PGA Centenary is Ryder Cup ready

It has had its fair share of critics over the years. Some might say more than its fair share. However, there is no doubt in my mind that the PGA Centenary Course is now ready to host the 2014 Ryder Cup match.

Last week’s Johnnie Walker Championship hammered home that point in emphatic fashion. Players I spoke to at the tournament raved about the quality of the course. I can’t tell you how many times I heard somebody say, “I’ve never seen the course looking better”.

A good summer certainly helped in that respect. There’s no substitute for a prolonged spell of hot, dry weather when it comes to helping present a course in top condition. The hard-working Gleneagles greenkeeping team also deserve a mention. However, for me, the single biggest contribution to the improvements on the PGA Centenary Course is the installation of the SubAir system.

Put in a cost of a reported half a million pounds, it is an ingenious device which dramatically improves drainage, particularly on and around the greens. It was something the PGA Centenary – so vociferously criticized in the past for the condition of its putting surfaces – badly needed and the impact has been immediate.

I was at Gleneagles last Wednesday and it’s safe to say there was a bit of rain. During one of these showers, I headed out to the first and 18th greens to see how they were coping with the downpour. Effortlessly, as it turned out.

Now, let’s be clear, the importance of this cannot be understated. The single biggest worry people have for next year’s Ryder Cup is that we have a repeat of the heavy rain that blighted the 2010 match at Celtic Manor. It’s a reasonable concern. The chances of rain in Scotland at the end of September? Probably in the 75% bracket, I’d have thought. However, with the installation of this SubAir system, Gleneagles appears ready for whatever Mother Nature might try to throw at it. Here’s hoping it doesn’t need used but it’s fantastic that it is there if needed.

There were plenty of notable absentees, not playing in the PGA Tour’s end of season cash-grab, who could and should have been at Gleneagles.

One other thing about the Johnnie Walker Championship last week: the quality of the field. The Johnnie Walker was the first tournament I ever covered for bunkered, although back in 2004 it was called the Diageo Championship. However, I’m not sure I can recall it being as poorly supported as it was this year.

Only two of the world’s top 50 players took part. Francesco Molinari, the world No.42, and Thorbjorn Olesen two places below the Italian. Even more disturbingly, only 11 of the top 100 were there.

Naturally, the fact that the championship was up against the opening event of the $67m FedExCup Playoffs didn’t do much for its appeal but there were plenty of notable absentees, not playing in the PGA Tour’s end of season cash-grab, who could and should have been at Gleneagles – particularly when you consider that there hadn’t been a regular European Tour event for three whole weeks.

Where was Alex Noren? Or Darren Clarke? Or Chris Wood? Or Branden Grace? Or Richard Sterne, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Jamie Donaldson, Matteo Manassero. The list goes on and on.

Maybe it’s just me but if I were a European golfer (and, yes, I know not all of the players I mentioned there are) then I would be going out of my way to impress Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley by, firstly, turning up for the last major professional tournament to take place on the PGA Centenary Course before next year’s match and, secondly, putting together four good rounds there.

In Diageo, through its Johnnie Walker brand, the championship has a loyal and long-standing supporter that has made a huge investment in the event down the years, whilst the Gleneagles Hotels is, at the very least, the equal of most stops on the tour schedule. Both deserve a better field than they got this year.

Shame on those who stayed away.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor