France will host The Ryder Cup for the first time in 2018. The historic announcement, which will see golf’s greatest team event return to the Continent of Europe for the first time in 21 years, was made by Ryder Cup Europe at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.

Le Golf National on the outskirts of Versailles near Paris, the well-established home of the Alstom Open de France, will become only the second Continental venue – following Club de Golf, Valderrama, in Spain in 1997 - when the 42^nd edition of The Ryder Cup between Europe and the United States is contested in the autumn of 2018.

After consultation with European Team Ryder Cup Captain José Maria Olazábal, The European Tour Tournament Committee is pleased to announce a modified qualification procedure for The 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club, Chicago, Illinois, from September 28-30, 2012.

The qualification criteria, beginning at the Omega European Masters at Crans-Sur-Sierre from September 1-4, 2011, and ending at the conclusion of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in 2012, will now see the leading five players from the European Points List joined by the leading five players from the World Points List as automatic qualifiers to the European Team. This represents a reversal of the two lists with the European Points List counting before the World Points List.

José Maria Olazábal has accepted an invitation from the Tournament Committee of The European Tour, ratified by The European Ryder Cup Players and Stakeholders Board, to captain the European team in The 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club, Medinah, Illinois, United States of America, from September 28-30, 2012.

Olazábal, who was born in Fuenterrabia, Spain, on February 5, 1966, becomes the 23^rd golfer to captain a Ryder Cup team against the United States and the second Spaniard following Seve Ballesteros, the winning captain in 1997 when Europe triumphed 14 ½ - 13 ½ at Club de Golf Valderrama, Sotogrande, Spain.

After four days of pure action, it was the slightest of margins that decided who would get their hands on the trophy. Will this edition of the Ryder Cup go down into history books as the greatest ever? Quite possibly, but there is one thing that can be said with certainty: there was nothing more that one could have demanded from the last four days.

The drama and entertainment was so engrossing that even a television viewer would feel the fatigue at the end of it. And the credit must go to the Americans for taking the result down to the final fixture, despite coming into the singles trailing 9.5-6.5. But, in the end, the preparation and planning of Colin Montgomerie saw Europe regain the Cup.