Dec. 25, 2004 – At the 2005 IAGTO Awards Gala Dinner in Estoril, Ex-Ryder Cup Captain Sam Torrance presented Druids Glen Golf Resort with the European Golf Resort of the Year Trophy.

The Awards Ceremony took place during the International Golf Travel Market (I.G.T.M.) - the golf tourism industries annual global show. The annual golf holiday is the highlight of the golfing year for many of the world’s 50 million players. With this in mind, the IAGTO Awards were established in 2000 to reward a few exceptional contributions to this world of golf travel.

There is certainly never any shortage of candidates worthy of recognition, with many destinations and golf resorts excelling every year in delivering a great golfing experience. As the global trade association of the golf tourism industry, we leave it up to the world’s specialist golf tour operators to reflect the satisfaction of their clients, and to vote for the Emerging and Established Golf Destination of the Year and the Golf Resorts of the Year.

Mr. John O’Donoghue, TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism stated at the announcement in the Shelbourne Hotel that "Among the many searching criteria that were laid down, I am very happy to have been told that the client’s emphasis on value for money clinched the award for Druids Glen. At a time when there is so much discussion about value for money amidst rising costs, it is encouraging that this outside judgement shows that in golf anyway, and especially in Druids Glen, we are still able to give that value on top of our friendly and excellent customer service".

The Golf Resort of the Year Award is divided into three categories; European, North American and Rest of the World - with one winner from each category.

Voting Procedure: IAGTO’s 165 golf tour operators from 32 different countries cast their votes for this Award. Each operator was asked to nominate what they considered to be the best performing golf resorts this year enjoyed by their golf travelling clients. There are over 1000 golf resorts in the USA alone and an estimated 2000 in total worldwide. The golf resort in each of the three regions with the highest average ranking is crowned 2005 Golf Resort of the Year.

Operators were asked to consider the following criteria:

· Customer Satisfaction
· Quality of Golf Course/s & Accommodation
· Value for money
· Accessibility to Tee Times
· Speed of communication and quality of service of the golf resort sales, marketing, reservation, administration and management staff.

Nominees for the European Golf Resort of the Year 2005 included such renowned resorts as:

Celtic Manor Resort - Wales
Druids Glen Golf Resort, Co. Wicklow - Ireland
Glen Eagles - Scotland
K. Club, Co. Kildare - Ireland
Monte Castillo Resort - Spain
Penna Longa Resort - Portugal
Turnberry Resort - Scotland