SCOTLAND Trump hires a builder who'll make history

Donald Trump has hired an Irish firm to build what he used to call "the world's greatest golf course." Now he's calling it "the greatest golf course in history."

We're talking about Trump International Golf Links, of course, the most talked-about golf project in the world. Or in the history of the world. The one that will take shape on a sandy, rugged-looking coastal site near Aberdeen, Scotland.

The Martin Hawtree-designed course -- the first of two in the master plan -- will be built by SOL Golf Course Construction, a company based in Ballydesmond (County Cork), Ireland.

"They will do an outstanding job," Trump told the Scotsman.

SOL helped to set up Royal Birkdale Golf Club for the British Open in 2008, and it's built several new courses in Ireland, among them Lough Erne Golf Club in County Fermanagh (Nick Faldo, designer), Castleisland Golf Club in County Kerry (Arthur Spring), Heritage Golf Club in County Laois (Jeff Howes), and Castleknock Golf Club in Dublin (Jonathan Gaunt).

Trump International Golf Links, which will spread over 800 acres, will also have a bunch of houses and a hotel.

It seems like only yesterday that Trump had vowed to build "the world's greatest golf course," a phrase that has stuck to his project like glue. But last fall, in a press release that's been ignored, he said that he was building "the greatest golf course in history."

And that ups the ante just a bit, doesn't it?