The composition of Europe’s Ryder Cup side to face the United States at Boston in September should become clearer this week, when the spectacular Galway Bay Golf and Country Club Hotel hosts the penultimate European Tour event before the team is finalised.
The first West of Ireland Golf Classic will afford a last ditch opportunity for some to gain sufficient points before the conclusion of the Ryder Cup qualification process, after which Europe’s captain Mark James will add his two wild card picks to the ten automatic qualifiers.
As things stand, several competitors who have entered to play in Galway have an opportunity of improving their prospects of making the team to face the United States in Boston.
Those include Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, Italy's Costantino Rocca and John Bickerton of England. Dubai Desert Classic champion David Howell was forced to withdraw with a recurrance of a foot injury.
No less exciting is the fact that the West of Ireland Golf Classic is being played as a ‘joint ranking’ tournament under a new structure which incorporates both the European Tour and the European Challenge Tour with an equal number of golfers from each Tour.
In keeping with the European Tour’s policy of opportunity and incentive, Ryder Cup hopefuls will mix with Challenge Tour players still making their way in the game. The prize fund is 350,000 euro (£250,000) while the winner can look forward to and a one-year exemption on the European Tour.
In addition to offering the incentive of gathering valuable Ryder Cup points, the West of Ireland Classic will also count towards the Volvo Order of Merit on the main Tour and the Challenge Tour Order of Merit.
Several of last year’s Challenge Tour graduates will be at the Christy O’Connor Jnr-designed course to remind this year’s class of hopefuls just what can be achieved through securing their cards via the Challenge Tour.
One of the prime examples is Bickerton, winner of £226.038 from 22 starts this year, while John Mellor, Stephen Gallacher, Soren Hansen and Darren Lee are all in the good position to retain their Tour status after playing solidly on the European Tour this season.
The two current leaders of the Challenge Tour rankings, Carl Sunesson and Spain, and Australian Lucas Parsons are both in the field.
O’Connor Jnr, who played one of the great Ryder Cup shots at the 18th hole at The Belfry in 1989, said: “I know what playing in the Ryder Cup means to Europe’s top golfers and we are sure to see some of the very best of them battle it out to secure one of those ten guaranteed places.”
He continued: “Having the Challenge Tour players here as well is a great bonus. Each year we are seeing more and more just how strong the Tour is.
“This season, for example, we have seen David Park come from the Challenge Tour and win on his second start on the European Tour, just a week after missing out in a play-off in Morocco. We can look forward to four days of unrivalled top class golf here in Galway Bay.”
European Tour personnel have been on site, remodelling some elements of the course to bring it up to European Tour standards. Television highlights of the four days will be seen on Sky Television in 35 countries.
