Woosnam has Ryder Cup Captain's wish

Ian Woosnam has set his heart on captaining Europe's Ryder Cup team - on home soil.

Welshman Woosie joined current skipper Mark James at the opening of the £7million Wentwood Hills course at Celtic Manor, Newport on Monday.

The course is already being touted as a venue for the 2009 Ryder Cup and Woosnam, Celtic Manor's touring pro, is desperate to be there.

"If we get the Ryder Cup here I would love to be captain," said Woosnam. "I'll be 50 then and it would be just right for me."

The course is bank-rolled by electronics tycoon Terry Matthews, the 12th richest man in Britain and Wales's first billionaire.

Matthews has spent pounds 100m developing the complex in the Usk Valley and he vowed: "If I don't get the Ryder Cup in 2009 I will keep trying.

"Thankfully, I can absorb any losses, but I am confident there won't be any. The Ryder Cup will come to Wales in my lifetime." His hopes of bringing golf's biggest matchplay shoot-out to Celtic Manor were boosted yesterday by the news that the European Tour is returning to Wales at his course next year.

Wentwood Hills will stage the £750,000 Welsh Open, the first Tour event in the country since the 1991 Epson Grand Prix at St Pierre, near Chepstow - a tournament won by Woosnam the previous year.

"We see the Welsh Open as an important step towards our ultimate aim of hosting the Ryder Cup," added Matthews.