GOLF: Richard Gillisgets the full charm offensive from Jean van de Velde in France's bid for the 2018 Ryder Cup
MANY A plan has started life at Versailles and inside the hospitality area overlooking the 18th green at Le Golf National, a mile from the great palace, the talk is of politics, economics, and occasionally, golf. Outside, the Alstom French Open is drawing to a close, with Miguel Angel Jimenez trying his hardest to throw away the event and with it his chance of making it in to Colin Montgomerie’s Celtic Manor team.
The likeable Spaniard has a two-shot lead going down the last only to duff a wedge into the water in front of the green. He wins a three-man play-off, and laughs in the face of a reporter who says he choked. “I’m human,” he shrugs, before holding up a cheque for €409,000.
Inside, money is also the main topic of conversation. But the numbers are bigger.
France is one of the five European countries seeking the right to play host to the 2018 Ryder Cup, the next time the event is played in Europe after Gleneagles in 2014. Other bids from Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Portugal have been submitted, while a bid from Sweden was withdrawn due to a lack of government support and finance. The final decision will be made in April next year.
The atmosphere in the room is that of a small but very upmarket wedding. There are speeches and platitudes, first from the Parisians and then from the visitors: George O’Grady, Richard Hills and Ken Schofield from the European Tour, whose judgment on the French bid will shape the final decision.
The Irish Times sits with three other invited journalists, getting the full charm offensive from Jean van de Velde, who talks the talk over cold white wine and roast lamb. He, along with Thomas Levet, are acting as bid ambassadors and it’s their job to big up the glamour of Paris, their plans for a Ryder Cup village under the Eiffel Tower and their backing from Nicolas Sarkozy’s government.
This is an election campaign, and the French are keen to get their story out early. They know that the media want soundbites; one liners that can be sent around the web. They’ve employed IMG to work on the narrative (the same agency that manages Tiger Woods and more recently, picked up the account to promote Ireland’s golf credentials overseas).
Golf is just one part of president Sarkozy’s sports strategy. Sarko is said to be obsessed with fitness, to the extent he demands that chubby ministerial colleagues get to the gym and drop a waist size. That’s what marriage to a super model does to you, and his personal obsession has morphed into policy. Having narrowly lost out on the 2012 Olympics to London, France will host the Uefa European Championship in 2016 along with numerous tennis and athletics events.
“Golf is not a major sport in France,” says Christophe Muniesa, executive director of FFG, but he hopes the Ryder Cup will do for golf what the 2007 IRB Rugby World Cup did for the oval ball game – he claims a 40 per cent increase in participation in rugby the following year. By comparison, there are 410,000 registered golfers in France, a figure he wants to increase to 700,000 by 2020. They have an agreement to levy a charge of €3 a year on every registered golfer in France and are promising 100 city-based golf developments, driving ranges and pitch and putt courses, aimed at broadening the game’s appeal beyond its traditional white, male, middle class constituency.
As was the case in Ireland, the tournament itself demands government money and Sarkozy has greenlighted a fund for infrastructure: the total bill is expected to be in the region of €18 million. But in the inflationary world of elite golf, this is on the cheap side. Terry Matthews, the proprietor of Celtic Manor is rumoured to have put down €61 million to secure his three days in the sun this October.
The conversation around the table shifts to the other bids, which are carved open as quickly as the lamb. Spain? They had it in 1997, how can they go there again? Portugal? Have you seen their budget deficit? Will the Tour entrust its prized asset to an economy like that? Do they even play golf in Holland? Please.
But mention Germany, and the conversation takes a different tone. It quickly becomes clear the French team fear the Germans, and in particular their ability to lay a big cheque in front of the European Tour.
The bid is led by former Ryder Cup captain Bernhard Langer and his brother and business partner, Erwin. It is also backed by private money, most notably that of carmaker Audi, which has committed to pay for a new course to be built.
This fact has been seized upon by the French, who are seeking to open a wound they hope will be terminal to the Langers’ chances of hosting the cup. The European Tour is heavily supported by Audi’s arch-rivals BMW, which has just extended its sponsorship of the PGA event at Wentworth and is the official car of the Ryder Cup. Will the Tour take the event to an Audi-branded course, and jeopardise one of its most valuable commercial deals?
Talking to Levet earlier in the day, anything it seems is possible. The golfer quietly expressed a fear, commonly held in these parts: “The German bid has more money, if they sign a big cheque, will the European Tour turn it down? Who knows?”
As with any election campaign, the official lines being trotted out by the bid leaders form just part of the story. The Ryder Cup is the European Tour’s cash cow, with the money used to prop up unprofitable events which have been hit by the collapse of two major sponsor categories – banks and car makers.
The selection of the venue therefore must make money for the Tour. “Essential to the bid criteria is a commitment to the development of a world-class golf facility to host the 2018 Ryder Cup,” runs a press release from the European Tour, a statement that should concern Levet and his colleagues.
The French bid is the only one based on an existing golf course. Each of the other four remain either at the design stage or uncompleted. Significantly, the company that is behind three of the courses – in Portugal, Netherlands and Spain – are European Golf Design (EGD). EGD is a joint venture between the European Tour and IMG, meaning both parties would benefit financially should these countries win the bid in April.
“We could now develop our own Ryder Cup course, there’s no question of that,” said George O’Grady two years ago at a journalists round table in London. This would complete the circle: the Ryder Cup played at a European Tour-owned venue, with the European Tour also acting as estate agent, selling houses or hotel rooms too. In other words, a series of K Clubs and Celtic Manors dotted around Europe, owned not by Michael Smurfit or Terry Matthews, but by the Tour themselves. This is a model the Americans have favoured, taking the Ryder Cup to Valhalla in 2008, a course owned by the PGA Tour.
There is cynicism of the long-term legacy of the Cup: accounts for The K Club in 2007, the year following the event, showed losses of €5.5 million and green fees at the course have fallen from €400 in the summer before the Ryder Cup, down to €90 earlier this year.
But for some it remains a marketing asset. The Ryder Cup creates “publicity we couldn’t buy”, says Gareth Rees-Jones, head of marketing at Celtic Manor, who points to a 58 per cent rise in green fee income at the hotel’s three courses as evidence that golfers “want to say they played the course”.
It’s this type of talk that has lured the French into the race for 2018, and back in Versailles, Levet sums up the process neatly.
In the end, he says: “It will be about money. Golf is just a part of it.”
It was always thus.
2018 RYDER CUP: THE CONTENDERS
France
Course: Le Golf National (Albatross Course), Paris
The French Open dates back to 1906, and has been held at Le Golf National for the past nine years. The bid promises a legacy of 100 city-based golf centres and hopes to increase participation from 400,000 registered golfers to 700,000 by 2020.
Germany
Course: The Audi Course, Wittelsbach Rohrenfeld, near Munich
Fronted by Bernhard Langer and his brother Erwin, this is the big-money bid backed by Audi and Wittelsbacher Auslgeichsfonds, the investment company of the former Royal Bavarian family and one of the biggest landowners in Germany.
Netherlands
Course: The Dutch, Spijk, near Gorinchem
Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, in conjunction with European Golf Design, is architect of this course, which is not yet completed. Despite little in the way of obvious golf heritage, the Dutch Open dates back to 1912. Very much the outsider, and perhaps only in it to raise the profile of the game among Dutch business and political circles.
Spain
Course: Madrid
Despite the many courses in Spain, the bid is based on building a new one. Obvious golfing credentials make it a viable candidate, but has hosted the Ryder Cup before, in 1997. Would this be fair?
Portugal
Course: Golden Eagle Golf Resort, Rio Maior
The course is under construction and ironically, is designed by Bernhard Langer, the leader of the German bid, along with European Golf Designs, a joint venture between the European Tour and the IMG agency. Big question marks over the ability of the government to support a bid financially given the economic environment.
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Richard Gillis
