with international media, including to The Associated Press, without citing any reason.
India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.
The vote is the first in a decade, and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in 2019 scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s semi-autonomy, downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory and stripped its separate constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs. It was also divided into two federal territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir, ruled directly by New Delhi, allowing it to appoint administrators to run the territories along unelected bureaucrats and security personnel.
Many people said they knew their votes won’t solve the dispute over Kashmir, but provided a rare window to express their frustration with direct Indian control.
Aamir Ahmed, a first-time voter in Pulwama town, said it was important to elect a local representative “who does not condone wrongdoing.”
“We have witnessed a lot of suffering in the last 10 years,” Ahmed said.
Another voter, 80-year-old farmer Ali Mohammad Alai, said he had been “reduced to penury by the Modi government” after authorities took away his land given to him decades ago for cultivation by the local administration. “All I want is to get that land back,” he said. “Our own government can do that.”
People in the Kashmir Valley had layered rights to use of land since reforms in the 1950s that mainly gave Muslim farmers possession of land they tilled for the minority Hindu rulers and its elite. Some of those rights were rescinded after 2019 changes.
Long lines of voters stretched around some polling booths as the day progressed. The region's chief electoral officer said about 41% turnout was recorded as of 1 p.m.
In Kishtwar town, multiple voters said they hoped the polling would culminate in a government that cared about economic development and addressed their main issues. “Be it BJP or some other party or a coalition, we urgently want development and better life. Politics can wait,” said Chander Jeet Sharma, 49.
The multistage election will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and a local legislature, called an assembly, instead of remaining under New Delhi’s direct rule. A chief minister will head a council of ministers in the government.
However, there will be a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly as Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory” — directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament remaining its main legislator. The elected government will have partial control over areas like education, culture and taxation but not over the police. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states of India.
Multiple local parties have campaigned on promises to fight for reversal of 2019 changes and address other key issues like rising unemployment and inflation in the region where locals have struggled amid curtailed civil liberties particularly after the revocation of the special status.
India's ruling BJP, however, has vowed to block any move aimed at undoing those changes but promised to help in the region’s economic development.
The region’s last assembly election was held in 2014, after which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party for the first time ruled in a coalition with the local Peoples Democratic Party. But the government collapsed in 2018, after BJP withdrew from the coalition.
Polls in the past have been marked with violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even though India called them a victory over separatism.
Follow AP's Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific
Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard as people queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote in Naira, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
People queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote in Bellow, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
People queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote in Naira, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
An Indian paramilitary soldier stands guard as people queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote in Bellow, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Muslim women arrive for cast their vote at a polling booth during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Paramilitary soldiers stand guard as people queue up to vote during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Muslim women voter queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
People help an elderly woman in a wheel chair down a ramp after she cast her vote during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
People queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Muslim women voter queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Muslim women voter queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Women voters queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Muslim women voter queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Women voters queue up to cast their vote at a polling booth during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
A woman shows the indelible ink mark on her finger after casting her vote during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Paramilitary soldiers stand guard as people queue up to vote during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election, in Kishtwar, India, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Kashmiri women queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote in Marval, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Kashmiri's queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote in Marval, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
A Kashmiri man walks back after casting his vote at a polling booth in Marval, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept.18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Indian paramilitary soldiers stand guard as Kashmiri's queue up at a polling booth to cast their vote in Marval, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
Indian paramilitary soldiers arrive to guard outside the venue for distribution of election material, in Pulwama south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Sept 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Indian paramilitary soldiers arrive to guard outside the venue for distribution of election material, in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Polling officials carry electronic voting machines and other election material to a venue for distribution, in Pulwama south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Indian paramilitary soldier guard a venue for distribution of election material, in Pulwama south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Former union minster and star campaigner of BJP Anurag Thakur and state in charge Ram Madhav wave to supporters during a campaign rally, after party candidates filed the nomination papers for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections at Nagrota outskirts of Jammu, India, Thursday, Sep.12, 2024.(AP Photo/Channi Anand, File)
Supporters of India's opposition Congress party, wave during an election rally at Dooru some 78 kilometers (49 miles) south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir,Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan, File)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party workers attend a rally, ahead of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in Jammu, India, Saturday Sep.7, 2024.(AP Photo/Channi Anand, File)
Indian paramilitary soldiers arrive to guard outside the venue for distribution of election material, in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Indian paramilitary soldiers arrive to guard outside the venue for distribution of election material, in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Indian paramilitary soldier guard as polling officials carry electronic voting machines and other election material to a venue for distribution, in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
Security personnel members stand and wait as polling officials prepare to leave for their respective polling booths on the eve of the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly election, in Ramban 150 kilometers (94 miles) northeast of Jammu, India, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Polling officials carry electronic voting machines and other election material to a venue for distribution, in Pulwama south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)
