The opening matches of the Solheim Cup began in front of half-empty grand stands at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on Friday morning, with transportation issues preventing fans from getting to the golf course.

Team Europe’s Esther Henseleit hit the opening tee shot in front of a few hundred fans. The event’s organizers had promised that there would be record crowds for the biennial golf tournament. 

Henseleit is paired with Charley Hull as part of an alternate shot team competition against the United States. Henseleit and Hull are taking on Allisen Corpuz and top-ranked Nelly Korda.

Those hundred fans who made it in time for Friday morning’s opening remained quiet for the European tee shots and cheered throughout as the Americans hit theirs.

Fans posted on social media that they had been stuck for hours waiting in lines for buses at Jiffy Lube Live, a concert venue near the golf course about 40 miles west of Washington, D.C.

The LPGA posted a statement apologizing.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER DISCUSSES PERILS OF BEING A NEW DAD DURING PGA TOUR SEASON

The sun rises over the 14th hold before the start of a Solheim Cup golf tournament foursomes match at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Gainesville, Va.  (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

“We recognize and deeply apologize to all fans affected by the challenges with shuttling from parking to the golf course,” the statement said. “We’ve made significant changes to our transportation system to mitigate these issues moving forward, and we’re working on ways to express our regret to those impacted.”

In the 20 minutes before the matches began, a small trickle of fans speed-walked toward the grandstand.

Former U.S. captain Juli Inkster expressed her disappointment as she followed a match on the fourth hole. 

Europes Carlota Ciganda watches her putt 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)

“You’ve got to get the people here,” Inkster said. 

Players frequently describe the opening tee shot at the Solheim Cup as more nerve-wracking than anything in women’s golf, fueled partly by fans who fill grandstands hours in advance to cheer the home team.

Europe is seeking to capture the Solheim Cup over the United States for a record fourth straight time. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Jeanie Buss went to her first women’s wrestling match with low expectations.

“My only experience with women wrestling was like Jell-O wrestling or mud wrestling,” she said. “I thought it was something that I would not appreciate.”

Buss attended that WOW — Women of Wrestling show in 2000 mainly to humor close friend David McLane, a businessman and promoter who started WOW as a successor to his successful Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling program from years earlier.

And she was blown away.

“As soon as I saw it, all the light bulbs went off,” said Buss, now the controlling owner of the Lakers, “because I was a kid [who grew] up collecting comic books, tying a towel around my neck wanting to be Supergirl.

“And here were these comic book characters come to life, fighting battles among themselves — not running to a man to save them, but standing up for what they believe in. Whether their opinion’s misguided or not, they were willing to make a stand for something. I found that very empowering, and I fell in love with it.”

WOW ended in late 2001 because of a changed marketplace following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, McLane said. But more than a decade later, Buss still hadn’t forgotten how she had been wowed by WOW.

“Jeanie and I were having dinner one night and she talked about how women’s sports was growing,” McLane said. “She saw the future of what women’s sports was going to be and she thought there was going to be a change in the marketplace to which she said, ‘Why don’t we relaunch WOW — Women of Wrestling?’”

So they did. After years of various formats on different platforms, WOW landed a syndication deal with Paramount Global Content Distribution in 2021. The third season of the resulting weekly TV show — which is shown throughout the U.S. (including in Los Angeles, on KCAL-TV on Saturdays at 11 p.m.) and several other countries — premieres this weekend.

Pluto TV also recently launched a 24-hour streaming channel dedicated to the show.

And, in a full-circle moment for Buss this summer, she, McLane and a handful of WOW Superheroes, as the wrestlers are now called, spoke as part of a panel at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con.

Buss and McLane spoke with The Times on Thursday about the past, present and future of WOW. And with the Lakers starting training camp in a few weeks, Buss also answered a few questions regarding LeBron James, Bronny James and the rest of the team after an interesting summer.

(The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity)

2024 has been a huge year for women’s sports. What has it been like for you as co-owners of an all-women league?

WOW co-owners David McLane, left, and Jeanie Buss arrive for their panel at San Diego Comic-Con on July 26.

(Francis Specker / CBS Studios / Paramount+)

Buss: Yeah, it seems like women’s sports sprouted up overnight, even though it’s taken 40 years to get here. So I’m loving the moment. I’m loving just watching what’s happening. … And of course, Women of Wrestling is my passion project, my contribution, because it takes women in positions like me to invest back in women’s sports to make these things possible. And it’s just creating more opportunities to showcase talented women, and that’s what I love about WOW.

Tell us about WOW’s journey to where it is now.

McLane: When we rebooted this, Jeanie said we gotta do it correctly, we gotta take the right steps, we’ve got to invest in this so it has a long-term success that lasts beyond us. She didn’t look at it — neither have I — as just a television show and/or something to put on TV. We want to build a franchise that lasts.

Buss: I really didn’t want to do something that would last a year and just disappear off the landscape. We had to find the right partners, find the wrestlers, find all the pieces that would come together that would give us the show that we could build on and continue to grow the product. And here we are on the eve of launching Season 3, which is so exciting for me because we’re getting that longevity, that we’re now part of the discussion.

How has the project evolved over the years and how do you see it continuing to do so in the future?

Buss: I think in professional sports it’s always the delivery platform — how are you going to deliver your product to your fans? So that’s changed over the decades. … What hasn’t changed is the ability, the talent of — you know, female athletes deserve the spotlight. That is a belief that I’ve held and will continue to hold, and that’s what Women of Wrestling has done. It’s just trying to figure out the right way to deliver it to our audience — and having Paramount Global as our partner and finding the syndicated package and creating something that made sense so that our fans could find us and that we can build from there.

Why are the wrestlers called Superheroes?

Buss: To me, it’s clear — that’s who they are. They’re larger-than-life characters, some good, some evil. I think it’s important that young women, young girls see their role models as people who are willing to fight for what they believe in. That’s what the Superheroes are.

McLane: Superheroes come in all forms and sizes, and we have the most diverse cast of wrestlers of any professional wrestling organization, period, and we’re proud of it. … We tell the stories and the backgrounds of our Superheroes outside of the ring, not just inside, and I think that connects the audience with the performers.

Jeanie, are you a comic book fan?

Buss: Yes, I think I attended the second or third Comic-Con ever in history, and it was at the El Cortez Hotel. I was 12 years old and I hounded my mom. … She drove me there, dropped me off for four hours. So I’m a 12-year-old kid negotiating with the comic book dealers trying to get Wonder Woman, Supergirl, the whole Superman family, Lois Lane — that’s what I collected. So this was like ’74. I’m just one of those crazy people that loves superheroes.

Pictured from left at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con are WOW co-owners David McLane and Jeanie Buss, panel moderator Kevin Frazier and WOW Superheroes Coach Campanelli and Genesis.

(Francis Specker / CBS Studios / Paramount+)

What was it like for you to actually be speaking on a panel at Comic-Con decades later?

Buss: Like, I’m a fan — I should be in the audience, not up on the dais. That was a dream come true for me. I was very honored to be part of Comic-Con at any level.

Moving to the Lakers, LeBron James has said that his son, rookie Bronny James, is not allowed to call him “Dad” at work. As someone who has been in a similar situation, did you offer them any advice?

Buss: You know, I never had that conversation with LeBron or Bronny, but in business situations, I addressed my father as Dr. Buss. I wanted to keep that boundary clear because that helped us out — we weren’t bringing work home to the dinner table. So I think LeBron and Bronny are very prepared for this. And I’m excited just for them to have this opportunity. But Bronny is a good player. I’m excited to see what our new coach, JJ Redick, has in store. It’s definitely gonna be an interesting season for sure. I mean, LeBron, the way he played at the Olympics? He might be the greatest of all time.

LeBron will be 40 this season. What do you expect from him this year and beyond?

Buss: He consistently delivers. He puts in the work. He’s not only a worldwide brand, but he is our leader. He’s the captain of our team and he sets the tone, sets the pace by putting in the hard work. Nobody can complain about the work if you see somebody with his résumé and his longevity of career, nobody can complain about having to practice if he’s willing to do it. And he does. He just amazes me. I don’t know what else to say.

In terms of my expectations for the team, I can sit here and tell you — Lakers always play for a championship, as we know, between Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson and Phil Jackson and Pat Riley and Dr. Buss. That’s who we are. But it’s just me talking. What I really want is for the games to start so that we can watch what these guys are gonna do. I’ll let them tell the story ’cause they’re the ones that are really going to show us what they’ve got.

The Lakers have been criticized a lot this offseason. What does the team need to do to silence the critics?

Buss: Really, you gotta play basketball and win games. I know the criticism out there. I know social media is rough waters for everybody. There’s always controversy being stirred up on social media. That’s why it doesn’t really serve me to hype everything up. It’s just, you gotta do the work. And that’s how our organization operates. We do the work. We worry about what we can control and let the work speak for itself.

LAS VEGAS — Four of the past five Stanley Cup championship teams have come from states that don’t collect state income taxes — and seven of the past 10 finalists.

Those runs, by the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights and Dallas Stars, have understandably sparked a debate over whether the teams involved have an unfair advantage in signing players at below-market rates.

In many cases, players signing in those states — Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada and Washington are among the states that deduct no further income tax than the federal taxes — would lose millions of dollars over the lives of their contracts if they played north of the border or in high-income-tax states such as California, New York, New Jersey and Minnesota.

The NHL is keeping an eye on the situation.

In a recent poll of fans by The Athletic, 84.6 percent of 14,066 respondents felt that teams in no-state-income-tax states have an advantage. Of that, 42.8 percent feel changes need to be made to even the playing field, 41.5 percent feel it’s not a significant enough advantage to warrant complex changes and 14.7 percent feel the issue is overblown.

“It’s an issue that comes up from time to time in our room at the board level and general managers level,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said last month at the NHL’s European player media tour in Prague. “There are no easy fixes. It’s not like we can just pick from Column A and fix the problem overnight. Players make decisions on where they want to play for a variety of reasons. Their bottom line is one of them, but the quality of life and the communities they live in is probably more important.”

Daly echoed that sentiment Tuesday at the NHL’s North American player media tour in Las Vegas. He said while it’s too early to determine if this is something that may have to be addressed, he has talked to the NHL Players’ Association about the subject and the mutual feeling is that leveling the playing field would be too complicated.

For instance, even if the league systematically adjusted the cap ceiling for teams in no-state-income-tax states, what would happen if a player was traded or sent to the minors? Also, if it was deemed that a player was willing to sign a “hometown discount” contract at lower than what he could have received elsewhere, how problematic would it be to try to determine how much of a discount they took?

The NHLPA, so far, doesn’t see this as much of a problem. Executive director Marty Walsh met with the two dozen players who attended the media tour in Prague and explained this would be a complicated issue to fix. Plus, they don’t see this being a debate in other leagues.

As Daly said, “This is not new. This has all existed over the course of time.”

But some players do see a need for action.

“They have to find a way to tweak it, honestly,” Ottawa Senators forward Shane Pinto said Tuesday. “If you look at all these free agents, you don’t blame them for going down south. It’s just what it is, and it’s best for their families and taxes and lifestyle-wise. But I do think they have to find a way, especially for the Canadian teams. They’ve got to overpay guys to come to Canada every time, and that messes up with the cap. I think they do have to find a way to try to just even it out.

“I know it’s not easy because it’s been like that forever, but I think it’d be nice to have an even playing field.”

To be fair, few were complaining about the lack of state income taxes in Florida when the Tampa Bay Lightning were a doormat in the 1990s. Few brought this up when the Florida Panthers didn’t make the playoffs from 2000 to 2011 and didn’t advance past the first round from 1996 to 2022.

“I think every place certainly has its advantages, whether it’s (lifestyle), and taxes is certainly a part of it,” said Nashville Predators star Filip Forsberg, whose no-state-income-tax team had a banner summer by signing Juuse Saros to an eight-year extension and Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei to contracts totaling more than $166 million. “At the end of the day, that does play quite a bit of difference on our salary. It’s a fair point. I’m not disagreeing with it.

“It’s above my pay grade whether to decide if it’s right or wrong.”

Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar signed an eight-year, $50 million contract with the Calgary Flames in 2022. He previously played in Florida, acquired along with Jonathan Huberdeau in the Matthew Tkachuk blockbuster.

Alberta has a relatively low income-tax rate among Canadian provinces. Still, according to the Turbo Tax and Smart Asset websites, Weegar would be making approximately $950,000 more on his current $6.25 million a year contract if he were being paid in Florida.

He’s not bothered by that. But he does think it’d be nice if the league and players’ union could find a mechanism to even things out in the next collective bargaining agreement.

“You definitely feel like it might pull some other guys down south to those teams,” Weegar said Wednesday. “So there could be something in the next CBA to work something out. But ultimately, the Tampas, Florida, you look at Nashville, the teams are winning. That’s what really pulls people in. The New Yorks and Calgary, if we start winning, nobody really cares about taxes.

“The contracts are already big enough. You don’t really notice the tax too, too much. You still living pretty comfortably. So I’d say, start winning, you’ll get your guys to come in, and your free agents that want to play there.”

Like Stamkos and Marchessault going from Tampa Bay and Las Vegas, respectively, to Nashville, defenseman Brandon Montour went from no-state-income-tax state to no-state-income-tax state. A day after celebrating winning the Stanley Cup during a parade on A1A in Ft. Lauderdale, Montour signed a seven-year, $50 million contract with the Seattle Kraken.

He said taxes were not the predominant reason in his decision.

“You can’t say money’s not a factor,” Montour said Wednesday. “But for me, that wasn’t what we were chasing. We had places that were the highest tax that we were considering, as well. I played in California. I played in New York. Obviously, the paychecks look a little nicer when you’re in Florida and Seattle. But it wasn’t a thing that we were focused on.

“It was trying to find something for our lifestyle and our family to set a spot and call home.”

Montour tried to grasp how the league and union could even address the situation.

“What do you do, like take a percentage off the cap?” he said. “Like if Florida signed somebody that was 10 million bucks, they’d take a percentage or 2 percent off the cap or something? I don’t really know what they would possibly be able to do.”

Montour said every player has different reasons to sign in different places, and there are many high-income-tax areas that are appealing. He thinks this is only a debate because these teams are in a cycle of winning.

“There are just too many variables to really control,” Daly said, “including the fact that there are some markets that are very highly desirable for players that have kind of the highest tax rates in the world. Yet there are other opportunities, other things, that make those markets attractive to players.

“So I just think there’s so much that goes into the equation of where a player wants to play, what he’s willing to take to play there. And a lot of that has to do with team chemistry and how teams are constructed and how the player sees himself fitting into the team in terms of their needs. And so to account for all those variables, I think it’ll be a very difficult exercise.

“Having said that, obviously there’s chatter out there, specifically in the Canadian media, that the Canadian franchises are disadvantaged. We take that chatter seriously and we always look for ways to make the system better. I just don’t have any obvious answers to it.”

Daly was asked if he could envision a scenario where teams in Florida, Vegas, Nashville, Dallas or Seattle have a lower cap ceiling than other teams. He said, “I don’t think we could ever have a different cap for different teams, even though we kind of do in some respects with respect to how the CBA works and bonus overages and the like. So I suppose maybe there’s a formula that you could think of that way.

“I have other ideas that I put ahead of that one.”

Asked if he’d share those, Daly laughed: “No.”

“Look, there are some crude ways you can try to make adjustments to account for it,” Daly said. “I don’t think this issue is the level of kind of trying to push something through, particularly without really giving it some advanced, thorough thought and running it through all the potential channels. I think sometimes when you rush to do something based on chatter, you kind of step into a hole sometimes and the unintended consequences kind of bear their heads.

“We’ll continue to monitor it. If we can make it better, we will. I mean, I could get proven wrong on that. If we have the next 10 years similar to the last five, then maybe it’s something that needs to be addressed. But at this stage, on the basis of a couple summers, I’m not really running to get there.”

That’s fine with Radko Gudas.

The Anaheim Ducks defenseman pays 13 percent in state income taxes in California, compared to zero percent when he played with the Panthers. Yet, Gudas said succinctly, “I don’t think the NHL should be stepping into tax problems.”

(Photo of Matthew Tkachuk at the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup rally: Rich Storry / Getty Images)