Ryder Cup in England moves step closer as venue handed huge boost

A luxury hotel has been given a significant boost in its hopes to bring the Ryder Cup back to England for the first time in three decades.

Luton Hoo’s ambitious plans to build a “championship-level golf course” has been approved ahead of their plans stage the biennial contest in either 2031 or 2035.

The Bedfordshire hotel’s owners, the Arora Group, launched its bid to transform the grand venue into a suitable Ryder Cup destination late last year.

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“Hosting the Ryder Cup, potentially in either 2031 or 2035 would raise the profile of the area to a global audience,” chairman Surinder Arora told Luton Today.

“The opportunity to bid to host a Ryder Cup at Luton Hoo is a very real and realistic ambition.”

The plans to create a new championship course to replace its current 18-hole course has now been given the green light by the Central Bedfordshire Council.

The estate, set in more than 1,000 acres of parkland, wants to regenerate its course completely to make it up to Ryder Cup standard.

And Kevin Collins, the council’s executive member for planning and regeneration, concluded that the opportunity for tourism and investment in the county exceeded the possible damage to the area’s green belt.

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As part of the hotels’s plans, a new clubhouse would be erected to make Luton Hoo an attractive venue for not only the Ryder Cup but other eminent golf events.

And if Luton Hoo is successful in its bid, it will become the first English venue to host the famous match since The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield back in 2002.

The Belfry, the host of the British Masters until at least 2026, has staged four Ryder Cups in total but pulled out of a bid for the 2031 competition last year.

The 2023 showdown is held at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome in September, while Adare Manor in County Limerick will be the setting for the 2027 edition.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.