Rome, the Eternal City, will host its first Ryder Cup in 2022

The 2022 edition of the Ryder Cup, the biennial men’s golf competition between teams from Europe and USA, will be hosted in Rome, the Eternal City: it’s the first time in history that Italy wins the opportunity to host this famous game.

The Ryder Cup will be played at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, only 17 kilometers away from the center of Rome, and the historic announcement was made just before Christmas.

Four nations – Austria, Germany, Italy and Spain – had participated in the very complex Bid Process to identify the country best qualified to follow Minnesota next year; France in 2018 and Wisconsin in 2020, as host of the biennial contest. The objective of the process was to enable Ryder Cup Europe to arrive at the correct sporting and commercial decision in terms of the host for 2022.

The criteria on which the Bid Evaluation Committee judged the candidates were five:

• Demonstrable government, political, institutional and golfing community support
• Commitment to the development of a world-class golf facility to host the Ryder Cup
• Provision of ancillary facilities, suitable access and infrastructure commensurate with the staging of an international sporting event, including proximity to a major international city
• Commercial opportunities available to The Ryder Cup
• Contribution of the Bid Country to the development of golf in terms of Legacy, Contribution to the professional game, Integration of golf within tourism and business communities, Development of levels of golf participation, Professional tournament golf at all levels, and contribution to The Ryder Cup

The Italian bid was consistently strong across all the areas evaluated and in particular in their pledge to undertake a complete reconstruction of the golf course at Marco Simone to the highest standards demanded by Ryder Cup Europe, in addition to a hugely significant commitment to the Italian Open in terms of guaranteeing a €7 million prize fund for the championship for 11 years, beginning in 2017.

European Tour commissioner Keith Pelley is satisfied and comments: “I would like to offer my congratulations to Italy whose bold and ambitious bid has seen them become the host nation for The 2022 Ryder Cup. History has shown time and again that The Ryder Cup is pure theatre with the players the stars, and there is no question that the Eternal City of Rome will provide a wonderful backdrop for one of the great occasions in world golf. With Paris in 2018 and now Rome in 2022 being the respective host cities for Europe's next two stagings of biennial contest against the United States, the magical appeal of The Ryder Cup is set to continue."