The Belfry

The Belfry Hotel & Resort

The famous Ryder Cup venue is blessedly back on the European Tour schedule

It has been the scene of four epic Ryder Cups, including Europe’s historic breakthrough in the biennial matches against the United States in 1985. Who can forget Seve Ballesteros’ swashbuckling drive onto the 10th green ( pictured) that year, Sam Torrance’s putt to seal history or Christie O’Connor Jr’s brilliant two-iron over the water to 18 to edge Fred Couples and help Europe retain the Samuel Ryder Trophy with a 14-14 draw in 1989? The legendary Brabazon Course is sure to deliver more drama when it hosts the UK Championship from Aug. 27-30, the sixth and fi nal event of the European Tour’s new COVID-19 inspired UK Swing. It will be the fi rst time the tour has returned to the leafy Wishaw, Warwickshire layout since Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño won the British Masters in 2008. Whether the English Classic, the English Open, the B&H International Open or the British Masters, The Belfry has a stellar roll call of champions from its previous 16 European Tour stops, Ballesteros, Greg Norman, José María Olazábal, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood among them. It will be fascinating to see who joins them at the tree-lined par 72 layouts designed by the late Welsh tour pro/ architect Dave Thomas and the “voice of golf’, Englishman Peter Alliss, and opened in 1978. — kent gray