Take a bus (and train) across the county of Co Cork, heading towards the city of Kinsale, where a light rail service begins on the outskirts of town. And at the stop before the Green Line begins, one’s eyes soon will be drawn toward the gleaming white curtains that will cover the Atlantic in a new meadow and working farm called Adare Manor. At the very moment Adare Manor offers the most breathtaking view, one’s mind starts to wander — to what sort of a venue could a U.S. team use for the 2024 Ryder Cup?
Well, how about this one. The rugged beauty and vastness of Adare Manor. The genteel English architecture. And the cool city of Kinsale, located near the sea.
In 2027, at what is, in the layman’s words, “the perfect host venue,” the U.S. Golf Association is planning on transforming Adare Manor into the home of the Ryder Cup. Once one of the country’s biggest private estates, and a resort which still boasts seven golf courses, Adare Manor will host 40-plus days of golf and tens of thousands of spectators in the 2024 Ryder Cup.
O’Hara is working on the club’s rebuild, he told journalists and stakeholders in a planning meeting in Dublin. The club will now receive bids from prospective hosts in an open selection process, in late November or early December.
So here’s some brief tour of Adare Manor:
Constructed by Lord and Lady O’Donovan in 1843, the house has undergone several recent changes. It has been home to plenty of Irish royalty over the years, including King James II of England in the mid-18th century, the daughters of Edward III of England, King James II of Ireland and, of course, the sitting Duke of Argyll and Birnam, played by Brendan Gleeson in The Kavanagh Chronicles.
It still retains many touches of its Renaissance-era origins, such as the massive doors leading into the main rooms.
Adare Manor could certainly hold the Ryder Cup. Although it’s 5,475 yards long, it has been known to hold some impressive scores. A couple of years ago, when Shane Lowry clinched his maiden PGA Tour victory on the back of a 63 on the final day of The Players Championship, his 6-under-par total of 269 almost beat the 2006 record for lowest final-round score at the tournament. It also put Lowry in sole possession of second place by one stroke behind Kevin Stadler.
Last year, Rory McIlroy shot a tournament-record 62 on his way to an 8-under total of 277 to earn second place in the BMW PGA Championship, just two strokes off the win. In the 2001 Masters, Seve Ballesteros holed a 71-foot chip shot for eagle on the last hole of the first round. He followed that up with a 7-under-par 64 in the second round, including five birdies in a row, en route to a 44-under total that is now the tournament record. And now the current world No. 2 is planning to return to his old stomping grounds in 2010 to begin a partnership with O’Hara’s at Adare Manor.