Gleneagles turns into racetrack as buggies speed to finish Ryder Cup preparations

The empty grandstands rise like sentinels into the Perthshire skyline at Gleneagles, jockeying for visual dominance with the monolithic, multi-tiered corporate edifices. Brand spanking new, they glisten in the warm sunshine.

The cart paths, concrete arteries that traverse the 850 acres of the estate and its three golf courses, including the Jack Nicklaus-designed Centenary course over which the Ryder Cup will be contested, are festooned with buggies and their human cargo, speeding to all points of the compass.

There’s a sense of urgency, a rush-hour feel, and a ramble around the sprawling layout of the beautifully manicured Centenary course, framed by the towering Grampian mountain range, offers an explanation.

There’s still an appreciable workload to be completed before the gates are opened to the public this morning.

Finishing touches

Nothing major, more finishing touches, but walking through the tented village, there’s enough evidence to suggest that yesterday’s work day slipped into the wee hours of this morning. Scotland has been preparing for this moment since September 2001, when it was announced that Gleneagles would host the 40th

Ryder Cup

.

It’s been 13 years in gestation. It might have been a shorter wait but Celtic Manor won the bidding process against the odds (it wasn’t fully completed at the time it was chosen) to stage the biennial event in 2010, edging out Gleneagles, Turnberry, Carnoustie, Loch Lomond and Slaley Hall near Newcastle.

On the cart path that snakes alongside the 18th fairway, there’s a roll of blue carpet, still wrapped in cellophane, awaiting attention. Continuing further down, back towards the tee box, a man is marking a cross point with a chalk-like spray. His buggy contains about 20 canisters, suggesting there’s plenty more to do.

The tented village resembles an Irish ghost estate, most things not quite finished, although in better repair, the only sign of life commercially the huge merchandising marquee that’s already open for business. The devil may be in the detail and that’s precisely what faces the workforce, ahead of today’s soft opening to the public and the Ryder Cup proper that begins on Friday.

The infrastructure resembles a giant jigsaw that’s about seven-eighths complete.

The one area that really is resplendent is the rolling, lush fairways and pristine putting surfaces.

A brief glimpse of Thomas Bjorn on the practice range and Europe's Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley careering down the first fairway in a buggy driven by his vice-captain Sam Torrance were only golf-related footnotes.

Arriving in dribs and drabs

The Europeans have been arriving in dribs and drabs, local boy

Stephen Gallacher

arriving mid-afternoon and Graeme McDowell due in at 6pm. The Americans touched down yesterday morning and were on site by lunchtime. Captain

Tom Watson

explained that stretching legs, grabbing a bite to eat and some chipping and putting was about as taxing as it was going to get for team USA.

Official team practice begins this morning but one suspects there will be greater industry on the other side of the ropes to ensure that Gleneagles provides the perfect backdrop to the eagerly anticipated contest.