Ireland, get ready. The Ryder Cup is now the third biggest sporting event in the world - after the Olympic Games and the soccer World Cup - and testimony to this is that 1,600 journalists, print and broadcasting, have been accredited to report the match in Valderrama.

To facilitate the invasion of reporters, the largest ever media centre at a golf tournament has been constructed. It houses 400 writers, 150 photographers and 70 radio reporters.

Not only that, but a potential television audience of 700 million viewers will be reached with 20 stations worldwide obtaining rights to screen the match.

PGA European Tour Productions, a company owned 50 per cent by the European Tour and 50 per cent by Trans World International (part of the IMG group), have been commissioned to produce the coverage, and the operation will be the biggest all-digital outside broadcast in any sphere of television.