Organisers play down weather concerns
Organisers have played down fears the 2014 Ryder Cup will be plagued by bad weather as happened when the biennial tournament between Europe and the United States was last played in Great Britain.
Europe's victory at the Celtic Manor course near Newport in south Wales in October last year saw the competition go into a fourth day for the first time in history after rain played havoc with the scheduling.
The 2014 edition is scheduled to take place at the Gleneagles course in Scotland from September 26 to 28.
Rain and howling winds provided the backdrop to Tuesday's news conference at Gleneagles but European Ryder Cup director Richard Hills was happy with the scheduling of the tournament.
"It's in its traditional date," he said.
"We are not an indoor sport. You have instances where tournaments in July have had to go into Mondays, so it's not an unusual occurrence.
"We're very comfortable with the weather stats.
"If we had played the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor we've had had three days' straight sunshine this year.
"We're very confident of delivery in this particular date."
The competition will be played in the traditional three-day, 28-point format and there is the possibility of an additional day's play, if required.
"There's always been a provision that you could run over into that extra day," Hills added.
The 2014 event will be the 40th staging of the Ryder Cup but only the second time it has been played in Scotland, the 'home of golf', following on from the 1973 edition at Muirfield, near Edinburgh.
The 2012 Ryder Cup will take place at the Medinah Country Club near Chicago next September, with Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal the captain of the European team that will defend the trophy.