RYDER CUP COMES TO CATALONIA
“And now, the big news! The Ryder Cup is coming! ”
Camiral Golf & Wellness has been selected to host the biennial bash between the USA and Europe in 2031. On the outskirts of Girona and formerly known as PGA Catalunya, Camiral has been a contender for the event three times over the past three decades. Now, it’s Camiral’s turn time for glory!
Camiral Golf & Wellness has been selected to host the biennial bash between the USA and Europe for 2031. On the outskirts of the Catalonian city of Girona and formerly known as PGA Catalunya, the site has been a contender for the event three times over the past three decades. Now, it’s Camiral’s turn time for glory!
BUILT FOR GLORY
The PGA Catalunya resort was initially built with the 1997 Ryder Cup in mind. That event ended up in the southwest of Spain at Real Club Valderamma, the first Ryder Cup to be held outside the British Isles. Seve Ballesteros led his European team to the first of seven consecutive victories at home for the Europeans, a streak that remains intact today.
The resort made a second bid in 2022 but lost out, this time to Marco Simone Golf & Country Club near Rome, which eventually staged the Covid-postponed match in 2023.
This year (2025) sees the event at Bethpage Black in New York, followed by Adare Manor in Ireland for 2027 then back to Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minnesota for a second time in 2029. After a 34-year wait, the 2031 Ryder Cup will be staged at Camaril, finally fulfilling the venue’s original purpose and potential.
SPAIN’S NO 1
“The Stadium Course is long-established as one of the best courses in Europe, while the adjacent Tour Course is for us mere mortals with wider fairways and easier-to-manage greens. ”
The Stadium Course is long-established as one of the best courses in Europe, while the adjacent Tour Course presents wider fairways and easier-to-manage greens.
European Tour legends Ángel Gallardo and Neil Coles crafted both courses from hilly, heavily forested land. Considered Spain’s Number 1 and among the top 5 in Continental Europe, the Stadium routes through high-sided banks and a medley of natural pines, firs and old oaks. Constant elevation changes create endless hole-to-hole variety, the 1st, a strong opener, dropping and doglegging left while the 2nd ascends again. So it continues!
Water graces the greens for the first five holes. The Signature comes on the 13th! An open tee shot sets up for a green that sits perpendicular to the approach, out on a lake. The putting surface is wide enough but not deep so laying up is often the wiser option.
The Stadium is a strong test for any level of golfer, demanding in length, well-placed bunkers and water hazards. Visitors, choose your tees wisely!
IRISH EYES
Originally known as PGA Catalunya, the name changed in 2022, adopting the word Camiral which comes from Roman times and ‘Camí Ral’, an ancient trade route that weaved across the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean coast.
Camiral Golf & Wellness is run by the same group that owns and operates Quinta do Lago on the Portuguese Algarve, a group that, in my opinion, knows exactly what they’re about! Over the last 50 years, QDL has gone from strength to strenght! Like Quinta do Lago, there’s property development at Camiral, contemporary villas not as pleasing as those discretely tucked away around Quinta’s courses but we can forgive Camiral for that as the visitor experience is second to none and course conditions as good as you’ll find.
GOLF & WELLNESS
The ‘wellness’ element at Camiral comes in the form of the usual pilates, yoga and gym sessions but if you want to take your ‘well-being’ to a deeper level, how about a session of cryotherapy?
Coming from Scotland, for me this was a breeze! Complete with woolly mitts & tammy, we stood for a minute or two in a freezing-cold cryo-chamber. “What’s the big deal?” I asked the ever-vigilant therapist as we stepped back out. “I could have stayed in there for another hour. It’s like waiting on a bus on Sauchihaul Street in mid-February.” Us Scots are well-seasoned when it comes to a bit of cold!
Situated just 10 minutes south of Girona Airport and an hour north of Barcelona there is plenty of accommodation on offer for the Ryder Cup with the 5* Hotel Camiral, a member of ‘The Leading Hotels of the World’ being the top choice.
