The prestigious Ryder Cup will be held in Catalonia for the first time in 2031.

BarcelonaThe Ryder Cup, the golf competition that has pitted Europe's best players against those from the United States since 1928, will be held for the first time on a golf course in Catalonia, the Camiral Resort Golf & Wellness in Caldes de Malavella. The event will take place in 2031. The agreement has been brewing for months until it was finally finalized. It was officially confirmed this Tuesday.

Where will the 2031 Ryder Cup be held?

The venue will be the Camiral Resort Golf & Wellness in Caldes de Malavella, known colloquially as PGA Catalunya and owned by Irishman Denis O'Brien. It remains to be seen what work will be required on the facilities, aside from temporary stands and other areas. The PGA is irrigated with water recovered from the non-potable wastewater treatment plant, installed in 1999. The Catalan government, in fact, has emphasized that it could not support an event that was not sustainable in this regard. The PGA already made an investment in this direction years ago to also operate during droughts without wasting public water. Neighborhood groups and political parties such as the CUP (Coup de la Revolucion) oppose the project and denounce the sporting model it represents and the environmental impact the tournament could have.

When did the project begin?

Bringing the Ryder Cup to Girona is a project that had already been proposed ten years ago, but the lack of agreement halted it in 2023, when that year's competition was held in Italy, near Rome. The change of government, with the arrival of the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) to the Generalitat (Catalan Government), served to revive talks that had seemed at a standstill. In fact, the Presidency's office has wanted to play a central role in the latest negotiations, in part to ensure they avoid the mistakes made with the America's Cup sailing competition, a competition that fell short of expectations.

Where has it been done before?

The Ryder Cup is held every two years, alternating between European and North American venues. The Ryder Cup was created in 1928 to pit the best players from the United States and the United Kingdom against each other. Later, the British team went on to represent all of Europe. Historically, it has almost always been held in English-speaking countries, although it has been held in other countries three times: at the Valderrama Golf Club (Cádiz, 1997), at Versailles (Paris, 2018), and at Guido Montecelio's Marco Simone Golf Club (Rome, 2023). The Ryder Cup is jointly organized by the professional golf tours of the United States and Europe, united under the umbrella of a company with Irishman Guy Kinnings as CEO. This year, 2025, the Ryder Cup will be held in September in New York. In 2031, then, it's Caldes, before returning to the United States in 2033, in San Francisco.

Who will pay for it?

The budget will be close to €140 million. The owner of PGA Catalunya, Irishman Denis O'Brien, through his company Camiral, is providing a portion of the money for facility improvements, and public investment will also be provided by entities such as the Spanish government, the Girona and Barcelona Provincial Councils, the La Selva Regional Council, and the Caldes de Malavella City Council. The Barcelona and Girona city councils are not participating in this investment. There is also a €2 million grant from the Higher Sports Council (CSD) to help build stands and marquees to host the tournament. The Catalan government will set a lower figure than €40 million because it has requested a higher private investment than the initial plans. In any case, the figures are not yet official and will not be definitively announced until the next few days.

What if there's a drought?

This is an issue of concern to the Catalan government. According to the Generalitat (Catalan government), the agreement to bring the Ryder Cup to Catalonia took into account a hypothetical drought. That's why there's a mandatory annex requiring the use of reclaimed water. "This was a major concern for the Catalan government. We have worked intensively to ensure that the water resource is used reclaimed."