This time the girls will have the luxury of displaying their talents on
a Jack Nicklaus signature design course of which the “Golden Bear” has declared: “As the course designer, I am proud to be part of what is happening at Killeen Castle. It is phenomenal and has all the facilities required for a Solheim Cup or indeed a Ryder Cup some time in the future.” The scale of what’s on offer at Killeen Castle only first came to
serious public notice during the 2010 AIB Irish Ladies Open. The event, won by the Swede Sophie Gustafson with a final green birdie, attracted crowds of more than 35, 000 in total and everyone left marveling at both the magnificence of the venue and just how well these players struck the golf ball. The man behind staging the Irish Open and bringing the Solheim Cup to Ireland is Roddy Carr, son of the legendary Joe. It was a hard sell for Carr and his company to persuade Fáilte Ireland, AIB, Rolex, Ping and the other sponsors to come on board; and after that to convince the Ladies European Tour that his plan would work to the further development of the event. Many of the perceived fears were banished by what happened at the Irish Open last August. The crowds were great and so also was the suitability of the venue and the quality of the golf course. “The Irish Open has given us fantastic confidence that we can reach
the 80 to 100, 000 mark for the Solheim”, Carr enthuses. “If you bring the best, the Irish people will always come out to watch. What people may not realise is that the Solheim Cup is as big as the Ryder Cup in terms of emotion. But we’re not going to do it the same way because the money isn’t there. We’re trying to make it affordable. “And we are lucky to have a magnificent facility at Killeen Castle, we
have the Dave Pelz facility for the use of the American team and part of the clubhouse for the Europeans. Dunboyne Castle will be locked down and secured for both teams with its spa and all the function rooms we could need. Logistically, it’s as good or better than anywhere.” Alison Nicholas, a feisty Yorkshire women, captains the European
team for a second time and is single minded in her determination to win back the trophy lost to the Americans in Chicago in 2009. She has
Solheim glory: above – Killeen Castle will host this prestigious event, shown above is action from the 2010 Ladies Irish Open;. below –Europe’s Suzann Pettersen chips out of a bunker in 2009
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