Portmarnock would have to guarantee substantial, annual contributions to the PGA European Tour between now and 2005 to have any chance of staging the Ryder Cup. The club's honorary secretary, Moss Buckley, disclosed yesterday that they would also have to make a down payment of £750,000. But the club is still prepared to put its hat in the ring.
"Our decision to offer the course and its facilities is as a result of many requests from the Irish golfing public and from golf fans and commentators all over the world," said Portmarnock captain, Charlie McCaw. "They are of the opinion that, when in Ireland, the Ryder Cup should be played on a links course."
Financial requirements were outlined in a recent meeting which Portmarnock officials had with European Tour executive director Ken Schofield and Ryder Cup director Richard Hills. "In return, we were offered 50 per cent of the merchandising along with a share of the profits from corporate hospitality," said Buckley.
He went on: "Even at that, it would cost us money insofar as we would obviously want to upgrade our facilities for such a huge undertaking. Either way, the event is too rich for us and we have no intention of getting involved in a Dutch auction."
Why, then, are the club bothering even to respond to proposals from the European Tour? "We don't need the tournament but we feel an obligation to our members and the golfing public," replied Buckley. "Quite frankly I think the decision on the venue should be taken by the Government, given that they have committed £7.5 million of taxpayers' money to the project."
He added: "It is perfectly clear to us that the Ryder Cup is money-driven. And the simple fact is that we're not prepared to pay." There was a time when sponsors were delighted to pay Portmarnock for the honour of staging the Irish Open and other major events on their superb links. But Schofield and Hills left the club in no doubt as to the way things have changed in recent years, largely through the emergence of proprietary facilities.
It has now become financially profitable for such courses to pay handsomely for the staging of a major tournament. And in marketing terms, international television transmission of such an event has been proved to be far more rewarding in promotion of courses than straightforward advertising.
In this context, Portmarnock has nothing to prove. From the time it staged the British Women's and British Amateur Championships, on to the Dunlop Masters in 1959 and the Canada Cup a year later, the North Dublin links has been widely accepted as a venue of the highest quality.
Indeed a measure of its international impact is that the two current Ryder Cup captains, Europe's Mark James and America's Ben Crenshaw, both won Irish Open titles there.
Effectively, the rules under which the venue for the 2005 Ryder Cup will be chosen, were set at Kiawah Island in 1991. That was when Jaime Patino, acting as an official Ryder Cup observer, came to the realisation that the event could be bought. He then set his sights on bringing it to his own course, Valderrama. And it took him only six years to do it.
Having a links course as the 2005 venue would undoubtedly make most sense in terms of marketing this country as a destination for golf tourism. Indeed the fact that we can boast 39 out of the world's estimated total of only 150 links courses - 26 per cent - makes Ireland very fortunate.
Such considerations are largely irrelevant, however, in the context of the European Tour's agenda. With this priceless commodity at his disposal only every eight years - the profits from the European stagings are alternated with the British PGA - Schofield is, understandably, going to exploit it to the maximum advantage of the European Tour.
The only way things could change would be for the decision to rest with the Government. And it is clear that there would be a problem in using taxpayers' money on the staging of an international event at a venue where membership is strictly menonly.
This is especially true at a time when discrimination against women golfers is still widespread in this country and when Bord Failte grants to golf clubs are contingent on the guarantee of equal status being incorporated in the constitution of these facilities.
"The gender issue has never affected us in the past and we don't see why it should affect us now," said Buckley. His contention is that the Ryder Cup is about a golf course, not a club. In that respect he is perfectly correct, but one suspects he would have problems convincing pressure groups of his point of view.
Either way, money, not gender, will be the deciding factor. Which means that no members club can hope to compete with the financial resources of The K Club, Mount Juliet and Druids Glen, the three leading candidates.
