LIRR, PGA offering Ryder Cup fans a ride to Bethpage Black

After flying from their home city of Denver to New York over the weekend and enjoying their first ever visit to the Big Apple, Joshua Justis and Tami Rodriguez-Justis rode the Long Island Rail Road Tuesday to a shuttle that brought them to the Ryder Cup.

"Getting here and getting back, how they have everything flowing was seamless," Justis said. Rodriguez-Justis added: "It's an amazing experience."

The couple, married eight years, were among the thousands of golf fans who rode the LIRR to its Farmingdale station Tuesday to catch leather-seated, air-conditioned shuttle buses to watch some of the world's best golfers practice ahead of the biennial tournament. The Ryder Cup, which starts Friday and continues through Sunday, pits a team of America's top golfers against their European counterparts.

All Ronkonkoma branch trains will stop at Farmingdale throughout the tournament's duration, the LIRR said. The Ryder Cup shuttle is free to anyone with an LIRR ticket.

"Extra morning trains from New York City to Farmingdale" will be available for Ryder Cup attendees, according to an LIRR news release.

The shuttles, provided by the PGA, are expected to carry riders back and forth every 15 minutes between the Farmingdale station and the Bethpage Black course — the site of the tournament — through its conclusion Sunday, according to a separate LIRR news release.

One shuttle Tuesday afternoon with a Newsday reporter the only person along for the ride arrived at Bethpage in about 10 minutes. A return shuttle took a couple minutes longer.

Using the LIRR and shuttle was "great," said Steve Nutter, 42, of Bohemia. Nutter said he was disappointed in a similar shuttle service offered at last year’s Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona, which he attended with friends.

"It ran a lot better here," Nutter said of the Ryder Cup shuttle as he road one back to Farmingdale alongside his 8-year-old son, Thomas.

"That was a mess," he said of the Phoenix Open shuttle. "It was crazy."

Anyone attending the Ryder Cup through Sunday is encouraged to "use our TrainTime app ... for the most up-to-date schedule information and purchasing their tickets," LIRR President Rob Free said during a news conference Tuesday morning.

The LIRR is offering a $175 ticket that will take golf fans to and from throughout the entirety of the sporting event, but those can only be purchased in person at "full-service ticket machines and ticket offices," according to an LIRR release.

"Right now some of the world’s best golf players are on Long Island," Free said Tuesday morning. "The LIRR is by far the best way to attend the Ryder Cup, if you don’t mind me saying so myself."

Thousands of spectators watched players practice Tuesday. Many sported patriotic red, white and blue tops, bottoms, hats and drawstring bags, or purchased hats, flags and even more colorful clothing with the official Ryder Cup seal. Crowds chanted the names of players after their practice swings. The golfers then signed the many tournament flags fans thrust their way.

By Sunday, the tournament will have injected $160 million into the local economy and drawn what organizers have predicted will be 250,000 spectators, up to 175,000 visiting Long Island from elsewhere in the United States and the rest of the globe, Newsday previously reported.

Among those who came from afar on Tuesday were Nancy Peterson and Helen Yotter, friends from Minnesota who have attended several golf tournaments, including the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, and the 2022 Masters in Augusta, Georgia. The duo described Bethpage Black — with its massive sign warning, "only for highly skilled golfers" — as beautiful but hilly with a difficult amount of sand traps. They said they were most excited to catch American golfers Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, as well as Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy.

"I do like Rory, although I do not want him to do well this weekend," Yotter, 59, of Stillwater, Minnesota, said. "I want the Americans to win."