Golf: K Club wins Ryder race
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.AMERICA'S RYDER CUP team will arrive at the K Club in Ireland, chosen yesterday for the 36th staging of the biennial event in 2005, to find a course designed by one of their greatest players. Arnold Palmer was the man called by Dr Michael Smurfit, head of the international packaging company Jefferson Smurfit, when he decided to build a venue fit for one the game's greatest tournaments a decade ago.
Smurfit once climbed over the wall as a schoolboy to pinch apples from the Straffan House estate but later bought the site, 18 miles south-west of Dublin, and developed it into the luxurious Kildare Hotel and Country Club.
Although designed by an American, Europe's players know the K Club well as the venue since 1995 for the Smurfit European Open, an event that boasted record prize- money of pounds 1.25m in 1998. Club officials expect the course to accommodate 35-40,000 spectators a day.
With such credentials, and helped by recent improvements in the motorway network around Dublin and its airport, the race to host the first Ryder Cup in Ireland proved anticlimactic. The sentimental favourite, Portmarnock, the revered links that dates back to 1894 and staged the 1991 Walker Cup, had not expected a decision until after the Masters in April, while others hoping to be in the running included Druids Glen, home of the Irish Open, and the Jack Nicklaus- designed Mount Juliet.
"It has been our ambition at the K Club since 1990 to bring the event to Ireland and build a complex worthy of hosting the most prestigious golfing competition in the world," said Smurfit. "The importance of this event for Irish sport, Irish tourism and for the country as a whole cannot be overstated. It will attract large numbers of visitors and will put Ireland at the front of the world sporting stage for an entire week.
Palmer, twice the US Ryder Cup captain, added: "There can be no higher accolade than to have our creation played by the elite of world golf."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments