IN A move aimed at bringing the Ryder Cup to Ireland, the Minister for Sport, Bernard Allen TD, has made an official request to the Executive Director of the European PGA Tour, Ken Schofield, for discussions between the Tour authorities and a high-powered committee to be established by the Minister.
While the scramble for places on Europe's team for next year's encounter with the United States in Valderrama commences with tomorrow's British Masters at Collingtree, The Irish Times has learnt that formal requests have been made by Allen's office to Schofield seeking a meeting. The event might possibly be staged here in 2005.
Valderrama, the traditional home of the Volvo Masters in southern Spain, will next year become the first non-British venue in Europe to host the biennial match. The Belfry, which staged the 1985, '89 and '93 matches, has again been awarded the right to host the 2001 event.
Although the composition of the Irish Ryder Cup committee, launched by the Minister during the Murphy's Irish Open last month, has yet to be finalised (a number of prominent businessmen and golfing personalities have been approached), Allen has written a letter to Schofield informing him of Ireland's intention to act as Ryder Cup hosts, and requesting a meeting.
There is likely to be strong backing for Ireland, given the role golfers from this country have played in the event down the years. Christy O'Connor Senior, the late Harry Bradshaw, Eamonn Darcy and Christy O'Connor Junior have all contributed to successful teams and, most recently, Philip Walton secured the point which gave Europe victory at Oak Hill last September.
Seve Ballesteros, who will captain the European team at Valderrama, has publicly stated that the Ryder Cup should be staged in Ireland, and similar backing has come from Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer. It is expected Sweden and, possibly, Germany will also seek to stage the 2005 event.
There are number of strong candidates for staging the event in this country although Portmarnock, host to the Walker Cup in 1991, and Mount Juliet, cited by Faldo when he collected a third successive Irish Open in 1993 as the tournament venue which all other European events should aspire to, would probably be to the forefront.
The battle for places on Europe's team for Valderrama - players will receive a p6int for every pound won up to next year's German Open - starts with tomorrow's British Masters, in which nine members of Bernard Gallacher's successful team in Rochester will be in action.
Ballesteros, Walton, Colin Montgomerie, Costantino Rocca, Ian Woosnam, David Gilford, Sam Torrance, Howard Clark and Mark James are all competing. The three absentees from the Rochester team are Faldo, Langer and Per-Ulrik Johansson.
An indication of how much some of the Rochester heroes have lost form this season - or, perhaps, the emergence of new talent on the circuit? - is that just three are currently in the top 20: Woosnam (first), Montgomerie (second) and Rocca (sixth). Ballesteros is currently wallowing in 141st position, Clark is in 118th place and James is 108th.
Eleven Irish players will be in the British Masters field at Collingtree: Walton, Ronan Rafferty, Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley, David Feherty, Eamonn Darcy, Des Smyth, Darren Clarke, Raymond Burns, David Higgins and Francis Howley.
One former Ryder Cup star who remains on the `absentee' list is Jose Maria Olazabal, and any hope the Spaniard entertains for a reappearance on the circuit this season could well rest with the European Tour. His manager, Sergio Gomez has written to the Tour asking that Olazabal, who has an arthritic condition in his foot, be allowed use a buggy in the Perrier Tournament in Bordeaux on October 17-20.
"Jose-Mana is still in pain after walking for three hours and it takes him longer than that to play a round on tour," said Gomez. "Sometimes he gets desperate - the frustrating thing is that if the arthritis was in his hands, he would know he couldn't play golf. He can still hit shots okay but it is the walking in between that is the problem."
While Europe's men set off in the quest to accumulate Ryder Cup points, their female counterparts are nearly at the end of their Solheim Cup qualifying campaign. Manager Mickey Walker will finalise her team after the EWPGA tournament in Sweden this Sunday.
Joanne Morley is just 20 points behind Lora Fairclough - who currently occupies the seventh automatic place in the team - heading into this weekend's final qualifying event. Walker can add five `wild cards'.
American captain Judy Rankin, meanwhile, has omitted newly-crowned British Open champion Emilee Klein from her team for the event which takes place at St Pierre, Chepstow, on September 20-22. Rankin opted to pick experienced players Beth Daniel and Brandie Burton as her selections, saying "Emilee is just 22 and playing this (event) is about as nervous as I've seen players get. The matches being overseas this year turns up the volume a little more, and the players I choose are a little more equipped at this time."
The USA team is: Dottie Pepper, Meg Mallon, Kelly Robbins, Michelle McGann, Jane Geddes, Patty Sheehan, Rosie Jones, Pat Bradley, Val Skinner, Betsy King, Daniel and Burton. The only newcomers to Solheim Cup competition are Geddes and Skinner.
