Seven European countries have expressed an interest in staging the Ryder Cup in 2022, it has been announced.

The date for officially advising tournament organisers of their intention to submit a bid was August 31 and notifications were received from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey.

Ryder Cup director Richard Hills said he was delighted by the level of interest.

“The implementation of this kind of formal bidding process for the 2018 Ryder Cup marked a new era for us all at Ryder Cup Europe, and this take up for 2022 shows that the introduction of a fair, transparent and objective methodology has been welcomed across the continent.”

All seven nations will now be given an information pack before a series of meetings and inspection visits by Ryder Cup Europe officials are undertaken before the end of the year.

Formal submission of official bids needs to made by February 16, 2015 with the host country and venue expected to be announced in the European autumn.

The 2016 Ryder Cup will be staged at Hazeltine Golf Club in Minnesota, with the 2018 edition held at Le Golf National in Paris and Whistling Straits in Wisconsin the venue in 2020.