Feature by Anand Datla
The Ryder Cup is a uniquely different golfing experience. Loads of spectators aside, the golfers themselves form a collective unit egging each other into performing better at every turn. Gleneagles is prepared to host all of their guests, the players and pouring spectators to a memorable experience. A lot of ingredients are needed to make it memorable though, and in this feature we offer you some interesting details on the potion.
there are around 7,500 people that work to make the event into a magnum opus. And that number does not include the army of print, television and electronic media professionals that zoom in on all the action this week. There shall be 1,500 marshals for crowd management, 2,700 people taking care of catering to gastronomical needs, 650 police officers on duty, around 200 scoreboard operators, 350 merchandise volunteers and around 600 staff members taking care of hospitality. There shall be volunteers from 25 different countries working around the spectacular course. The youngest volunteer is just 16 and the senior most is 82, in a way underlining the broad appeal of golf to a vast cross section of global audience.
The course has 19 Grandstands with a capacity of 14,278 seats. With people milling around the course through the day, there are plenty of places from where to connect with the action from across the field. The organisers have installed 16 Jumbatron screens around the PGA Centenary Course.
Half a million, yes you have read that right, litres of water is expected to be consumed every day during the event. Tents have been erected across the course, all 40,000 square metres of it will serve to offer shelter, besides offering sponsors, spectators and officials space to work around the event.
Nearly 25,000 metres of rope will be used to keep the anxious crowd from spilling over to the course in excitement. Almost a thousand – 946 to be exact – accredited professionals will shoot, write and talk about the event as it happens for 376 different media outlets from across the globe. In addition to that there shall be over 900 television professionals covering the event, taking it to homes around the world.
There is plenty of cable that shall run on the perimeters of the course to carry the action for an international audience. An astounding 80,000 metres of fibre cable has been laid around the greens. It is expected that around 544,000,000 homes shall watch the action across 185 territories covering every continent on the planet.
An estimated 250,000 people are expected to descend on Gleneagles in Scotland to watch the action unfold right in front of their eyes. They shall represent 96 different nationalities cheering either for Europe or USA. There are 2,844 Americans, who are clearly there, only to ride the wave with Team USA.
And then there is the small matter of food. 18,000 burgers are expected to be relished at Gleneagles, along with 15,000 bottles of water, 15,000 cups of tea or coffee, 10,000 portions of fish and chips, 10,000 steak burgers, 4,500 sandwiches and 1,000 bacon baguettes will also disappear into the hungry bellies of eager fans.
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