COUNTING DOWN THE DAYS

Bill Elliott looks ahead to the biennial showdown at Bethpage Black, reflects on Ryder Cups past and highlights the important role both captains will play in deciding the eventual outcome

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It is, Mr Google kindly informs me, 32 miles from Times Square in New York to Bethpage State Park and a golf course that likes to boast that if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Sound familiar? There are five courses in this Long Island park but Bethpage Black is the most fiendishly difficult. It is, of course, where the 45th Ryder Cup matches will be played in a few weeks' time and it is a belter. Accentuating the difficulty is clearly Bethpage's key marketing element. They attract golfers to this beast by hanging out a sign recommending this joint is 'only for highly skilled golfers'.

Naturally its tee times are frequently filled with average to poorly skilled golfers who can't wait to test their flickering talent against this course.

Why? You know the answer. Because it's fun to test yourself and, because it's State-owned, this municipal remains affordable for the average man or woman. I applaud them.

On the other hand just going to this Ryder Cup will cost a significant amount of money.

Cheapest tickets for a practice day were £170+. If you fancied an actual match day it was £560+. Factor in travel, accommodation and the rest and this is potentially the most expensive Ryder Cup ever for European supporters crossing the Atlantic and taking on border control at the airport.

Despite this, the ticket allocation is sold out on match days, with 225,000 spectators signed up to appear at some point in the week.

Mind you, this is 45,000 fewer than yomped around Marco Simone but still 65,000 more than the first Ryder Cup I attended in 1979 at The Greenbrier in 'wild and wonderful' West Virginia. Is this a good thing? Well, it is if you're counting the money, not so much if you're trying to walk with the actual matches and properly see the action.

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