Saturday, January 29, 2011

Gut Kaden Bids for 2015 Solheim


The Golf und Land Club Gut Kaden and the Deutsche Golf Sport GmbH (DGS) are planning to bring The 2015 Solheim Cup to Germany. Interest in staging the event is high: besides the DGS and Golf Club Kaden´s bid, eight other European venues have submitted official bids to host The 2015 Solheim Cup by end of October. Spain, Great Britain, the Czech Republic and another German bid are among the bidding parties.
According to the LET, the result of the tender is due to be announced in the Summer of 2011 subject to an agreement in place, though LET reserves the right to announce the successful venue after The 2011 Solheim Cup.”

The Solheim Cup, the Ryder Cup´s counterpart in women´s professional golf, brings together the best U.S. born players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and the best European born players from the Ladies European Tour (LET). It is the most prestigious international team event in women’s professional golf, held every two years in turns in Europe and the U.S. 

In 2015, Nikolaus Peltzer, managing director of DGS, aims to bring the event to Germany: “Having organized the UniCredit Ladies German Open, one of the most popular golf events of the Ladies European Tour, we are already successfully engaged in women´s professional golf,” said Peltzer. “The Solheim Cup is an outstanding international event. Our bid is the natural next step to promote women´s golf in Germany and Europe on highest level.”

The venue of choice is golf club ‘Kaden Golf und Land Club GmbH’, owned by Germany´s banking giant Deutsche Bank. Wolfgang Mych, the club´s managing director, is confident he can offer added value for the LET and the Cup: “Over many years we have established excellent contacts with the LET, having hosted among other events the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open, a highlight of the tour. Our long-term experience in organizing professional golf tournaments surely will add to the prospects of our bid,” he said. “The LET values our contribution to the annual tour calendar and knows that we can guarantee the highest level of organization,” Peltzer added. 

Gut Kaden is situated close to the Northern German metropolis of Hamburg, and its Championship Course holds a long and successful tradition in hosting professional golf tournaments such as the Deutsche Bank Players Championship hosted repeatedly between 1999 and 2007. Hamburg, being a centre of golf sport in Germany and one of the country´s major international hubs, offers all attributes to set the scene for The 2015 Solheim Cup.

The German Golf Association (DGV), owner of the DGS and bidder for The 2018 Ryder Cup, has announced its support for the joint bid with Gut Kaden, mainly by facilitating communication with its member clubs and German golf players: “40 % of Germanys organized golf players are female, which means we are leading this ranking within Europe. Hosting The 2015 Solheim Cup would emphasize this aspect even more and would gain the appropriate attention.”