Scotland loses the Ryder Cup to Wales

Tom Peterkin, Scottish Political Correspondent, The Telegraph, 28 September 2001

Scotland's hopes of hosting the 2010 Ryder Cup disintegrated last night when it emerged that the match is going to Wales.

Today the Ryder Cup committee will confirm suspicions that Scotland has lost out on the event, which would have injected £200 million into the Scottish economy.

The decision represents an enormous blow to Henry McLeish, First Minister, who has campaigned vigorously to bring back one of the world's great sporting occasions to the home of golf.

Scotland is still in with a chance of having the 2014 tournament, but that will be of little consolation to Mr McLeish, who has made great play of his efforts to bring top sporting tournaments north of the border.

Four of the country's finest courses, Gleneagles, Turnberry, Carnoustie and Loch Lomond, have lost out to Celtic Manor in Wales, a course which has had to undergo alterations to bring it up to championship standard.

Last night a Scottish Executive source said: "It is true. We are more than a little puzzled. We were sure that ours was the best bid. Most objective commentators were agreed it was the best bid."

David McLetchie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, said: "The First Minister has invested a tremendous amount of faith in the project. It is not so much unfortunate for him but unfortunate for Scottish golf. But we are more concerned about the manner in which we lost the bid."

Mr McLetchie was referring to allegations that the European Tour had favoured the Welsh bid and exerted unfair pressure on the Ryder Cup Committee. Reports had alleged that the European Tour had threatened to end all involvement with future Ryder Cups if Scotland was chosen ahead of Celtic Manor.

Three representatives of the European Tour sit on the six-strong Ryder Cup committee. The remainder of the committee is made up of members of the Professional Golfers' Association.