GOLF enthusiasts from 75 countries around the world will enjoy a red letter day today as they find out if their ticket applications for next year's Ryder Cup at Glenagles have been successful.
Organisers of the event say that interest in the event is 38% higher than when the event was last held on British soil, when Europe vanquished the USA team at a rain-soaked Celtic Manor, south Wales in 2010.
More countries than ever before are also represented in the final allocation with one in three (37%) of spectators coming from the UK and Ireland ahead of America, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands.
The highly-sought after tickets come with a warning from Ryder Cup Europe that they will contain a photograph of the buyer and a unique barcode, in an effort to prevent them being re-sold on the internet to other fans.
Successful applicants will be told not to try to cash in on them by selling them on and people who lose out will be warned to avoid ticket reselling websites as the security measures all but "eliminate the possibility of ticket transfers."
VisitScotland, the national tourism agency, said the news that 60% of spectators will be travelling from outside Scotland to for the event from September 23-28 2014 will boost the economy.
Chairman Mike Cantlay said: "The fact that spectators from 75 countries around the world will be attending the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles shows just how important 2014 will be to Scotland.
"Hosting major events is a key economic driver for tourism in Scotland and they certainly don't come any bigger than the Ryder Cup. Not only is this a terrific opportunity to reinforce Scotland as the home of golf but it also showcases Scotland to a global audience, many of whom may never have visited before.
"They may be coming for the golf but it is important we show them what else Scotland has to offer to ensure the whole country can benefit from this once-in-a-generation event."
Sport Minister Shona Robison said: "The record demand for tickets and the appetite to travel to Scotland for The 2014 Ryder Cup illustrates exactly why we have worked so hard to bring the event to the Home of Golf."
Europe's Ryder Cup Director, Richard Hills, said: "The Ryder Cup is one of the world's most prestigious sporting events and attracts a global audience.
"In Europe the host nation stands to gain substantially from holding a Ryder Cup, as we will see in Scotland, when people from 75 different countries will travel to Gleneagles especially for the event".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article