Solheim Cup veteran Mel Reid didn’t have much time to enjoy Europe’s Solheim Cup win before the numbers came in. The European vice captain said she was left ‘heartbroken’ after seeing how few Americans tuned in to watch one of women’s golf’s biggest events, and she is now calling on the LPGA to fix what she believes is a broken marketing strategy.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Sports Business Journal’s Josh Carpenter first reported the figures: Golf Channel’s Saturday broadcast of the 2026 Solheim Cup drew 179,000 viewers, while Sunday’s audience fell to 170,000 despite the competition being tied 8-8 entering the decisive singles session, which Europe went on to win. According to Golfweek, compared to the 277,000 who watched the final day of the 2023 event in Spain, that’s a 39% drop.
Reid, a four-time Solheim Cup player and now three-time vice captain, addressed the numbers on her podcast, “Quiet Please!,” with NBC and Golf Channel reporter Kira Dixon: “I think marketing’s a big problem on the LPGA, I really do,” the veteran golfer, who was a former board member, said. “The fact that that viewership was for the f—ing Solheim Cup is actually really heartbreaking to me. Like, it’s really heartbreaking. That’s the best of the LPGA. That’s the best of women’s golf.”
While different time zones played a factor—the Solheim Cup was held in the Netherlands, with Sunday’s singles starting at 5 a.m. ET in the U.S.—it doesn’t fully explain the drop. Spain and the Netherlands are in the same timezone, and the Bernadus Solheim Cup was no less thrilling than the one at Finca Cortesin, which makes the 39% drop more inexplicable.
“I don’t know what the f— we’re doing so wrong, Kira, to be quite honest with you, because that is literally one of the greatest sporting events that we get to witness all year, men or women, right? Especially women,” Reid said.
The former English golfer said her frustration comes from feeling that the players are doing their part by putting on exciting and competitive golf. Reid also highlighted another key issue nullifying the efforts put by players: the abysmal budget.
A Steep Gap Between the Solheim Cup and the Men’s Game
The Solheim Cup’s struggles look even clearer when compared with the men’s team events. The 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York averaged 3.22 million viewers on Sunday, the event’s final day. Even though it was the least-watched Ryder Cup Sunday on U.S. soil this century, it still drew a much larger audience.
The difference was also clear in 2023, when the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup both were held in Rome. Because of the time difference, the final round aired very early in the morning in the U.S. Still, NBC drew 1.32 million viewers. That was nearly eight times the audience for this year’s Solheim Cup, which also had an early U.S. broadcast because it was held overseas.
The Presidents Cup, another men’s team event played in odd-numbered years, has also usually drawn a much larger U.S. television audience than the Solheim Cup. Reid acknowledged the disparity in resources behind the two products.
“The budget as well for the Solheim Cup, I was on that side of it, it’s literally nothing,” she said. “Obviously compared to the men’s, and I understand the difference with the marketing and what they bring in is significantly different, and I’m very aware of that, but even our budgets for our team stuff, what we can do with the team room, what we can do with the locker room at the golf course, it’s wild to me that it’s such a significant change.”
Dixon, Reid’s co-host, also pointed to a problem with how the event is promoted. She said Ryder Cup content teams start building interest almost two years before the event, while Solheim Cup coverage usually picks up much closer to the competition.
She also noted that the Solheim Cup has not always been held at venues with strong name recognition. Together, these factors can make it harder for the event to build the same level of attention.
The drop in viewership is very different from what happened in 2024. That year, the Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia drew 657,000 viewers on NBC for Sunday’s action. That was more than double the 2023 audience in Spain and the event’s best viewership since 2021.
It remains to be seen if the LPGA will increase its marketing efforts before the next Solheim Cup, which will be held at Valhalla in 2028 in the U.S. For now, Reid’s comments have started a fresh debate about why such an exciting event did not attract more viewers in the U.S.