YOU can usually get a pretty good idea about the size and success of an event based on the press presence.

On Wednesday you would have been forgiven for thinking the ISPS Handa Wales Open was the only show in town, because the media centre was practically bulged to capacity for press conferences with the Ryder Cup players and the captain, Paul McGinley.

Most, if not all, of those media members stuck around for the opening day of the Wales Open and Scotland in particular was exceptionally well represented as if nothing else was happening north of the border on Thursday.

However, that, as they say, was that, because by the final day of the Wales Open the press centre is like the Mary Celeste, only three written journalists joining a couple of snappers and radio men.

It is almost as if when McGinley left and Steven Gallagher missed the cut, this event was deemed as no longer worthy of coverage.

What a shame.

In terms of the future of the Wales Open, it seems somewhat clearer now that golf in general at the Celtic Manor is set for a hiatus.

The Wales Open sponsorship deal with ISPS Handa and their contractual obligation to stage the event with the European Tour have both expired and the Celtic Manor is content to quietly drop the Wales Open and focus instead on the current main priority at the resort, a new 5000-capacity convention centre.

However, golf fans of south Wales need not despair because privately Sir Terry Matthews, the owner of the Celtic Manor, has vowed that top class golf will return to the venue of the 2010 Ryder Cup.

The Argus understands that the Celtic Manor have shown preliminary interest in staging the World Matchplay Championship, no longer a staple of Wentworth as well as the 2019 Solheim Cup, the Ladies’ version of the Ryder Cup.

There also remains the possibility that the Wales Open could return in a revamped fashion in the future with a new date and sponsor, but that isn’t a realistic proposition for 2015.

If you want an example of how cruel a sport golf can be, spare a thought for Bridgend’s Rhys Davies in this Ryder Cup season.

Davies was hotly-tipped to make it onto the European team in 2010 and even more so after he performed miracles in the 2010 Wales Open, shooting a course record of 62 as he was just pipped to the post by Graeme McDowell. Two weeks later, McDowell would win the US Open and a couple of months later holed the putt that won Europe the Ryder Cup.

For Davies? Things haven’t gone quite so well. He lost his Tour card in 2012 and couldn’t even play here this week, instead finishing 33rd on the Challenge Tour in the Kazakhstan Open and winning €3285.