Scotland, the Home of Golf and golf's global expansion continuing in Turkey

HELLO EVERYBODY, THIS IS MATT HERE AND EVERY MONDAY I WILL BE PUBLISHING A BLOG ABOUT THE WORLD OF GOLF.

I have played golf since 1995 and attended Myerscough College to study for a Foundation Degree in Golf and Leisure Management from 2003 to 2006. I have also worked as a caddie at Royal County Down Golf Club for two seasons in 2004 and 2006, and in 2007 I worked as a Golf Retail Assistant at the Gleneagles Hotel, and most recently as a caddie at St Andrews Links including caddying in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2011.

Along with Volunteering at the 2004 and 2006 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and 2006 BMW PGA Championship, as well as attending the 2005 HSBC World Match Play Championship, 2006 European Open, 2007 Open Championship and 2010 Ryder Cup as a spectator, and watching golf on television every weekend of the year I am well placed and have the knowledge to provide a unique view on the world of golf.

THIS WEEK'S EDITION PUBLISHED ON FRIDAY

2 years from today we will be reflecting on what should be a fortnight never to be forgotten, the 40^th Ryder Cup at Gleneagles followed by the world's greatest golfers and biggest celebrities at St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. That is the dream I have anyway, and the European Tour and Scotland's powers that be have a duty to make it happen, because golf needs a boost in Scotland to halt a decline in participation which has seen at least 35,000 people give up club membership in the last decade.

Scotland is very close to my heart, as is Ireland, both due to my golfing career having taken me to work in caddying, retail and hospitality. I first went to Scotland with family in 1996, and visited both Gleneagles and the Old Course at St Andrews, but did not play golf at either. I returned to St Andrews with my university, Myerscough College, in 2004 to volunteer at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and did the same in 2006. In the following summer I was lucky enough to successfully apply for a seasonal position in the Dormy Clubhouse at The Gleneagles Hotel, and I spent 3 very happy months in Perthshire, living on site, and playing at least 20 rounds on the PGA Centenary Course and as many on the Kings and Queens courses.

In 2011 I was seeking employment and came up to the recruitment day for St Andrews Links, some 1000 mile round trip on the coach, and after speaking to the caddie master I was lucky enough to have a telephone interview and successfully got a position as a caddie at the Home of Golf, my dream come true to work in golf in St Andrews. I have also visited St Andrews on a couple of occasions to catch up with friends in the area, and both the Auld Grey Toun and Gleneagles are very special to me.

The possibility of having ALL of the world's best golfers playing at least one of the two events within a fortnight, playing over golf courses I have either worked on or played golf on really gets me excited, and that possibility should excite the people who govern golf in Europe and Scotland, and it should motivate them to put up whatever money is required in order to ensure ALL 24 Ryder Cup players, the captains and assistants, along with the likes of Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Trevor Immelman, YE Yang, KJ Choi, Ryo Ishikawa, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Jason Day, Aaron Baddeley and all the stars from every part of the world play in the 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

They should also make it as comfortable and appealing to those golfers as possible, by recruiting all of the biggest golfing celebrities from across the world, such as David Beckham, Michael Jordan and Justin Timberlake.

London 2012 used the slogan “Inspire a Generation”, and that is exactly what the 2014 Ryder Cup and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship can do, but only if the European Tour and Scottish Government commits to it.

Golf goes from the oldest golfing land there is to a new frontier for the game, Turkey, and the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final. 8 of the world's greatest golfers head-to-head in a unique match play tournament which is being held as part of Turkey's bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games, of which golf is likely to be a part of.

This weeks event, which starts tomorrow (Tuesday), follows the last two weeks of the World Amateur Team Championships for men and women in Antalya, and concludes 3 weeks which aim to raise the profile of golf both within Turkey and Internationally. Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan and Charl Schwartzel will compete for the $1.5million first prize from a staggering $5.2million prize fund for the elite 8 player field. The tournament is not sanctioned by any major tour but is likely to set the scene for a Turkish based European Tour event from 2013 onward  the dates of the tournament have been moved so not to clash with the Portugal Masters, the final European based event of 2012, which starts on Thursday.

There has been some speculation that this event, the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final, will eventually become a World Golf Championship, something which would surely be appealing to the European Tour. Its position on the schedule, and geographical position makes it likely to attract a seriously strong field ahead of the Asian swing on the Race to Dubai, and with a new major sponsor potentially filling the void left by the Junta Andalucia after they pulled out of their agreement to sponsor the Valderrama Masters.

The Turkish Airlines World Golf Final and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship illustrate the fantastic variety offered by European golf, two contrasting venues, with completely different challenges for the players, and for the first time a vast amount of money on offer, to rival that offered by the PGA Tour.

Following the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final the European Tour concludes its European segment of the season at the Portugal Masters, in the Algarve, and then embarks on a voyage across Asia-Pacific and Africa concluding in the Middle East at the grand finale to the Race to Dubai with the DPWorld Tour Championship.

My upcoming blogs will focus on many of these events, all of which are Live on Sky Sports in the UK, which leads me to the subject of my next blog next Monday, Golf on UK Television. 2012 saw the end of live European Tour events on BBC, meaning that in 2013 only the final two rounds of The Masters and the 4 days of The Open will be available to be viewed free-to-air on British network television.

Next week: Monday 15 October – Golf on UK Television