A Welsh European: Golf, Tourism and the Remaking of National Imaging

The Ryder Cup is a biennial golf match between Europe and the USA that was staged in Wales for the first time in 2010. This article considers the representation of Wales within tourism texts through an analysis of the place of an individual. To date, little scholarship has examined the position of individuals within such discourse and explored the ways in which they can be (re)positioned as representative of a broader (supra)national configuration. In drawing upon the work of the cultural theorist Raymond Williams, it looks at narratives of Wales and the significance of an individual as relates to the interplay of nation, class and place. It argues that Ian Woosnam was centrally important as a ‘Welsh European’ in providing a physical and symbolic link to an event where no Welshman was a part of Team Europe.