GOLF NEWS:RYDER CUP officials dismissed concerns about the Scottish weather at yesterday's date announcement for the 2014 tournament in Gleneagles.
The 2014 biennial match between Europe and the United States will take place from September 26th to September 28th on the PGA Centenary Course in Perthshire.
Europe are the holders of the tournament, having triumphed at Celtic Manor in south Wales last October. That event went into a fourth day for the first time in the tournament’s history due to adverse weather.
There was high wind and heavy rain in central Scotland yesterday as the announcement was made, but European Ryder Cup director Richard Hills insisted the prospect of poor weather is not a worry.
“It’s in its traditional date. We are not an indoor sport. You have instances where tournaments in July have had to go into Mondays, so it’s not an unusual occurrence,” he said.
“We have to deal with what we’ve been given. (The possibility of changing the date) was looked at, but we were very comfortable with what was in the mix.
“The international schedule is complex and it will become even more complicated in 2016 when golf becomes an Olympic sport again. That’s another ingredient which will be in the mix.”
Asked why a compromise can be made for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics but not the Ryder Cup, Hills said: “We were very comfortable with the date.”
The competition will be played in the traditional three-day, 28-point format and there is the possibility of an additional day’s play, if required.
“There’s always been a provision that you could run over into that extra day,” Hills added.
It will be the 40th staging of the Ryder Cup and the second time the event has been held in Scotland. In 1973, the contest was played at Muirfield in East Lothian.
It is estimated the Scottish economy will benefit by up to €117 million from the event, which is to take place in the same year as Glasgow will host the Commonwealth Games.
The 2012 Ryder Cup will take place at the Medinah Country Club near Chicago next September, with Jose Maria Olazabal as captain.
Scotland will have to wait until early 2013 to discover if Colin Montgomerie – or any other Scot – is awarded the captaincy for 2014. Hills added: “It’s a decision which is taken by the tournament committee of the PGA European Tour.
“Normally that would take place in the second committee after the Chicago match, sometime early in 2013.”
Rory McIlroy may not after all have to win the last two events of the European Tour to catch Luke Donald at the top of the money list. Second place in this week’s Hong Kong Open followed by victory in next week’s Dubai World Championship could be good enough.
Because the Order of Merit is based on euros, it will all depend on the exchange rate with the US dollar going into next week.
Donald, already the PGA Tour’s leading money winner this season, is currently €1,131,512 ahead of McIlroy, but his return to action this week comes in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa, which is not part of the European circuit.
Martin Kaymer is also at Sun City and that rules him out of the money list race, even though he is currently nearly €105,382 ahead of McIlroy.
