The possibility of the Ryder Cup coming to Bedfordshire moved a step closer after a proposal to build a golf course capable of staging the event was approved for Luton Hoo.
England has not staged the Ryder Cup since 2002 when The Belfry held the event for the fourth time, and up to now it seems any chance of a return rests with new courses being built in two unlikely spots in Luton or Bolton.
The luxury hotel at Luton Hoo already has a golf course that has staged an event on the PGA EuroPro Tour, but the venue has now received approval to turn it into "a new championship-level course worthy of hosting the Ryder Cup".
The Arora Group who runs Luton Hoo says bringing the Ryder Cup to Bedfordshire is a “realistic ambition” and add that staging the event would bring in hundreds of millions to the local economy.
Local councillors said the benefits of the work outweighed potential problems building on green belt land – adding that even if the ambitious plans to stage the Ryder Cup failed the new course could still "attract significant competitions" and make Luton Hoo a "very attractive venue" for golf events.
It’s not the only ambitious and surprising bid being launched to try and attract the Ryder Cup though, with a proposed venue in Bolton battling to hold the biennial event despite opposition from the local council.
The £240m project at Hulton Park would see an 18-hole championship golf course and over 1,000 houses built, with the aim also to attract the golfing gladiators from Team USA and Europe to fight it out in the Bolton area.
Developers Peel L&P finally got the go-ahead for the project last year after winning an appeal against the local council’s planning committee, who had rejected the plan, and the developers say their Bolton project would be a frontrunner for an English Ryder Cup.
“Different countries have always been bidding to host the Ryder Cup tournament and should another nation be chosen to host the 2031 championship, we will continue to promote Hulton Park for any prospective 2035 English bid,” Peel L&P director Richard Knight said back in January.
“Hulton Park remains a shortlisted venue in any bid to host an English Ryder Cup in 2031 or 2035, having gone through a joint selection process with UK Sport and Ryder Cup Europe, which concluded that the venue could meet the hosting criteria.
“While other venues have announced ambitions to enter the process, we remain convinced that the huge regeneration potential of our plans and particularly the ability of a brand-new iconic venue to contribute to levelling up, make Bolton the most compelling choice of location to bring the Ryder Cup back to England.”
It means Luton Hoo, and reported interest from Kent venue The London Club, could well struggle to topple Bolton’s bid to stage the biggest event in golf.
Any English bids for the 2031 or 2035 Ryder Cups could also face Spanish rivals, with PGA Catalunya near Barcelona, now known as Camiral Golf and Wellness and a previous host of the Spanish Open, thought to be interested.
There was some surprise when a new venue at Celtic Manor got to stage the Ryder Cup in 2010, but that turned out to be a fantastic event, despite of the weather, and now an established golfing destination and tournament host.
It’d be even more surprising though if the Ryder Cup ended up being staged in Luton or Bolton, with either of those becoming a hot new golfing venue in England.
