Ladies European Tour officials have undertaken a site inspection of The Gleneagles Hotel as part of the next stage of Scotland’s bid to host The 2019 Solheim Cup.
A delegation from the Ladies European Tour, which owns the event, spent two days touring the hotel, golf courses and other facilities as well as hearing presentations from various partners involved in the bid, including EventScotland, The Scottish Government, Gleneagles, Perth & Kinross Council, Transport Scotland and Police Scotland.
The five-strong delegation, which included chief executive Ivan Khodabakhsh and members of the Ladies European Tour board, were also greeted at the Scottish Parliament by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland looked to outline its strengths as a world-class host to major events.
Khodabakhsh commented: “On behalf of the Ladies European Tour we were delighted to visit Gleneagles and meet with the many stakeholders behind the Scottish bid to host The 2019 Solheim Cup. The quality of the presentations and the experience of the team behind the bid was extremely impressive as well as the world renowned facilities at Gleneagles Hotel.
“It was very opportune to visit exactly 12 months on from the Ryder Cup Matches which was hosted to an exceptional level and to see the commitment and desire from everyone to deliver the same stage for the largest ladies professional golf tournament in the world in 2019.”
Scotland’s submission, which proposes staging the event on the world-renowned PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles, would see The Solheim Cup return to Scotland for the first time in almost 20 years.
The Ladies European Tour will now consider the detail behind Scotland’s bid before deciding on the host venue for 2019 towards the end of October.
Paul Bush, Director of Events with VisitScotland, said: “We were delighted to welcome Ivan and his team from the Ladies European Tour to Scotland and Gleneagles to show them what a wonderful venue this would be for The 2019 Solheim Cup.
“Scotland is recognised as a world-class host of major events and we are proud of the bid we have submitted to the Ladies European Tour to host the most prestigious event in women’s golf. We very much look forward to hearing the outcome of their deliberations and, if successful, staging The Solheim Cup at Gleneagles.”
