It was set to be the kind of shimmering, glamorous entrance not seen since a scantily-clad Ursula Andress rose from the waves in Dr No.
Unfortunately, Mother Nature can be a crabbit old spoil sport at times. At 10am yesterday, the Ryder Cup, on the final leg of its hop about the country, was to be delivered to the neatly manicured front lawn of the Gleneagles Hotel by helicopter. It swiftly became apparent, though, that the arrival of this birling, airborne contraption would not be imminent. And no, it hadn't been hijacked by Cameron, Miliband and Clegg to speed up their panic-stricken career around Scotland.
A dense fog shrouded the plush resort and it wasn't until the gloom eventually lifted that Samuel Ryder's little gold chalice could touch down some three hours behind schedule. It was all a bit of a scunner to be honest but let's not get too downbeat. Come the start of the Ryder Cup in a fortnight's time, the weather could be even worse. Flippancy aside, these were the kind of gloomy, disruptive conditions that the organisers of golf's greatest team tussle probably fear most. Forget biblical downpours, it's the stubborn, unshiftable fog that would potentially stick a real spanner in the works of this major golfing operation.
"There have been some foggy mornings over the past few months but today it has hung around for a bit longer than usual," lamented Edward Kitson, the Ryder Cup match director. "We've had fog at previous Ryder Cups, including a delay in 1993. Due to it being match-play, we have some contingencies to deal with any delays on the first two days and, of course, there's Sunday morning if we don't get to complete the matches by then.
"Our focus is always on trying to finish on Sunday night and every effort will be made to achieve that. In 2010, of course, we did go into the Monday but hopefully that won't be the case this time."
When the sun shines down on this neck of the woods - as it eventually did by lunchtime yesterday - it is a sparkling spectacle of majestic splendour. Preparations of the PGA Centenary course, the golfing battleground upon which Europe and the USA will cross swords, have been aided by a good spell of weather and here's hoping the Indian Summer lingers on for three days at the end of the month. "I prefer this fog before the event than at the event," said Scott Fenwick, the golf courses and estates manager at Gleneagles. "If you'd offered me the weather we've had recently at the start of the year, I'd have taken it. It's been perfect for us."
The infrastructure is being clattered up at a furious rate and the sense of occasion continues to build. Some 15,000 grandstand seats are dotted around the host venue with the biggest of those structures, around the first tee and the 18th green, capable of housing 2000 spectators. The stage is just about set. "The long-range forecast is looking pretty positive, to be honest," added Fenwick. "The odd shower, but fairly negligible. But forecasts any more than three days in advance are not necessarily that accurate. We just plan day to day, and make sure we're ready for everything."
Yesterday's late arrival of the Ryder Cup to the host resort brought to an end a week-long dart around the country that has encompassed the Borders, Dumfries & Galloway, Argyll, Harris, Shetland and Aberdeenshire. The trophy was dropped off by 17-year-old Kayleigh Singer, a product of the flourishing Clubgolf junior initiative that was created as part of the Ryder Cup's legacy project and has led to some 300,000 youngsters being introduced to the game here. "I have my fingers crossed that my favourite golfer, Stephen Gallacher, will be holding the very same trophy come September 28th," said Singer with growing excitement.
Forget the fog and the other meteorological menaces, the only thing being forecast in these parts is a warm front of anticipation and a ridge of high expectation.
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