It is the perfect setting for a Ryder Cup. Designed by an American and built in Europe, The Palmer Course at The K Club in County Kildaire, Ireland is ready to welcome the most anticipated event on the golfing calendar.
When the 36th Ryder Cup matches are complete, millions of golf fans from across the globe will know the secret of the Palmer Course. Opened in summer 1991 and designed by Arnold Palmer and Palmer Course Design, it was always the intention to build a course that would one day welcome the greatest golfers from the European and American Tours to do battle. Arnold Palmer had suggested during construction that it was entirely realistic to stage The Ryder Cup at The K Club just two years after its inauguration, but it wasn’t until 1997 that The Ryder Cup Board awarded them with perhaps the greatest accolade a golf course can receive. Its implications for the future of the course as well as tourism in Ireland are massive. Dr. Smurfit and Paul Crowe, the Director of Golf at The K Club announced “You don’t understand just how big this is going to be for Ireland and Irish golf”.
Dr. Michael Smurfit, Chairman and Chief Executive of the Jefferson Smurfit Corporation, has been a towering figure in Irish business for more than two decades. His father, Jefferson Smurfit began as a small Irish boxmaker in 1934. Now the Smurfit Kappa Group is amongst the largest manufacturers of containerboard, containers, cartons and paper bags. Expanding into the luxury golf resort market may seem an unusual side step, but with a vision to create a world class hotel and golf club, he purchased the estate at Straffan in 1998.
