Gleneagles on course for greater things

Mike Aitken, The Scotsman, 17 February 2001

Gleneagles’ place at the heart of Scottish golf was enhanced on two fronts yesterday when it was revealed the £500,000 WPGA International Match Play championship will be held in September on the Ladies’ European Tour, a month before the Scottish region of the PGA moves into its new headquarters on the grounds of the Perthshire hotel.

Moreover, the course designed by Jack Nicklaus, which was known for eight years as the Monarch’s, has been renamed the PGA Centenary course. The WPGA event is due to be contested on that layout as will the £600,000 Scottish PGA Championship on the European Tour, not to mention the Tartan Tour’s flagship event.

Needless to say, as one of the candidates to host the 2009 Ryder Cup match between Europe and the USA, Gleneagles hope their flourishing relationship with the organisers will enhance their case to be hosts.

In truth, Gleneagles has always been the front-runner for 2009 and these latest announcements only served to underpin the venue’s status as favourites.

Peter Lederer, the managing director of the hotel, welcomed the partnership and said he hoped the relationship between Gleneagles and the PGA would "lead to very important synergies for many years to come".

Sandy Jones, the chief executive of the PGA, quipped that this latest development was bound to add to the intrigue which already surrounds the choice of venue and country for the contest in eight years’ time.

After the formal press conference, however, Jones was at pains to draw a clear distinction between his association’s liaison with Gleneagles and the bidding process for 2009.

"I must stress very strongly that this is not connected to the Ryder Cup bid," he said. "This development is well outside that context. I know cynics will inevitably say that the match is going to Gleneagles. But the bid for the Ryder Cup is separate, and Scotland’s claim will have to stand on its own merits.

"After that, it’s up to the venues to show what they can do. Truthfully, though, that aspect hasn’t even been considered yet. Because of the changing timetable, with the venue and country now being identified in one announcement, we have to sit down with the bidding groups and explain to them the requirements which a venue will have to meet."

Jones indicated that the divergence between Scotland’s bid, which names five potential venues, and those of Wales and England, with one apiece, was the main reason for abandoning the original plan to name the successful country now and the winning venue in September.

Instead, both country and course will be identified before this autumn’s match at the Belfry.

"The logistics of naming the country and then the venue were not that simple and put an unfair strain on everyone," Jones added.

"But I don’t accept the original strategy was a failure. What it did was to galvanise all the bidders into making commitments to the Ryder Cup and the game."

In what sounded like good news not only for Gleneagles but also the other high calibre Scottish contenders - at Loch Lomond, St Andrews, Carnoustie and Turnberry - Jones indicated the quality of the venue could now be a deciding factor in the process.

"That might tip the balance," he admitted. "What the countries have got to show first, over the next six months, is that their commitments are not just on paper. We want to see them delivering. What we don’t want to have is a press conference in five years’ time to explain away broken promises."

Jones also revealed that Celtic Manor and Slaley Hall as well as the five Scottish venues will now have to put forward a strategic plan for hosting the match.

In that respect, Gleneagles appears to have stolen a march on its rivals, though Terry Matthew’s apparently bottomless pockets are sure to produce a response from Celtic Manor in the months ahead.

As to the return of women’s professional golf to Perthshire, it is hoped the matchplay format will encourage many of the golfers who represented Europe and the USA at Loch Lomond in the Solheim Cup to come back to Scotland for the event from 7-9 September.

The Sportsmaster Network, who will promote the tournament, also plans to sound out international players such as world No1 Karrie Webb in a bid to establish the reputation of the competition. What already seems certain is that a format will be devised which differs from straight knock-out.

The Scottish PGA will move into the building behind the first tee of the King’s Course after a £150,000 refurbishment of the office space.