LIGONIER, Pa. (AP) The Ryder Cup will be played the last weekend in September next year in England, then switch permanently to even-numbered years.
- Paul Wong
- Tiger Woods won”t have the chance to celebrate another Predident”s Cup until next year, when it will be held in South Africa<br><br>AP PHOTO
To accommodate the change, the PGA Tour agreed to postpone by one year the Presidents Cup previously scheduled for November 2002 in South Africa then play those matches in odd-numbered years.
The Ryder Cup, which had been scheduled for next week, was postponed in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
Jim Awtrey, chief executive officer of the PGA of America, said the switch in cup schedules “appears to be the most logical solution given the situation we are dealing with.”
The Ryder Cup originally was to be played Sept. 28-30 at The Belfry in England. The matches were postponed Sunday because the attacks made some players wary of travel and uneasy about playing golf.
It will return to The Belfry on Sept. 27-29, 2002, with the same captains and 12-man teams. U.S. captain Curtis Strange said his players would wear clothing with 2001 logos so “we don”t forget why we”re playing a year later. “
The matches between the United States and Europe will be played one week after the American Express Championship is played at Mount Juliet in Ireland.
“I don”t know of any other time that there has been this much cooperation in doing the right thing, ” Awtrey had said earlier this week. “Everybody wants to make this work.”
He praised golf clubs already picked as the sites of the tournaments for supporting the changes, among them Oakland Hills Country Club outside Detroit, which now will get the Ryder Cup one year later in 2004.
The PGA Tour did not set a specific date for the President”s Cup matches, which began in 1994 between the United States and players from everywhere in the world except Europe. It was to have been played Nov. 7-10, 2002, in South Africa.
“This new schedule provides the most effective response to the need to adjust our schedules in light of the recent tragedies,” PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said.