Paul McGinley remembers meeting Pascal Grizot at a European Tour pro-am 10 years ago. The two had never met before, but that didn’t stop Grizot, a former French national team golfer and successful businessman, from bragging that he was going to bring the Ryder Cup to Paris.
“He had a dream,” said McGinley, a three-time Ryder Cup team member and 2014 captain. “It always starts with somebody’s dream.”
In May 2011, France was selected ahead of the favorite, Spain — which hosted the only previous cup held in Continental Europe in 1997 — and Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands.