It’s been a long time coming, but this is it. The Ryder Cup comes to Wales this year and, says golf writer, broadcaster and proud Welshman Iestyn George, that’s a ringing endorsement of Welsh golf.

It’s so close now you can nearly hear the roar of the galleries. 2010 will be the first time The Ryder Cup has been played in Wales, yet somehow it feels like its natural home.

The Ryder Cup is one of those rare weeks when the event transcends the sport itself – when golf fanatics, casual observers and the normally disinterested are glued to three days of competition between the finest players in Europe and The USA. People who would normally express no interest in Sergio Garcia’s putting form will suddenly find themselves whispering silent prayers as the Spaniard stands over five-footer for par.

It’s not too hard to work out what makes The Ryder Cup special. For a start, it’s different to anything else in golf – a team event with no financial reward and a healthy dose of Trans-Atlantic rivalry thrown in. Most other championships build slowly for four days to a final afternoon crescendo. The Ryder Cup matches offer explosions of excitement all over the course from the first drive of the day.

Although this is the biggest golf event to have been hosted in Wales, there’s probably not a venue on either side of The Atlantic that’s better-prepared for The Ryder Cup than The Celtic Manor Resort. What’s more, its Twenty Ten Course is the first of its kind – a track made specifically to host The Ryder Cup matches that will really test the top golfers from both sides of the pond. Not only does The Twenty Ten promise great drama, it will also deliver to the spectators and the millions watching at home. This is the first natural amphitheatre of golf.

Of the many great things about this sport, the very best is that it gives you the chance to play the same courses and walk in the footsteps of the world’s best-ever players, from Old Tom Morris to young Tiger Woods. The difference with the Twenty Ten experience, however, is that playing the course before October you have the even rarer opportunity to say that Tiger Woods will be walking in yours.

Yes, it might have taken 83 years for Wales to stage The Ryder Cup, but it’s OK, we’re a patient lot. It’s not as if we’ve been sitting around twiddling our thumbs; we’ve been playing golf – a lot of golf. Wales is no bigger than Massachusetts, yet it has over 200 golf courses. You’ll find some in valleys surrounded by snow-capped mountains, others alongside some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world. Wales has golf likened to playing on an aircraft carrier, besides. Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of thinking golf in Wales begins and ends at The Celtic Manor Resort.

The Ryder Cup has broken new ground in golf many times. It’s a relatively new kid on the block compared to The Open Championship, which was established 67 years earlier, in 1860. Most of golf’s greatest events started out as local competitions which would flourish as international events several years later. The Ryder Cup had grand ambitions right from the start.

The similarities between the foundation of The Ryder Cup and the circumstances that brought it to The Celtic Manor are striking Plans to establish a regular competition between The United States and Great Britain had been carefully drawn several times before, but it took the determination and influence of one man to make it happen. He was Samuel Ryder, a wealthy businessman, famous for having made his fortune from selling penny packets of seeds.

Following an exhibition match between Great Britain and The USA in 1926 at Wentworth, Ryder told British player George Duncan that he would support a regular competition between the two nations by rewarding the winning players with £5 each and host a party with champagne and chicken sandwiches. He then commissioned Mappin & Webb to create a solid gold trophy for £250.

It’s unlikely that Sir Terry Matthews will ever have to pledge an unlimited supply of chicken sandwiches as an incentive to players. Yet you can well imagine the millionaire seed merchant and the telecoms billionaire who developed The Celtic Manor Resort sharing some common ground, particularly when it comes to having the will and determination to make things happen.

The Ryder Cup has always stayed true to the legacy of its benefactor. Great Britain joined forces with Ireland in 1973 and the process of golfing expansion continued in the hope of making the competition dominated by the US a more even-handed affair when GB & Ireland became Europe in 1979. And boy has it worked. The Ryder Cup grows in popularity on both sides of The Atlantic with every series of matches.

With the rapid development of The Celtic Manor Resort over the past 10 years you almost forget this is the same 19th century manor where a certain Terence Headly Matthews was delivered into this world in 1943. The Lydia Beynon Maternity Hospital had long been converted into the hotel that Sir Terry bought in 1980 and has subsequently invested over $100million to transform it into the world class resort we see today. Part of the legacy of The Ryder Cup 2010 is the funding of the first Tenovus Mobile Cancer support unit in Wales, with two more units on their way before the tournament starts.

Capping an illustrious Ryder Cup career in 2006, Welshman Ian Woosnam led Europe to victory in 2006 at The K-Club. Forty nine years earlier, another pocket battleship called Dai Rees captained his British team to a dramatic victory, the only time the US were defeated between 1933 and 1985. Brian Huggett captained Great Britain and Ireland in 1977, while Dave Thomas won four of his five singles matches between 1959 and ’67.

And then there’s Phillip Price from Pontypridd, who beat the great Phil Mickelson in his singles match 2001, a key contribution to his team’s overall victory. Pricey’s win is typical of what makes The Ryder Cup special, giving the chance for the underdog to shine on the biggest stage, rewarding individual achievements and the strength of playing as a team.

This is the sort of stuff we love in Wales. So is it really a big surprise that The Ryder Cup may have found its spiritual home here? We don’t think so.

Author Bio: Duncan enjoys writing about UK short breaks, golfing holidays in the UK and is a fan of all things Welsh.

Category: Sports
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