Ryder Cup construction completed

10 February 2010

The Twenty Ten bridge will connect the course to the Ryder Cup practice facility

The Celtic Manor resort in Wales has opened its £2m, 120 metre suspension bridge across the River Usk, the last piece of construction required to enable this year’s Ryder Cup.

The bridge, which was made necessary by the decision to site the practice facility for the Ryder Cup on the opposite side of the river from the Twenty Ten course, is the final piece of the £16 million capital developments made to the resort in the run-up to the October event. It also connects the course to the TV compound. The existing Twenty Ten practice range is to house the tented village during the Ryder Cup.

Wales’s first minister Carwyn Jones opened the bridge, along with resort owner Sir Terry Matthews and Ryder Cup director Richard Hills.

“We are proud to open this wonderful new bridge as the final major piece of construction for this year's Ryder Cup,” said Sir Terry. “We have invested a lot of time and resources in creating not only the Twenty Ten Course, the first golf course in history to be purpose built for staging the Ryder Cup, but also the surrounding infrastructure.”

The bridge has been designed to protect the sensitive environment on the banks of the tidal Usk. An exclusion zone on either side of the bank protects otter holts and ensures the migrating patterns of salmon and shad are not affected.