Extra tickets available for practice days

GOLF/Ryder Cup arrangements: Those enthusiasts who failed to obtain tickets for the Ryder Cup at the K Club in September will be given the chance to at least secure tickets for the practice days ahead of the golfing extravaganza, with the delayed release this week of up to 10,000 tickets.

Unfortunately for those hoping to avail of any unsold tickets for the match itself, the "full house" signs will be up, as there is no additional availability for the match days on September 22nd-24th.

But the organisers of the Ryder Cup, the biggest international sporting event to be staged in Ireland, with more than 280,000 spectators attending over six days (three days of practice and three days of competition), have made a request to the respective team captains to "conform with the general terms of practice, in normal daylight hours".

When the Ryder Cup was last staged in Europe, at the Belfry in 2002, many practice-day spectators were disappointed to learn Tiger Woods, the world's number one, had conducted his practice with the dawn patrol and had almost finished his rounds by the time the gates were opened to patrons.

"We would hope that didn't re-occur," admitted Richard Hills, the Ryder Cup director, at a briefing in Dublin yesterday.

So, although the request to adhere to official practice times has been made to both Europe captain Ian Woosnam and US captain Tom Lehman, it seems the real thinking behind the call is that Woods, who traditionally undertakes early-morning rounds while preparing for majors, will be on view to those spectators who manage to get tickets only for the three days of practice.

The release of the practice-day tickets won't breach the daily ceiling of 40,000 spectators, but it gives those unsuccessful in last autumn's public lottery - and those unaware such a lottery was taking place - an opportunity to experience the event.

"Getting that balance of allowing the right number of people into the ground so that they are going to feel the experience, as opposed to taking a very low number and making even more disappointed, is one of the hardest things we've had to work with," claimed Hills, of a demand for tickets that has been unprecedented in the history of the Ryder Cup.

The US team are due to arrive in Dublin on Monday morning, September 18th, on a charter plane taking players over from the 84 Lumber Classic in Pittsburgh, while the European team (at least those who haven't already made their way here in advance) will arrive on a flight from London that afternoon.

Rather surprisingly, given the number of Americans who traditionally use Irish courses to prepare for the British Open, no requests have been made for any of the potential US team to play the Palmer Course.

The lack of any intended reconnaissance doesn't surprise Hill, however. He has worked in this role since 1995 and recalls only a request from Tom Kite for a number of his team to play the course at Valderrama in 1997, when a flight was chartered to take them down after the Scottish Open and before the British Open.

As Hills put it, "Bernhard Langer at Oakland Hills (in 2004) summed it up. I said, 'Look, Bernhard, do you want us to make any arrangements for visitation to get the boys to play in front of the US Open or the US PGA?' He said, 'They are pro golfers. They're getting a day and a half more practice on a golf course than they'd normally have, on a course they actually know, and if you can't play on a golf course in a day and a half extra, you really should be questioning the yardage book'."

While the two teams continue to evolve, the organisers are confident that all of the infrastructure, primarily the road network, will be completed in time.

"It's been a team effort and a partnership from Valderrama in '97 (when Ireland was awarded the match). The focus of the world will be here in September and it is something they (the Government) want to get right as much as much as we want to get right.

"The co-operation has been fantastic . . . this might sound sycophantic, but the work that has been put in by the Irish Government and civil servants has been superb. Every time we've had an issue, the quality of information and response from all departments has been outstanding."

One potential fly in the ointment, so to speak, is an objection to An Bord Pleanála about the use of Weston aerodrome in Leixlip as a site for park-and-ride, where buses are to shuttle spectators to and from the K Club.

"Contingencies are in place," admitted Hills, "but it is something we hope we don't have to trigger. To change the course of the ship at this stage would not be in anyone's interest."

Meanwhile, part of the Ryder Cup "legacy" is that tournaments will continue to be played here long after the actual match. There is a long-term commitment to the European Open, and the Irish Open's future for the next three years at Adare Manor has been secured.

Also, the Ireland Ryder Cup Challenge on the Challenge Tour will take place at Killarney in August, and Alain de Soultrait yesterday confirmed that the promising Ulster professional Gareth Maybin, who has been playing on the Hooters Tour in America, will be invited to that tournament, and a number of others, in his attempt to secure a card.