The European Tour have confirmed that the postponed Ryder Cup will now take place at The Belfry on September 27-29 next year. It was also announced that the next three matches will be deferred a year, and as a result the first Irish staging of the event at the K Club, scheduled for 2005, will now take place in the Autumn of 2006.
The decision comes following talks with the PGA of America and US Tour, but it has not yet been confirmed that this new two-year cycle will continue indefinitely. The next two contests on American soil, at Oakland Hills in Detroit and Valhalla in Louisville, will now switch to 2004 and 2008.
Next week's match at The Belfry was called off on Sunday following the terrorist attacks in America last week, but it was decided to postpone rather than cancel this year's event. The new date announced for the match was the obvious one because the previous week all the players involved should be at Kilkenny's Mount Juliet course for the American Express world championship, the event which was cancelled in St Louis last week in the immediate aftermath of the events in New York and Washington.
Those fans waiting for information both on what happens to the tickets they held for next week's match and the process for purchasing tickets for next year will have to wait another 36 hours, however. The European tour statement tonight said that the Irish government had been consulted and had given their backing to the delaying of the match at the K Club.
It has already been decided that next year's contest will feature the same 24 players who would have played next week and the same two captains, Sam Torrance for Europe and Curtis Strange for the Americans.
To read the full European Tour statement, click here.
Filed by Shane Murray
