|
K Club boss Paul Crowe is set
to give the world the greatest Ryder Cup ever staged, despite
the postponement of the Irish edition until 2006.
The tragic events in New York
and Washington on September 11 forced Ryder Cup organisers to
put back this years staging until September 2002, which means
the following staging at Oakland Hills will be in September 2004
with the Irish staging at the K Club put back a year to 2006.
But for Crowe, the director
of golf at the K Club, the one-year delay in the Irish staging
is not going to affect his masterplan. "In the context of
what happen the other day this is not he end of the world for
us.
It's a very small consideration
really and we're just trying to take the positives from the delay,"
said Crowe. "We'll be able to pay far more attention to
detail now and I fully expect the 2006 Ryder Cup at the K Club
to be one of the great golf tournaments.
The K Club had spent just a
"few thousand pounds" on stationary and promotional
material relating to 2005 and according to Crowe "no significant
costs" have been incurred.
And for millionaire businessman
Michael Smurfit, the owner of the K Club complex, the decision
to put back the Ryder Cup to 2002 was a wise one.
"Having two Ryder Cups
in succession would be too much. On balance, I believe it would
have taken from the unique character of the tournament,"
he said this week. "I'm not disappointed about having to
wait a further year," he added.
"I think it was the right
thing to do in the circumstances. The important thing is that
golf's premier event is still coming to Ireland, it's just going
to be one year later than we thought."
From a positive point of view,
the extra year will give the K Club time to generate additional
publicity that will generate even greater benefits for Ireland
as a golfing destination. And it will also give the course and
extra year to mature and allow the Arnold Palmer design team
even more time to toughen up the course before the arrival of
the world's elite golfers.
For Crowe the 2006 Ryder Cup
will be the high point of a career spent at the Straffan estate.
Crowe joined at the opening
of the course in 1991 and has seen it mature, "beyond all
recognition," over the past ten years.
Said the 36 year old: "The
key has been in bringing in so many semi-mature trees over the
years which produce quite a lot of growth in a short period."
For the moment, though, the
K Club are sticking to the "very strict masterplan"
set out by the Arnold Palmer design team and which foresees the
addition of new professional tees, lengthening a course the already
measures in excess of 7,000 yards from the tiger tees.
"We'll also be doing some
new bunkering and redesigning some of the green as well as tightening
up the course but this is something that has been going on all
along. It's a continuous thing and I always say that a golf course
isn't just created, it evolves."
The Ryder Cup course will be
renamed the North course with the new Palmer designed South course
becomes ready for play in July 2003.
All 18 greens at the new course
have been seeded and Crowe fully expects the K Club to be one
of the world's premier 36 hole golf resorts by the time the Ryder
Cup comes around in five years time.
Crowds of around 40,000 are
expected for the 2006 edition and plans are already afoot to
improve access to the club.
"We have been in discussions
with Kildare County Council about improving the access rounds
but this will be down without affecting the integrity of the
Straffan village area," stressed Crowe. "This is just
one week in the life of a small part of Kildare and no major
infrastructure developments will be made. We are between the
main Cork and Galway roads and may look at creating satellite
car parks, similar to the way the organisers at the Belfry bus
players from the National Exhibition Centre to the course."
++++++
Junior Ryder
Last week's attacks on New York and Washington have also forced
the postponement of the 4th Junior Ryder Cup Matches, due to
take place at the K Club from September 25-26.
The Junior Ryder Cup Match
is a biennial team match-play event between boys and girls from
the United States and Europe and was originated to encourage
friendship, the exchange of cultures and to enhance the enjoyment
of golf.
The inaugural Junior Match
in 1995 featured the 15 year-old Sergio Garcia leading a winning
European squad and since then both teams have included several
budding champions including David Gossett, Beth Bauer, David
Porter, Nicolas Colsaerts, Suzanne Pettersen and most recently
Ty Tryon.
Ireland's Jimmy Greene captained
Europe to victory in the last edition, giving the Old Continent
a 2-1 series lead.
The next edition will take
place at the Kildare venue in 2002.
Awards
Hats off to the European Club's Harry McKinney, winner of the
Michael Hennelly Perpetual Award for 2001.
Senior swinger McKinney finished
top of the order of merit thanks to wins in the Munster and Connacht
Seniors championships.
Amongst the youths, UCD and
Galway starlet Mark O'Sullivan won the Joe Carr Perpetual Award
while at boys level Athenry's Michael Mulryan took the Tom Montgomery
Award.
Budding professional Stephen
Browne, proved to be top dog in the senior section, winning the
Willie Gill Award with ease before beginning life in the paid
ranks.
Mary
Six-time Irish champion Mary McKenna proved she is still in a
class of her own when she won the Irish Senior Ladies' Open Amateur
Championship at Baltray last week.
The Donabate great shot a 162
total for the 36 holes, winning on a countback thanks to a final
round 78 at the famous Co Louth links.
Senior pros
Feel like trying your hand on the Senior Pro Tour?
Budding senior pros have just
over a month to enter for the European Senior Tour qualifying
school.
If you have a handicap of one
or less, are over 50 on or before 11 October 2002 and have £600
to spare, you could be teeing it up at stage one of the school
on the Algarve in Portugal from November 22-23.
You don't lose your amateur
status unless you qualify for, and play in, the finals from November
26-29. Don't say you didn't know.
Top
© Brian Keogh 2001
Back
|