Ryder Cup Diary

Ryder Cup Opening Ceremony Announced

John O’Donoghue, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism in Ireland revealed the plans for the Ryder Cup 2006 Opening Ceremony to be held at the K Club, Co. Kildare today. The ceremony will be a significant event as Ireland aims to maximise its exposure to hoped for 1 billion worldwide TV audience.

In an interview with RTE Radio 1 (Ireland’s national radio station) the Minister announced that the extravaganza is to be be in the spirit equivalent to a World Cup or Olympic Games opening ceremony. It is to be held on Thursday September 21st. The showcase will no doubt try and generate the same effect as the Riverdance phenomena achieved following its showcase at the Eurovision Song Contest when it was hosted by Ireland in 1994.

Indeed a new Ryder Cup anthem is to be performed by one of Ireland’s eminent traditional music players, Donal Lunny and will include a pageant by over 300 actors including from the famous theatre group Macnas. It will be attended by all the players, dignataries and the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. It will be hosted by the RTE television personality, Sharon Ní Bheoláin

In the same interview the Minister also defended the money which has been given by the state to host the event. €9.4M is needed to secure the event of which half was donated by the Irish Government and half was met through private sponsors. With an estimated return of €150M however it seems like a sound investment. Finally, the Minister also defended the K Club course following the highly critical article written by Bruce Selcraig in the Irish Times last week. The Minister, although admitting to knowing little or nothing about golf, pronounced the course “challenging” and said the players were “alive with anticpation” to get to play there.

28 June 2006 by Joe comments [16]

Comments

1. Triona Smith posted on August 21, 2006:

   Is the opening ceremony being shown only on Sky, or will RTE be covering it also??

2. Pat Shearin posted on September 8, 2006:

   Is the opening ceremony to be broadcast on RTE??

3. Joe posted on September 11, 2006:

   The response from the official Ryder Cup office was that it will also be broadcast on RTE as well as Sky however they had no other details at the time.

4. Nigel Birkett posted on September 15, 2006:

   What a shame that millions of viewers will not watch this event as again Sky robs the average person of the opportunity - Governments spend millions trying to get youngsters to play sport and lead a more active life - why not factor in a fine to Sky for the negative impact it has in this respect.

5. mark mccloskey posted on September 18, 2006:

   what time is the opening cermony on?

6. Joe posted on September 18, 2006:

   The ceremony will be on from 15:00 to 19:00 and it will be televised both on Sky and RTE (the Irish national broadcaster). They are due to have more information and as soon as we find it we will post it up.

7. Dude posted on September 18, 2006:

   I was at the final dress rehearsal of the ceremony yesterday…it was very good and will be well-worth watching. It will be broadcast live on RTE and SKY at 15:00hrs on Thursday Sept. 21

8. Schwentyfive posted on September 20, 2006:

   Sweet, looking forward to this…not the ceremony, looking forward to seeing Sharon Ní Bheoláin for a few hours. Excellent.

9. Zina posted on September 20, 2006:

   Is the opening ceremony being shown on American TV?

   Z

10. Joe posted on September 20, 2006:

    I know it is definitely on the Golf Channel but not sure about the other channels. US Readers can you let us know?

11. John posted on September 21, 2006:

    So the Opening Ceremony went off well despite the threat that the weather would push it inside…

    The president of Ireland Mary McAleese welcomed the crowd and got a huge cheer when she wished the Irish trio Padraig Harrington, Paul McGinley and Darren Clarke all the best of luck for the event.

    The teams got a massive cheer as they came onto the stage after the entertainment programme featuring some traditional Irish music and dance with a Ryder Cup theme music composed by Donal Lunny piece of music commissioned for the event.

    Captains Ian Woosnam and Tom Lehman also announced their pairings for Friday’s opening fourballs.

    Let the games commence!

12. Joe posted on September 21, 2006:

    Some video footage of the opening ceremony is available on http://www.rydercup.com/2006/europe/multimedia/video/ and also on the news bulletin of RTE at http://www.rte.ie

13. Kathy posted on September 22, 2006:

    Will there be a replay of today’s fabulous ceremonies?

14. Shirley Thomas posted on September 22, 2006:

    I saw it on The Golf Channel in U.S.

    It was fabulous. The emcee, Sharon (can’t begin to spell or pronounce her last name) was outstanding!

15. Andy Smith posted on October 3, 2006:

    What was thge name of the Spainish musician who played at the opening ceromony?

16. Neil Shively posted on October 11, 2006:

    I happened to see most of the Opening Ceremony and I was duly impressed with the performance of the emcee, Sharon. She was not only dazzling, but her composure, enunciation and syntax andwere impeccible!! Nothing like her in America. A guess: her name is pronounced “nee bow-lain?”




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