Druids Glen will not be changing the time-scale of their proposed £51 million development, despite losing out to The K Club in the bid to stage the 2005 Ryder Cup. Their view is that, in common with other leading clubs here, they will benefit from the arrival of the biennial showpiece to Ireland.

"When all the planning details are finalised, we will be sticking to our original schedule," said Druids Glen chief executive Denis Kane last night. "Assuming there are no last-minutes hitches, we should be starting in April and have the first phase completed by the middle of the year 2000."

Elaborate plans which it was hoped would swing the Ryder Cup vote in favour of the Wicklow venue, include a 150-bedroom, fivestar hotel and the extension of the golfing facilities to 36 holes.

It has since emerged, however, that The K Club will be confirmed as the 2005 venue when the European Ryder Cup committee make the official announcement at a press conference in Jury's Hotel on Friday morning. "When it becomes official, we will congratulate Dr Smurfit and wish The K Club every success," added Kane.

Pending a committee meeting last night, there was nobody available for comment at Portmarnock GC. But Mount Juliet director of golf, Kate MacCann, matched Kane's generous reaction when she said: "We're very pleased the Ryder Cup is coming to Ireland and wish The K Club every success as the host."

She added: "It is also very encouraging that so many Irish venues are capable of playing host to a Ryder Cup and that three of these, Mount Juliet, Druids Glen and The K Club, represent major private investment in Irish tourism."

Indeed tourism is very much on Kane's mind at the moment. He arrived home on Sunday from four days' promotional work in Norway and is heading for Helsinki on Thursday with the same objective.

"Where the Ryder Cup is concerned, we have to accept that sponsorship of the Smurfit European Open weighed heavily in favour of The K Club," said the Druids Glen executive. "Taking the view that a rising tide lifts all boats, however, we expect to benefit from the event.

"That is one of the reasons we're keeping the development of the Druids Glen complex on schedule. We believe that golfers who come to this country with the intention of playing The K Club as a prospective Ryder Cup venue, will also be keen to play other leading courses, including ours."

In talking to representatives of the leading, rival clubs, it became clear yesterday that the blow of losing out to The K Club, had been softened somewhat by the apparent predictability of the outcome. Druids Glen would have been much more optimistic than Mount Juliet, but even they were acutely aware of where the smart money was placed.

Portmarnock, however, effectively lost interest when they were informed last autumn that an ex-gratia contribution of £750,000 would be expected by the European Tour, if their application happened to be successful.

Meanwhile, the ground rules of this latest Ryder Cup wrangle, were effectively set out at Kiawah Island in 1991. That was when the Landmark company who developed the facility, paid a reported $9 million to the PGA of American for the Ryder Cup. As owner of Valderrama, venue for the Volvo Masters, Jaime Patino attended that staging as an official observer - and discovered the event could be bought.