More than a decade ago, before Saudi Arabia was interested in funding a golf league, before Sergio Garcia had won the Masters, while Jon Rahm was still an underclassman in college — dreams of a Spanish Ryder Cup were born. Another Spanish Ryder Cup. Those dreams are alive and well, especially this week, as discussions on Spain hosting a Ryder Cup have moved nearer to the finish line.
Arguably the biggest event in golf owes plenty of its history to the country of Spain, which became the first continental European host in 1997 and whose countrymen have burnished a lengthy reputation for Ryder Cup greatness. But a full decade ago, in 2014, Spain tossed its hat into the ring to build upon that history even further by hosting another European Ryder Cup.
The rights to host the 2022 Ryder Cup were the center of a 4-country campaign back in ’14, with Austria, Germany and Italy joining Spain on the trail. Spain proposed a Ryder Cup just outside Barcelona, in Girona, at a resort that already hosted tournaments featuring some of the best golfers in the world. Barcelona was the safest bet, considering Spain’s golf-crazed population and history, but the European Tour felt risky. They chose Italy instead, a Cup that came to fruition in epic fashion last year.
Spain moved on, but it didn’t forget. Fast forward to today, when the country has been one of the focal points for the next not-yet-awarded Cup on the schedule — the 2031 Ryder Cup — but it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster ride.
Hosting a modern Ryder Cup requires a lot. It requires space, it requires a serious golf course — for upwards of 270,000 spectators — and it requires the backing of local government, involved not just with operations but also with funding. As was reported back in 2022, the Spanish and Girona governments were promising an investment of as much as €100 million. The payoff is a massive influx of economic value during tournament week and in the years after. You just have to win the hosting rights first.
The Catalonia region of Spain — its eastern corner highlighted by Barcelona — was chosen for a Ryder Cup host pursuit again in 2022, with Camiral Golf and Wellness resort as the selected host site. The plan was grand — the Catalan government would green-light plans for a third golf course to be built at the resort expressly for the Ryder Cup. Except the Catalan government put up a red light instead, rejecting the new land and water resources required just to earn the attention of one of the biggest events in the sports world.
That was 14 months ago. But recently, the plan was given some new life once again.
Speaking at a presentation ceremony on October 18, the Catalan Minister of Sports, Berni Alvarez, stated that the 2031 Cup was still a “viable option” in Spain. Alvarez said he first needed information, then money. In pursuit of the former, Alvarez has already been out to Calmiral for a site visit, and then tripped to Spain’s capital, Madrid, to discuss with other Ministry of Sport leaders.
Now all that remained was the money needed to create a landing place for the Cup seven years from now. “We have made a budget proposal that we are negotiating internally and then these budgets have to be approved,” Alvarez said. “The road is not easy.”
The timetable for budgetary approval is nonetheless expedited. Future host sites have often been announced eight years in advance, and this Cup is already one year late on that standard. “It is true that a decision must be made in the next few months but it is not a matter of three days either,” Alvarez said.
The size of the government investment remains unknown, but a recent report from Spanish golf website Ten Golf says the money has been earmarked and the contracts have been finalized. All that remains is announcing to the public that the 2031 Cup is headed to Spain.
“The Catalan government, headed by Salvador Illa, plans to announce the celebration of the Ryder Cup in 2031 at the end of this month of October, beginning of November at the latest,” the report states. The report also details how the plans now include a composite course of the two tracks at the Camiral resort, assuaging any previous beliefs that a new course would have to be built to make the Ryder Cup dream into a reality.
Is that report to be believed? We’ll hope to find out this week. Ultimately, the future Cup host will be chosen by Ryder Cup Europe and the DP World Tour, just like in 2014. Back then, Spain was up against three different countries. This time it would appear to be up against just one – England — but two different corners of it.
Multiple English groups have been in pursuit of hosting the Cup, one from the London area and another from further north, near Manchester. In the greater London area there is The London Club, which has hosted the DP World Tour before and is fashioning plans for a major renovation to the property in advance of hosting a Cup. Just north of London, Luton Hoo is a resort with a government-approved plan of its own. Its plan includes a purpose-built course that doesn’t yet exist. A similar approach has been lodged northwest of Manchester, in an area called Hulton Park that also exists exclusively in imaginary form. The course was rendered in artful images 12 months ago, but is still far from a reality. And while it may not have the history of the other prospects, it does have a useful ambassador: Tommy Fleetwood.
“It is an amazing landscape,” Fleetwood said last year, “and the prospect of a purpose-built stadium course here would be fantastic for everyone concerned — for golf, for the tournament and for the game in England.”
Would it be ready to win the approval for the 2031 Cup? We’ll probably find out soon. And if not, England may just have to take solace in the journey of Spanish golf leaders. Losing a bid once doesn’t mean you can’t try again.
