New delay to Ryder Cup bid

Mike Aitken, The Scotsman, 9 February 2001

The bidding procedure for the 2009 Ryder Cup was in danger of losing credibility yesterday after the goalposts on when a final decision about which country will host the match were moved yet again.

Although no official announcement was ever released to the media by the Ryder Cup committee, all those connected with the bids in Scotland, Wales and the north-east of England expected an announcement to be made in January.

That date was put back to late February and as recently as Scotland’s press briefing in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Scottish Ryder Cup officials indicated that they still expected to learn their fate soon. Yesterday, however, after the North of England relaunched its bid following official backing from Sport England, Sandy Jones, the chief executive of the PGA, gave the strongest indication yet that no decision would be reached before the summer.

He said: "We agreed that Ryder Cup members would visit the European Grand Prix tournament [in June] to meet key officials and see how it is organised. It’s something we’re looking forward to. We’ve plenty of time to make our decision as to where the Ryder Cup should be held."

Scotland and Wales are known to favour a prompt decision on their bids and feel disappointed by the delays.