Ryder Cup venue favors Americans

So I’m walking down the fairway of the Palmer course at the K Club, not far out of Dublin, Ireland, and I ask the European guy I’m playing with who he thinks will win the Ryder Cup.

“The Americans, obviously,” he said. “I mean, look at this course. They imported it from Missouri.”

Well, maybe not Missouri, but every European I talk to here in Ireland regrets the choice of the K Club for the 2006 Ryder Cup. It IS an American course, set down in the glen and heather of Ireland. It was designed by an American and plays like an American. It’s a very good course, but it is most definitely has target golf written on it.

Why didn’t they choose a clasic, Irish links course? The answer is fairly complicated, but basically it boils down to the bottom line. It takes money to woo an event as prestigious as the Ryder Cup. The K club and its backers have it.

Good for the Americans, bad for the Euros.

Look for a full review of the course soon…