OWNER of the Celtic Manor Sir Terry Matthews described the site as “the most important corner of Wales”, saying he would be “nuts” to sell it after hosting the major event.

But, he added that while he has no desire to sell, “nothing I do is not for sale”.

It is rumoured that Doctor Chau, owner of Mission Hils golf resort in China is interested in buying it, but Sir Terry said he has received no offers.

He said: “If someone wants to buy it, talk to me, but it better be good. We're very profitable, it's large and growing, makes more profit than central London. A couple of million, I wouldn't talk, but a billion, I'd sign in seconds.”

Talking to Welsh media yesterday, Sir Terry said he is already thinking of how to grow the site into other areas, and his executive committee is “all over what happens next” after the Ryder Cup.

He said as well as holding more major golf events, he is looking at hosting “very significant” tennis tournaments, equestrian, horse jumping and polo.

“If people thought I'd built 140 parking spots, monster pathways and a 320 feet bridge across the river all for one event, they'd think I'm nuts”, adding: “In terms of business, this must be the most important corner of Wales, it's off two motorways and you couldn't miss it if you were blind, it is so visible. Business success is all about location, location, location.”

Sir Terry said Colin Montgomerie described it as “a dynamite course” and Ian Poulter the best he'd ever played, but hosting a Ryder Cup was about a lot more than good fairways and greens.

He said: “Golf courses weren't designed to accommodate 50,000 people a day, so it is not just about a good course, it is about accommodating all these. We have hospitality on the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th fairways, it is a touch overbuilt, but it shows the scale you have to plan to hold these events.”

Sir Terry said the Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor will act as a template of how to hold Ryder Cups in the future.

Farm saga was 'dumb'

SIR Terry Matthews said yesterday slammed the saga of Little Bulmore Farm, saying he was on the verge of taking his complaint to the Queen.

The multi-millionaire hit the headlines in July when Newport Council planners refused permission to allow him to remove the grade II* listed building next to the Ryder Cup clubhouse.

Since that story made national press, he was allowed to remove the modern 1970s extension to the original 16th century building.

He described the ruin as “a total pain”, saying he'd appealed to the Assembly Government on many occasions to have it knocked down and was on the verge of writing to the Queen saying “this is dumb”.

He said: “In London, it would have gone long before the Olympics, but I've had years of battle. I couldn't even get on site because of the dangerous asbestos roof.”

“Its overlooking the 18th green, which hundreds of millions of people will see. I wanted a site the quality of Augusta but it's disgraceful an old tumble down ruin is tarnishing it.”

An investigation is currently being carried out by Newport Council's overview and scrutiny forum who will look into what happened when into the council decision making process.