He has been recruited to re-design the 27-hole course at one of the country's biggest hotel developments, the £100m Flaxby Country Resort in North Yorkshire.

Mr Westwood, who has represented Europe for the last six consecutive Ryder Cups, is also establishing a golfing academy at the hotel and will become the course professional in 2011.

It is hoped that his association will help secure the Ryder Cup and other major golfing events including PGA tournaments, the Solheim Cup and the Open to the hotel.

Mr Westwood, 35, said: "This is a great opportunity to help improve the Flaxby course and bring it up to the highest standards to host the best golf events in the world. The course just needs a bit of tweaking to make it one of the best in the country and the facilities around it will be magnificent."

The Yorkshire Post revealed last August that plans were being drawn up to bring the Ryder Cup to the Flaxby, which is due to be built between York and Harrogate.

The bid by the Skelwith Group, which is behind the £100m Flaxby Park Golf and Country Club, is being backed by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and the Yorkshire Tourist Board, which is now called Welcome to Yorkshire.

The Skelwith Group's head of corporate leisure, the former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan, was instrumental in brokering the deal with Mr Westwood, who has had 29 professional wins and was this month ranked 15th in the world.

The Ryder Cup was last held in the region in 1957 at the Lindrick Golf Club near Worksop. An official bid is due to be made by the end of the year to the European PGA amid hopes it could be held at the Flaxby in 2022.

Its arrival would be a massive injection into the region's economy. The tournament has a global television audience of more than 435m and its regional economic impact is estimated at between £100m and £120m.

It is hoped the five-star hotel, set in woodland just off the A1, will be completed by 2011.

The existing golf course opened in 2005 and already has nearly 700 members.