Spain want to host the 2018 Ryder Cup, a leading Spanish golf official said on Tuesday.
Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, Germany and France all also hope to host the biennial event in eight years' time, with the winning bid to be decided in April of next year.
Spain, however, are hosting more European Tour events than any other nation in 2010 (seven) and hope to build on that by securing the European battle with the Americans in 2018.
"The European Tour really associates professional golf with Spain and I think one of our special assets in terms of the bid is having seven events," Spanish national golf federation president Gonzaga Escauriaza was quoted as saying by the Globe and Mail.
"One reason we want the Ryder Cup is that we need to give the tournament promoters something, a weapon to go out and try to secure these tour events into the future."
In 2010, Spain hosts the World Match Play Championship, Spanish Open, Madrid Masters, Andalucia Open, Mallorca Open, Castello Masters and Andalucia Masters on a proud portfolio of front-line events.
"The financial climate is difficult now... we (the RFEG) need help, we cannot finance all the Spanish tournaments so we thought we really needed the Ryder Cup to make it easier to sell our events in the market place," added Escauriaza.
"With the Ryder Cup the interest among the media and the fans is huge. I think we owe the promoters that and the Ryder Cup would be special for them."