Royal County Down in Northern Ireland Tops Golf Digest's Ranking of the 100 Best Courses Outside the U.S.

Golf Digest has compiled its second biennial ranking of the 100
Best Courses Outside the U.S., a list that features courses from 30
countries.

The full ranking of the 100 Best Courses Outside the U.S. appears
in the magazine's May issue, on newsstands April 10. The list can also
be viewed online at www.golfdigest.com/100greatest.

The ranking is part of Golf Digest's fifth edition of Planet Golf,
a biennial feature in the magazine that looks at the best places to
play around the globe.

Royal County Down G.C. in Northern Ireland is No. 1 among the 100
Best Courses Outside the U.S., just edging out The Old Course at St.
Andrews in Scotland, which was No. 1 in the inaugural ranking in 2005.
The remainder of the Top 10 are: No. 3 Royal Dornoch G.C. (Scotland,)
No. 4 Royal Portrush (Northern Ireland,) No. 5 Muirfield (Scotland,)
No. 6 Royal Melbourne G.C. (Australia,) No. 7 Ballybunion G.C.
(Ireland,) No. 8 Turnberry Hotel (Scotland), No. 9 Carnoustie G. Links
(Scotland) and No. 10 Cape Kidnappers G.C. (New Zealand).

To determine nominations, Golf Digest contacted golf associations,
federations and unions around the world, then compiled a comprehensive
master ballot of more than 1,000 of the best courses on Earth. The
ballots were sent to Golf Digest's 800-plus U.S.-based course-ranking
panelists, to an informal panel of roughly 100 overseas golfers who
have knowledge of golf in specific regions and to the editors of the
magazine's 22 international editions plus Golf Digest's five other
affiliate titles.

Courses were rated on a 10-point scale, using Golf Digest's
course-rating criteria for guidance. The criteria includes: shot
values, resistance to scoring, design variety, memorability,
aesthetics, conditioning and ambience. In all, 14,933 individual
course evaluations were tabulated and averaged.

Also part of Golf Digest's Planet Golf rankings is a supplemental
listing that includes courses from 197 nations and territories. This
listing appears in a booklet called The World's Greatest Golf,
presented by Rolex, and will accompany Golf Digest subscriber copies.
The listing is also available online now at
www.golfdigest.com/100greatest.

Golf Digest is among the largest publications in the world, with
22 international editions plus five affiliate titles in 50 territories
and 17 languages.