K Club gets ready to supersize it

FINISHING TOUCHES: All systems go as The K Club prepares for opening shots Johnny Watterson watches as The K Club dons its finery for the biggest event of them all

"There are two tragedies in life. One is not to get your heart's desire. The other is to get it."

George Bernard Shaw's aphorism stamped on the hoarding around the 10th tee at The K Club is a constant reminder that, although the Ryder Cup begins here next Friday, the organisers should never in their hearts believe they have arrived where they want to be.

So this week the exclusive course had the feel of a mid-west town on a busy morning, replete with traffic jams and lorries double-parked. As the course prepares for the 6,000 staff who will be working at the event and the 75 double-decker coaches that will ferry in 40,000 or so people a day, The K Club was looking like a society debutante fussing over her gown on the eve of the biggest event of the year.

Edward Kitson, the European staging director, is responsible for a large part of what is going on. He is the person who is effortlessly making the debutante look like Miss World. Kitson is the ever-competent Briton in charge of slapping together the infrastructure for Irish sport's 15 seconds of fame.

"I always had a passion for golf and I caddied on the golf circuit between school and university," says the six-handicap player. "I knew I'd love to go and work for the European Tour and I got an opportunity to do so at the 1989 Volvo PGA Championship. I was very fortunate.

"I caddied predominantly for a guy called Bill Longmuir, who is now playing on the seniors tour. I caddied for him for three months back in 1986. In those days it started in April and finished in October."

No stranger to Ireland, Kitson was at The K Club for the Smurfit European Open and engaged in a similar job. They are both big golf events but the Ryder Cup is super-sized compared to tournaments outside the majors. All around is evidence of lavish hospitality: the three-storied suites along the 18th fairway with their flags flapping like some outrageous Bedouin palace represent just a fraction of the 40,000 square metres of tent being used.

"The Ryder Cup, in golfing terms and in terms as far as staging and infrastructure is the biggest event that we work on," says Kitson. "There is just short of 16,500 grandstand seats on site. Most other tour events have somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 seats. We've also about 40,000 square metres of tent. For a normal tour event there would be somewhere between 5,000 and 5,500 square metres of tent. It's obviously a lot bigger. We've also created big bus terminals on the site for park and ride as well as four public areas on the course.

"In the 1997 Ryder Cup I was responsible for staging and directing. My role is that I'm responsible for everything on site as far as the infrastructure is concerned. The grandstands, the tents, the caterers, basically anything or anyone who is working here on site with the rest of the staging team."

A maximum of 45,000 people will be allowed in, the organisers believing that is the optimum number in terms of crowd safety and the effects of tramping over the course, especially if the weather turns wet.

"We are also very keen to ensure that people do not bring their mobile phones onto the site because of the players," he points out. "Players don't like them going off and punters don't like handing them over. But that's what is planned.

"Messages have gone out in our guides with the ticketing," he adds. "When they arrive at the park and ride they will be told again to leave their phone in the car. It's not confiscating but if we find they have a phone at the gates, it will be handed in and looked after for the day. It is a request from the players."

Six days and counting. A €52.98 million investment takes shape.