The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland has just received a cheque for €43,933 from Ryder Cup Europe. The Royal College of Surgeons and its Breast Cancer Research Program were chosen by Ryder Cup Europe as the beneficiary for all the monies generated through the Ryder Cup AIB Gift Card. The AIB scheme was run during the 36th Ryder Cup, which was held at the K Club in Kildare.
The Royal College of Surgeons is the leading authority in breast cancer research in Ireland. With approximately 1,800 new cases of breast cancer in Ireland each year, women living in Ireland have a one in ten chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. Some 650 women in Ireland die from breast cancer each year. RCSI is committed to reducing the number of deaths from this disease through a combination of early detection and improved treatment methods, which are central to the facilities translational approach to medicine.

Sandy Lyle is still keen to captain Europe at the Ryder Cup. Lyle made 5 appearances as a player in the Ryder Cup and has been in contention for the Ryder Cup captaincy three times, missing out to Bernhard Langer at Oakland Hills, Ian Woosnam at the K Club and Nick Faldo in Valhalla. He was vice captain to Woosie at the K Club when Europe recorded an unforgettable 18.5-9.5 victory over the US.

Montgomery is also still banging the drum for a captaincy and is looking to either 2010 in Celtic Manor or 2014 at Gleneagles.

Headlines that the Ryder Cup 2010 will bring private sector investment in the region of a Billion pounds sterling to Newport (Host City for Ryder Cup 2010) sound a little enthusiastic. There’s no doubt that the Ryder Cup generates a huge tourism boom wherever it goes but these numbers do sound a little optimistic to me – particularly as the same article referred to a global audience of billions (figures for Ryder Cup viewers were actually more modest with a total of 6 Million viewers estimated for the UK, US and Irish Markets).

If you want to be involved in the action at the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla you should volunteer. This is one exciting way to participate in the event. (Note: you are volunteering to help not just attend!)
Volunteers each receive a Volunteer Badge, which grants admission to the grounds on all six days of the Ryder Cup and admission to the International Pavilion. Volunteers will also receive a volunteer uniform. The uniform will consist of a golf shirt, pants, wind jacket and hat. The particular style of headwear will be determined by the volunteer’s gender and/or committee’s function. The other perks include a copy of the official Ryder Cup Journal, parking, shuttle service to/from the event, and food/water vouchers.

The fee for volunteering is $220.

Those who previously volunteered for the 2004 Senior PGA Championship, played at Valhalla Golf Club, will receive a volunteer application for the 2008 Ryder Cup in May 2007. Volunteer applications will be available for all others in June 2007.

To register your details into The PGA of America’s data base so that you receive a volunteer application in June, please visit the PGA site here and enter your contact details.

5 Players qualify through the Ryder Cup World Points List – based on World Ranking points accumulated from all world ranked tournaments over a 12 month period

5 Platers qualify through The Ryder Cup European Points List – based on money won in European Tour Order of Merit tournaments

2 Players are chosen as Captains Picks – by European Captain Nick Faldo

For more detail on the selection mechanism see our article on qualifying for the Ryder Cup

The selection criteria as published by the PGA are as follows:

The European Team will be selected employing the following criteria:

(a) The leading five players on The Ryder Cup World Points List (1) as of Sunday, August 31, 2008, or at the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, whichever is the latter. In the event of a tie (equal number of points accumulated), placings will be decided by the player with the higher ranking on the Official World Golf Ranking as of Monday, August 25, 2008.

(b) The leading five players, not otherwise qualified (having selected the five players from The Ryder Cup World Points List (a) above), from The Ryder Cup European Points List (2) as of Sunday, August 31, 2008, or at the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, whichever is the latter. In the event of a tie (equal number of points accumulated), placings will be decided by the player with the higher ranking on the 2008 European Tour Order of Merit as of August 31, 2008, or at the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, whichever is the latter.

(c) The Captain, Nick Faldo, will choose the remaining two players for The 2008 European Ryder Cup Team.

(1) The Ryder Cup World Points List is comprised of World Ranking Points won by a European Tour Member from each tournament in which he participates between September 6, 2007 and August 25, 2008 and thereafter in the 2008 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles. World Ranking Points are allocated to all officially sanctioned tournaments (on any Federated Tour) by the Official World Golf Ranking and are allocated according to the Event Rating of the tournament.

(2) The Ryder Cup European Points List is comprised of points (1 point = 1 Euro) earned by a European Tour Member from all officially sanctioned European Tour tournaments on The European Tour Order of Merit between September 6, 2007 and August 31, 2008 or the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, whichever is the latter.