Golf-Ryder Cup fever grips Long Island as fans flock to Bethpage Black

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By Amy Tennery

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Long Island has long played second fiddle to glittering New York City but this week will bask in sporting spotlight as America’s best golfers seek redemption against Europe’s elite in the biennial Ryder Cup spectacle at Bethpage Black course.

More than a quarter-million fans from some 40 countries are expected to turn up at Nassau County, with travellers booking hotel rooms two years in advance at double, triple – or even quadruple – the normal rate, according to local tourism experts.

“There’s a tremendous amount of pride in the county, in the community,” said Jaime Hollander, managing director at RRDA, the official tourism agency for Nassau County.

“It’s kind of a dreamy project, especially for somebody who lives here.”

The competition lands a year after Nassau County hosted matches for cricket’s T20 World Cup at Eisenhower Park, where a 34,000-seat venue was built from scratch to showcase one of the greatest rivalries in global sports, India v Pakistan.

“With the cricket World Cup, I think people were surprised to see just how much is happening here and it’s so exciting for us as residents and certainly the tourism agency and for the whole county to welcome the world,” said Hollander.

“Cricket really opened the door to a lot of new things.”

Perhaps best known among sports fans for its New York Islanders NHL team – and as the host of the third leg of the famed Triple Crown thoroughbred racing series in Belmont, New York – the event is expected to build on Long Island’s reputation as a golf haven.

Last week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul and the PGA of America announced Bethpage Black would host the 2028 Women’s PGA Championship and the 2033 PGA Championship. Next Year’s U.S. Open is set for Shinnecock Hills in the ritzy Hamptons.

“We’ve had lots of tournaments here, lots of different sporting events,” said Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. “Of all of them, this is probably the most prestigious event that we’ve had because the rivalry between Europe and the United States in the world of golf is very, very intense.”

Blakeman believes the economic impact to the region will be in the “tens of millions” of dollars.

Local fans will have a New Yorker to cheer for as Ryder Cup rookie – and nearby Westchester County native – Cameron Young joins a U.S. team hungry for revenge after their 2023 flop in Rome.

The first day of the competition tees off on Friday.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)