Ryder Cup Diary

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.

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Just heard a snippet on the radio here in Ireland advertising a new competition for Tickets to the Ryder Cup at the K Club. MBNA are running a competition for Tickets. I had a search around online but could find nothing on their site…

The gist of the advert was that if you apply for a new Platinum Credit Card you are entered in a raffle – if this is of interest I suggest contacting MBNA – you can find their details here

Good Luck!

The big news this week was the US Open. The event was finally won by the young Australian Geoff Ogilvy. It was a victory reported as having been lost by some of the major potential Ryder Cup stars such as Mickelson, Montgomerie, Furyk or Harrington as much as won by Ogilvy.

For the European team Harrington’s performance seemed to be back on track and even heading for victory until the final three holes which he bogeyed. However the fifth place result sees him making the automatic qualification list for the first time. Montgomerie once again just missed his chance to lift a major but his tied second place has further secured his Ryder Cup spot.

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