Jean Van de Velde called for the Ryder Cup to be staged in more European countries outside the British Isles to ensure the growth of the game, as the tournament gets ready to take place in France in 2018.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Jean van de Velde

"Well I do believe that the Ryder Cup has been brought out of Great Britain one time and that was in 1997 and that was in (Valderrama) Spain. Since then the policy has been to be travelling of course, but it will go back to Britain, but as well to bring it on the continent, the European continent. So it is coming here, it is going to go to Italy, where it is going to go next I don't know. But I do believe that if you want to make the game of golf more popular you actually need to sustain how popular it is in a country, the leading countries, the golf countries in Europe, but you need to as well bring it. You need to bring golf to those people and not just expect that they are going to pick up a club and just hit the ball. By travelling, by showcasing how big the event is, by basically teasing people you will generate interest and I think that's the biggest the thing. The only thing that we can do is promote the game."