Seven European countries have declared an interest in hosting the 2022 edition of golf’s Ryder Cup, after organisers revealed that golfing authorities in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey officially registered an interest before the deadline.
Official bids must now be submitted by 16th February before the Ryder Cup Europe body selects the host nation in autumn next year.
The lack of a bid from Ireland means that it will be a gap of at least 20 years between the only hosting of the event to be played here, at the K Club in 2006, and the next possible time in 2026.
The structure of the way the bid process is run, with a private club having to front the bid but application being made through Golf’s governing body in each country is not amenable to the public investment that would be needed to make a bid work. It was largely through the personal determination and finance provided by Michael Smurfit that Ireland won the event in 2006.
Revenue
Nevertheless, golf tourism is one of the major revenue streams in the global sports tourism market and Ireland is blessed with not only a great array of courses but also a reputation as a leader in the sport and a group of players that is a match for any individual country in the world.
It seems a shame that a deadline for expression of interest for an event eight years away has been allowed to clip by with little public debate or clamour to at least be seen as a potential willing partner.
After this year’s hosting at Gleneagles in Scotland, the tournament will take place at Hazeltine Golf Club in Minnesota, US in 2016 before returning to Europe in 2018 at Le Golf National in Paris and then switching back to the US at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2020.
Interest
“We are absolutely delighted at the level of interest we have received from across Europe in respect of hosting the 2022 Ryder Cup,” said Ryder Cup Director Richard Hills. “We welcome each and every one of the seven letters of intent, each received through the respective national golf association, in accordance with bidding regulations.”
“The implementation of this kind of formal bidding process for the 2018 Ryder Cup marked a new era for us all at Ryder Cup Europe, and this take up for 2022 shows that the introduction of a fair, transparent and objective methodology has been welcomed across the continent.”
“Not only that, we feel it is a process which befits a sporting event of the stature of the Ryder Cup and, as we have consistently stated, the key criteria in place will enable us to evaluate each bid equally on both its sporting and commercial merits while, at the same time, allowing us to judge each bid fairly, thoroughly and on a level playing field.”
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