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 | | Saturday, 29 September, 2001, 11:34 GMT 12:34 UK Scotland deserves better  Gleneagles hosted the forerunner of the Ryder Cup BBC golf correspondent Tony Adamson says the Scottish bid for the 2010 Ryder Cup was "shabbily treated". It is no wonder the Scots are miffed at being overlooked for the 2010 Ryder Cup match. As if to soothe their furrowed brow, they have been pencilled in for 2014 instead. It is hardly surprising Scotland's First Minister, Henry McLeish, said he was not sure he felt like a winner following the announcement. "I firmly believe our bid was the best for the Ryder Cup and for golf," he said. "We wanted 2010. We are disappointed not to get it."
By the time Gleneagles eventually opens its doors to the greatest team competition in sport, 41 years will have elapsed since the event was last played in Scotland. The United States beat Great Britain and Ireland 19-13 at Muirfield in 1973, astonishingly the only occasion the trophy has been seen north of the border. The "home of golf" deserves better, and it can rightly claim to have been shabbily treated on this occasion. Gleneagles is a golfing paradise, surrounded by the foothills of the Grampian mountains. The Monarch's course presents the professional with a sturdy test and the galleries are knowledgeable and enthusiastic, whatever the weather. There is an historical connection as well. The forerunner of the Ryder Cup was held at Gleneagles in 1921 when a team of British professionals faced a team from America.
So why, following an impressive Scottish bid, did Scotland not get the vote for 2010 ahead of Celtic Manor in Wales? The answer is wrapped up in golfing politics, high finance and in-fighting between the Professional Golfers Association, the custodians of the Ryder Cup, and the European Tour, who share ownership of the Ryder Cup in Europe with the PGA. While the PGA supported Scotland's bid, not least because their Scottish branch had set up shop in the Gleneagles estate, Ken Schofield, executive director of the European Tour, publicly and vehemently endorsed Wales. Schofield is the most powerful figure in European golf - his role is to improve the lot of his playing members. In Sir Terence Matthews, the telecoms entrepreneur who owns Celtic Manor, Schofield sees a wealthy ally, prepared to put a share of his millions at the disposal of the European Tour. He lavished �10m on the Wales Open this year - a Ryder Cup at the earliest possible opportunity was the least he could expect Wales's 75,000 golfers are singing in the valleys. Despite an unsatisfactory golf course - Matthews is putting �12m into redesigning seven new holes and a clubhouse to comply with Ryder Cup requirements - Celtic Manor Resort has been deemed fit and ready to host the 2010 event. Tony Lewis, who chaired an impressive Welsh bid, once said, "The golf courses of Wales are hidden in the mists of a suspicion that Wales is not a golfing country - nothing could be more wrong." The principality has the opportunity to prove him right, and the golfing world will be watching, especially those in the foothills of the Grampian mountains. | |
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