U.S. Open ticket prices are through the roof

If ever there was a perfect storm for an expensive ticket to a major championship, it’s the 2013 U.S. Open.

Take the potential for a Tiger Woods win, the size of the golf course and the accesible location to so many big cities, and next week’s event at Merion might go down as one of the hottest tickets in the history of this major championship.

According to a report from Philly.com, ticket prices are going for double and triple the face value since the event is already sold out.

One of the biggest factors is simply how many people the USGA is going to allow on the grounds of Merion. A small golf course yardage-wise, Merion isn’t exactly the Stadium Course at Sawgrass, with the maximum tickets sold for each day set at just 25,000 (Olympic Club allowed 50,000 spectators per day at the U.S. Open in 2012).

Face value of U.S. Open tickets are set between $ 110-$ 125, but they are going between $ 285-$ 330 depending on which day you plan to attend.

How does this compare to past U.S. Opens? In 2011 a ticket for Thursday was $ 84 and last year just $ 71, but this year a first round ticket will run you $ 285. Sunday tickets a year ago were going for $ 122, compared to $ 330 this year.

So basically, if you plan on hitting up a ticket website to see the pros play the toughest test in golf, it might be smart to wait and see if some of the big names struggle early in the week. If Tiger is around, tickets will definitely go up, but if it’s Lucas Glover versus John Huh, you can probably get a bit of a discount on Sunday.

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