Ticket requests to break records

Ryder Cup: The age-old market forces aphorism of supply and demand has already determined that next year's Ryder Cup at The K Club in Straffan, Co Kildare, will be a sell-out. Although tickets for the match - when Europe will attempt to win for an unprecedented third consecutive time - will not be allocated until later this year, there have been in excess of 50,000 requests received to date.

The ticket application process will conclude in July, so that number is expected to rise considerably over the coming months and the expectation is that there will be a record number of requests for tickets - which will be limited to 40,000 per day - before they are actually allocated under what is expected to be a random lottery.

The finer points of the ticket distribution are to be announced at a briefing from the PGA European Tour that will coincide with the Nissan Irish Open at Carton House in May.

When the last Ryder Cup was staged at Oakland Hills in Detroit last year, there were a record 102,000 requests for tickets.

Next year's match between Europe and the United States, however, is anticipated to be the hottest ticket in sport for 2006, but Richard Hills, the director of the Ryder Cup, said yesterday that ticket allocation for The K Club would be "as fair as possible" so that as many people as possible get an opportunity to attend.

As required under EU regulations, the ticket application process will be "a Pan-European offering", added Hills, which means that they will be restricted from offering tickets solely to the Irish market. This requirement has been in place for the last three matches.

With 7,500 tickets reserved for the corporate market, it means that the general public will get the opportunity to purchase tickets that range in price and structure from a top price of €345 for a four-day ticket from Thursday to Sunday down to a daily €35 ticket for the Tuesday or Wednesday practice days.

The period for ticket applications will extend to the end of July and can be done through the European Tour's website www.europeantour.com or by post.

"We'll do everything in our powers to prevent tickets ending up on the black market," said Hills.

In an effort to keep traffic away from the Straffan area, a park-and-ride facility will operate from Weston airfield in Leixlip.

When the Ryder Cup was held at the Belfry in England in 2002, many spectators who had obtained tickets for the practice days were disappointed to discover that Tiger Woods, the world's number one, had concluded his practice rounds before they were even admitted to the course.

It is customary for Woods - in the days before major tournaments - to play virtually at the crack of dawn but Hills revealed yesterday that they had been in contact with their counterparts in America requesting that players adhere to playing their practice rounds at the official times.

Including practice days and the three days of actual competition, which takes place on September 22nd-24th next year, it is expected that 240,000 spectators will attend the Ryder Cup. The scale of the event is such that 5,000 people will be working on site.

Allianz Ireland has also announced they will become an official sponsor and official insurer to the Ryder Cup and also an official sponsor to the Nissan Irish Open, which takes place at Carton House on May 19th-22nd.

The tie-up between the Ryder Cup and the company was brought about by Paul McGinley who displayed the Ryder Cup at the All-Ireland football final in Croke Park last September and used the occasion to introduce Richard Hills to his main sponsor.