Thinking of going to the Ryder Cup in September? Mark Roddenexplains where to start and, below, Philip Reiddescribes why the tournament is so special
THIS AUTUMN thousands of golf fans will descend on Louisville, in the state of Kentucky, to watch Europe take on the US in the 37th Ryder Cup.
As Philip Reid explains opposite, Europe has dominated in recent years, winning the last three events. The most notable victory was at the K Club, in Co Kildare, in 2006.
At least one Irish player, Pádraig Harrington, is expected to be on this year's European team when the tournament tees off on September 16th at Valhalla Golf Club. With the current Irish golf form, there may be more Irish players.
About 210,000 spectators are expected to attend six days of competition that will generate $115 million (€74 million) for the local economy.
With the euro reaching record highs against the dollar, a trip to this year's event represents better value than when the Ryder Cup was last played in the US, in 2004.
If you're thinking of going, here's where to start.
How to get there and where to stay and go
How to get there
Packages Operators providing packages include:
Ryder Cup Travel Services (00-44-870-7553004, www.rcts.co.uk), an official agent based in England, has five- and nine-day packages. Both include tickets for the final practice day, the three match days and the opening and closing ceremonies.
The nine-day package, which runs from September 14th to 22nd, includes three nights at French Lick Resort, about 100km from Louisville, as well as three days of golf on two courses. Flights are not included but can be arranged. RCTS has a number of other accommodation options in and around Louisville.
Prices start at £1,210 (€1,520) per person sharing for the five-day package.
Killester Travel (01-8336935, www.theflying golfer.com) has a seven-night package, from September 15th to 22nd, with four-star hotel, flights and transfers, taxes and Ryder Cup tickets. The deal costs €3,750 per person sharing. Its five-night package, which is also based at the Marriott Griffin Gate golf resort and spa, in Lexington, costs €3,400 per person sharing.
Sportsbreaks (061-204444 www.sportsbreaks.ie), run by Limerick Travel, has a number of five-night packages, ranging from €1,899 to €2,099 per person. These include accommodation in four- or five-star hotels, as well as transfers and Ryder Cup tickets. Flights are not included. Golf Vacations Ireland (01-6246366, www.golf vacationsireland.com) has four-night packages with hotel, tickets for play from Thursday to Sunday, transfers to the course and taxes. These cost between $2,300 and $2,700 (about €1,500-€1,700). Flights are not included. The company can arrange longer stays either side of the Ryder Cup.
Tour America (01-8173500, www.touramerica.ie) is offering flights to Louisville with Delta Airlines via Atlanta. Prices are from €689 per person including taxes, departing on September 16th and returning on September 21st. It offers two- to five-star accommodation, including limited availability at the two-star La Quinta Inn and Suites for €29 per person sharing.
Carr Golf Travel (01-8609394, www.carrgolf. com/rydercup) is offering a range of customised hospitality packages, including tickets, course access (one- to five-day passes) and optional accommodation (including Crowne Plaza Campbell House). It can also organise golf at the nearby Champions Trace Golf Club and Cardinal Golf Club.
Go it alone
Flights from Dublin to Louisville International Airport involve at least one stopover, with US Airways (via Philadelphia), American Airlines (via Chicago) and Delta (via Atlanta) among the airlines that fly there.
Aer Lingus flies from Dublin and Shannon to O'Hare International Airport, in Chicago; flights from there to Louisville take about an hour. Washington, New York and Dallas are all within two and a half hours of Louisville by air.
Where to stay
Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau (00-1-502- 5842121, www.gotolouisville. com) and Kentucky Department of Tourism (00-1- 502-5644930, www.kentucky tourism.com) have useful information.
Elizabethtown and Frankfort (www.visitfrankfort. com) are both within 80km of Louisville. Although it is 130km from Louisville, Lexington (www.visitlex.com), "horse capital of the world", is also a popular alternative.
Consider Georgetown (20km from Louisville) and Corydon (50km from Louisville), in the neighbouring state of Indiana.
Where to go
The Cup Experience (www.thecupexperience.com) is a citywide celebration being held in conjunction with the Ryder Cup. It will include:
The Cup Zone, which will feature demonstrations, lessons, golf products, an indoor driving range and screens to watch the Ryder Cup on, will be located at Kentucky International Convention Center.
Fourth Street Live!, in Louisville's main entertainment district, will host the Cup Village, with live music events every evening.
The Soirée under the Spires is an evening of entertainment at Churchill Downs race track.
At the Cup Concert Celebration, on September 20th, Louisville Orchestra will accompany a fireworks display.
Entry to most Cup Experience events is limited to people who have purchased the commemorative Cup 2008 pin, which costs $5.
Other events in the area around Ryder Cup time include Jeffersontown Gaslight Festival, Louisville Irish Fest (www.louisvilleirishfest. com), Kentucky Bourbon Festival (www.kybourbon festival.com), a Taste of Louisville and Ursuline Campus Art Fair.
Where to play golf
See www.kygolf.org and www.indianagolf.org for a list of golf courses in Kentucky and southern Indiana.
MR
'Every match is like playing the final day in a major championship'
GOLF IS A SELFISH sport. With its increasing globalisation and the greedy hands of tournament golf reaching into the Middle East and Asia, each week on tour, whether in the United States or, increasingly, in Europe, players play for wheelbarrowfuls of money.
It is about themselves, nobody else.
The Ryder Cup is different, though. For once it's not the money that counts. It is about the honour, the glory. It is about a rivalry between Europe and the US that at times has crossed the line of fair play - remember the "war on the shore" at Kiawah Island, in 1991? Or the "battle of Brookline" in 1999? - but that has evolved into the greatest three-day head-to-head in team golf.
Inspired by Sam Ryder, the English seed merchant who donated the 45cm solid-gold trophy, the first match, in 1927, set a trend: the Americans were easy winners over the team representing Britain (later to include Ireland).
By the time the US again defeated Britain and Ireland at Royal Lytham in 1977, the legendary Jack Nicklaus, believing the event was dying on its feet, suggested it was time that the opposition expanded its selection policy to include continental European players.
It was to give the Ryder Cup a new dimension. Although the Americans won the next three matches, a first sign of the changing times came in the 1983 Ryder Cup, at Palm Beach Gardens, in Florida. The US won by 14½ points to 13½.
Two years later, at the Belfry, near Birmingham, Europe won. Europe won again in 1987 and retained the trophy, in a drawn match, in 1989. The face of the match had changed utterly.
A major reason was the impact of continental players on the new Europe team, with such greats as Bernhard Langer, and the "Spanish armada" of Seve Ballesteros and José Maria Olazábal, who were to prove more invincible than the naval force that gave them their nickname.
Europe's most glorious period in the Ryder Cup has come in the last three meetings. Paul McGinley famously holed the winning putt in the 2002 match, at the Belfry - a match deferred for a year due to the atrocities of September 11th the previous year. Next, Europe recorded a record win of 18½ to 9½ at Oakland Hills, in Detroit, in 2004. They repeated that record margin of victory in 2006, at the K Club, where Henrik Stenson holed the winning putt - and Darren Clarke, playing a matter of weeks after the death of his wife, Heather, from cancer, galvanised Europe.
The Ryder Cup is a white-knuckle ride from start to finish. Or, as Tiger Woods would have it, "every match in a Ryder Cup is like playing the final day in a major championship".
PR