Will it be third time lucky? In September, the European team will have the opportunity to snatch from their American rivals the title of Solheim Cup champions that the Americans have held since 2015. The battlefield of this biennial event will be the Scottish PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles, where another bloodless but also exciting fight was fought in 2014: that of the Ryder Cup, in which Europe was victorious and retained the title. The girls captained by the Scottish Catriona Matthew and Juli Inkster have on September 13 a date with history at Gleneagles. At the moment, there are two Spaniards among the provisional qualifiers: Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Muñoz.
Even for the immeasurable 18-time major champion and acclaimed course designer Jack Nicklaus, the PGA Centenary Course was a challenge. It had to be a really great course, as it is located in the heart of Scotland, the birthplace of the sport. Fortunately, the Golden Bear had all his expectations fulfilled when he first saw the estate where he would carry out his assignment. He described it as “the best piece of land in the world that I have been given to do my job”.
It should be an outstanding challenge, a course that tests the best professionals, while, in the immortal phrase of Bobby Jones, “offering problems that a player can attempt to solve according to his ability… that never despairs the beginner nor lacks concern and interest for the expert”.
The PGA Centenary Course, which opened in 1993 and underwent a renovation in 2012 to host the 2014 Ryder Cup, is the most modern of the three courses at the Gleneagles Hotel resort (the King’s and Queen’s Courses both date back to 1919, while the hotel was opened in 1924). The venue for the upcoming Solheim Cup is a perfect example of how to combine Scottish and American course design, with large rough areas and wide fairways. The PGA Centenary Course is a modern classic and its design was a huge challenge even for such an acclaimed golf architect as Nicklaus.
The par-72, 6,671-meter layout (the longest Scottish inland course) has five tees on each hole and, with many of the greens protected on the front side, the key to achieving a low score on this course is in the approach shots. A notable feature of the PGA Centenary Course is the views of the spectacular countryside in which the Gleneagles resort is located. From the 2nd green, the player marvels at the lush panorama of the Perthshire landscape, with the mountains as a backdrop.
If you want to enjoy the PGA Centenary Course as a spectator during the Solheim Cup there is still time to do so because there are still tickets available. For Friday and Saturday, the price is 40 pounds (44 euros) per day, and for Sunday it costs 50 pounds (55 euros). The pass for the entire tournament, including the opening ceremony on Wednesday 12, costs 120 pounds (133 euros). Tickets (there are more options than those mentioned above) can be purchased through the event’s official website: solheimcup2019.com.
If, as usual, one wants to play the Nicklaus-designed course, the price is not unreasonable, since, depending on the time of year, it costs between 80 and 250 pounds (88 to 277 euros). The most expensive is precisely the fortnight after the Solheim Cup, from September 16 to 30.
IT ALL STARTED WITH THE RAILROAD
The Gleneagles Hotel’s Grand Inaugural Gala was held on June 7, 1924, but its history began 14 years before that momentous day. In 1910, Donald Matheson, general manager of the Caledonian Railway Company, was vacationing in Strathearn. His railway line ran through the valley and, as it was the era of “Grand Hotels”, he was so impressed by the surrounding Scottish scenery that he conjured up the vision of a grand country club type hotel, built in the style of a palace that would provide leisure in the form of golf for the traveling public. In 1913, Gleneagles Ltd was formed to build and manage the hotel and golf courses, but World War I brought the project to a halt.
After the war, Matheson commissioned James Braid, winner of five British Opens between 1901 and 1910, to design the King and Queen courses, which opened in 1919. The hotel would take a few more years to complete and finally opened in 1924. The chronicles of the time described it as “a Riviera in the Highlands” and “the eighth wonder of the world”.
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