France chosen as the host country for the 2018 Ryder Cup– Golf News
France has seen-off stiff competition from Spain to be named as the host country for the Ryder Cup in 2018.
Le Golf National course, near Paris, has been chosen as the official venue to hold the prestigious event despite impressive bids from Portugal, Germany, Spain and Netherlands.
The occasion will mark the only time in the history of the competition that France will hold the biennial Europe Vs United States duel. It is also only the second time in history that the event will be staged in mainland Europe.
The first time was back in 1997 when mercurial golfer, Seve Ballesteros, captained Europe to a remarkable narrow victory over the US team in Valderrama, Spain.
After Ballesteros’s death, there were calls to hand the event to Spain in honour of the five time major winner, who was also the patron of the bid from Madrid.
The European tour resisted the emotional pull to choose France as the official host for the event. The venue has hosted 18 of the last 20 French Open tournaments for the 42nd edition of Ryder Cup.
Richard Hill, a prominent golfer said, “The winning bid from France stands out for a number of reasons, The venue for the 2018 Ryder Cup, Le Golf National, is a truly outstanding golf course, providing excellent spectator viewing and the promise of spectacular
climaxes to the matches. Transportation, logistical and infrastructure plans are also of the highest quality. There's no doubt that the 2018 Ryder Cup will be memorable and dramatic, and which thousands of golf fans will be able to enjoy.”
Amazingly, to fund the country’s bid to host the event, every registered golf player in the country has donated one Euro to the cause and the organisers hope that the tournament will help building the reputation of the game in France.
The bid from France states that it wants the number of registered players from the country to increase to 700000 from 400000. The country is also aiming to have at least three native players in their continent’s team, for the event in 2022.
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