Ryder Cup bid nations set for new year meeting

Published on Monday 14 December 2009 22:02

THE six nations bidding for the 2018 Ryder Cup in Europe have been invited to come together at a Heathrow hotel on 13 January to share opinions, information and questions. France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden are the candidate countries and they have to submit their bids by the end of April.

Ryder Cup Europe will announce the winner in 2011 and director Richard Hills said: "This is as thorough an evaluation process as we have ever embarked upon in determining a host nation and venue. The 2018 Ryder Cup bid committee is in the process of visiting each country, providing them with the opportunity to showcase their bid in their own environment, but in addition we felt that bringing them together for a symposium would provide all involved with a forum.

"We have already been impressed by the level of commitment and the clarity of the bids and we are keen to ensure that by providing additional information to all parties at one time they will leave London even better placed to further develop their individual tenders."

Essential to all bids will be a commitment to the development of a world-class facility – new or existing – and an environmental plan so that the match can act as a catalyst for long-term action within both regional and national arenas. Hills added: "From the announcement in 2011 the successful host nation will be contracted to embrace this programme, which will take in 12 years of tournament support for the European Tour, Senior Tour, Challenge Tour and other professional events."

Together, the countries have already hosted a total of 700 tournaments – 491 on The European Tour, 162 on the European Challenge Tour and 47 on the European Senior Tour. Spain leads the way with a combined 196 events, 22 more than France, but they hosted the 1997 match at Valderrama.

That remains the only time so far that the match on this side of the Atlantic has been played outside of Britain and Ireland.

Latest leading positions in the European Ryder Cup table (top four on world list qualify, then next five on European points list. Captain Colin Montgomerie adds three wild cards)

WORLD POINTS

1 LEE WESTWOOD 148.0, 2 RORY McILROY 111.6, 3 PADRAIG HARRINGTON 102.7, 4 ROSS McGOWAN 83.9, 5 Ian Poulter 79.1, 6 Simon Dyson 78.0, 7 Edoardo Molinari 68.3, 8 Alexander Noren 66.2, 9 Francesco Molinari 60.8, 10 Ross Fisher 60.0

EUROPEAN POINTS

1 Lee Westwood 1,623,399, 2 Rory McIlroy 1,184,186, 3 Ross McGowan 1,091,417, 4 SIMON DYSON 861,689, 5 IAN POULTER 760,755, 6 ALEXANDER NOREN 739,549, 7 ROSS FISHER 632,192, 8 FRANCESCO MOLINARI 620,270, 9 Oliver Wilson 538,070, 10 Padraig Harrington 503,374

*(Capitals denote players in qualifying positions)

Alvaro Quiros' decision not to play this week's South African Open has cost him a place in the world's top 50 – and means he will go into the New Year still seeking an invitation to the Masters. The big-hitting Spaniard is 50th on the current rankings, but will drop to at least 51st in this the last week of competition for 2009.