WHERE television audiences are concerned, the three most important international sporting events are the Olympic Games, the soccer World Cup and the Ryder Cup. By the time golf's biennial showdown between Europe and the US takes place at Valderrama next September, Spain will have been hosts to the big treble over a period of 16 years.

They staged the World Cup in 1982 and the Olympics in 1992 and had sufficient expertise left over to organise Expo 92 in Seville. This should be a matter of some enlightenment to those parties, at Government level and elsewhere, who have expressed a determination to bring the Ryder Cup to this country in 2005.

In common with their British counterparts, the Spaniards have long since accepted that with so much at stake in terms of finance and prestige, the staging of such events no longer simply happens. Countries don't get the World Cup or the Ryder Cup because they have patiently waited for their turn to come around arms must be twisted, vested interests must be satisfied and a substantial financial investment must be made.

"This is the commercial reality of the Ryder Cup and I see nothing wrong with it," said Stuart Reid, chairman of De Vere Hotels, owners of The Belfry, which will stage the event for a fourth time in 2001. "No one in this day and age is going to hand it to Ireland just because it has not been there before. You have to get into the market place and fight for it."

Reid knows about such matters, having been involved in an outlay of £8 million by his company on a new PGA training academy and a third course at the Birmingham complex, to be known as PGA National and opening next year. With that sort of financial commitment, they quite reasonably expected to be given favourable consideration for the 2001 staging.

Jut to be doubly sure, however, they agreed to stage the PGA Seniors Championship at The Belfry for at least the next 10 years with prizemoney this year of £150,000. For good measure, they undertook to sponsor a regular Seniors' event at another of their courses.

And what of Spain? Since the Turespana series was launched in 1988, the Spanish Government have spent in excess of £12 million on 20 professional tournaments. What started as a five year marketing strategy has since been extended in an ongoing objective to make Spain the golfing destination of Europe.

At the time the Ryder Cup was being discussed, nice sentiments were expressed about "owing it to Seve" because of his tremendous contribution to the event over the years. But it is now clear that Spanish government money was the key factor.

As chairman of Bord Failte, Padraig O hUiginn could see the sound pragmatism of the Spanish approach. In his attempts at applying the strategy to this country, however, through financial support for the Murphy's Irish Open and the Smurfit European Open, he was hampered by limited funds, especially with an additional commitment to the Women's Irish Open.

Some observers may have scoffed at the rather modest Spanish prizemoney, others at the questionable quality of the courses, but the crucial issue was that they were providing an invaluable service to the European tournament scene which simply couldn't be ignored. Indeed, at various times in the last eight years, Spain has staged more official tour events than Britain.

Valderrama will, in fact, be paying nothing for the privilege of staging next year's Ryder Cup. Everything was done at national level. Spain lobbied for the event as a nation and when the European Tour rewarded them for services rendered, the choice of venue became a secondary issue.

The situation in the US is rather different, insofar as the Ryder Cup still hasn't attained the level of appeal there that it enjoys in this part of the world. The choice of Muirfield Village for the 1987 staging was essentially a gesture by the PGA of America to Jack Nicklaus. The same body chose an embryonic Kiawah Island for the 1991 staging because they had a financial interest in the South Carolina development.

In terms of furthering the Irish cause, Bernard Allen, the Minister for Sport, made an admirably worthwhile start recently by appointing an eight man Ryder Cup committee. It is headed by the accomplished amateur golfer and leading businessman, Hugh Mackeown, and includes Des Smyth, who was twice a Ryder Cup representative, in 1979 and 1981.

However, the committee is without the one Irishman who knows most about the organising of major golf events. Indeed Roddy Carr, who is based in Santander in his capacity as business manager of Seve Ballesteros, played a significant role is Spain's successful Ryder Cup bid.

As chief executive of the promotions company Amen Corner, Carr worked with the Spanish government on the Turespana series. In fact, as organiser of a total of 28 European tournaments, he is surpassed only by Mark McCormack's International Management Group in that field. Carr will be operating as official co ordinator at Valderrama next September, through Amen Corner.

Before outlining his views on the Irish bid, he emphasised that he has no vested interest in the project. "There is nothing in it for me," he said. "I will be offering my services, gratis, to Enda Kenny (Minister for Trade and Tourism), simply because I have a passionate interest in seeing the Ryder Cup being staged in Ireland.

"It was a dreadful shame that we didn't get the event in 1993 when it went back to The Belfry in a compromise decision. I have no doubt that serious mistakes were made in our presentation on that occasion. We had nobody on the inside track who would have known what was needed to swing the deal.

"Stuart Reid of De Vere Hotels is quite right when he says that these deals don't just happen. You've got to have the expertise to know what the other side are after. I'm quite satisfied that the 1993 Ryder Cup was in our grasp, but we let it slip."

The former IMG employee believes that Minister Allen is adopting the correct approach in organising the hid at national level. "The venue is very much a secondary issue at this stage, though I suspect the choice must rest between Portmarnock, Mount Juliet and The K Club," said Carr. "The Minister has also chosen well in naming his eight man committee. I know these men and they are undoubtedly very capable in their own spheres of activity.

"The crucial question, however, is whether they will be capable of identifying the key ingredient when the time comes to close the deal. It is already accepted that we cannot expect to get the Ryder Cup by right, so there must be no mistakes this time around."

Carr's point is well made.

Jaime Ortiz Patino, owner of Valderrama, predicts that the Costa del Sol will become the Florida of Europe "if we get it right next year. The potential is unlimited."

Golf in mainland Europe is currently growing at an annual rate of 28 per cent, which means that it is rapidly becoming very big business throughout the continent. It is inevitable that certain governments will see the Ryder Cup as a priceless spur towards that development.

What if Sweden, with two Ryder Cup representatives to their credit, decided to throw their hat into the ring? Given the level of finance that they have ploughed into the development of tennis and golf at national level, largely through major sponsorship, they would have to be serious contenders. They already have got an extremely powerful sweetener in Volvo's corporate sponsorship of the European Tour?

Then there is the very real threat from Scotland where, remarkably, the event has been staged only once, in 1973 at Muirfield. Lyle Anderson, owner of the new, Tom Weiskopf designed Loch Lomond course, where a World Invitational was launched in September, makes no secret of his desire to play host to events of the highest calibre.

The fact remains that Ireland would be an extremely popular choice, certainly among the players. In that context, we can draw on a huge fund of goodwill established through highly successful stagings of the Irish Open, since Carrolls revived the championship at Woodbrook in 1975.

The country's golfing image has been further enhanced by Smurfit's sponsorship of the European Open, starting last year at The K Club. Then there was the exemplary manner in which Portmarnock played host to the Walker Cup matches in 1991, quite apart from all the other major events staged there.

"The economic impact on Ireland would be absolutely staggering," says Carr. "It would do untold good for the tourist industry, particularly in the US mark".

And it would win us many new friends throughout Europe. That is why we mustn't shy away from making the necessary financial investment at national level."

Amid scenes of unbridled joy after Philip Walton secured the winning point for Europe at Oak Hill 14 months ago, a highly emotional Ballesteros moved about the 18th green, looking for shoulders to cry on. When it became my turn to proffer my shoulder to the illustrious Spaniard, he vowed in between sobs that he would support any move to bring the Ryder Cup to Ireland.

When The Belfry took the event for the first time in 1985, nobody else wanted to know. After the Ryder Cup had spectacularly transformed the rather dubious future of a one time potato field, it was clearly going to take more than Spanish tears to capture this sure fire bonanza.

Whatever about staging the Olympics, this is an event that Ireland can undoubtedly host well, if only for the fact that we have no shortage of world class facilities. However, the potential pay off is such that we must be prepared to face stern competition in the market place. Starting now.