CELTIC Manor owner Sir Terry Matthews vowed after this year's Wales Open: "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Record crowds turned up to witness Englishman Ian Poulter win the tournament.

But after the event Sir Terry, who dished out over £1.5m in prize money, claimed next year the Wales Open will be bigger and better than ever before.

"This year will be tough to beat and I could not have asked for a better week," he said.

"It rained a little yesterday but apart from that the weather was perfect. Phillip Price had a chance going into the final round but made a few slips, but Ian Poulter played fantastically.

"Although this year was great I'm a firm believer in improving and turning things up a notch.

"So next year we'll get bigger and better and we'll continue to improve until the Ryder Cup."

Many were surprised that with so much money on offer more top stars didn't compete this year.

But Sir Terry has promised to do whatever it takes to bring the world's best players to the Celtic Manor. "If I have to increase the purse to get them here I'll do it," he said.

"I'm a persistent person and I'll keep cranking it up and I'll do what it takes to make this one of the most prestigious events on the European Tour.

"It was obviously very disappointing that Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam didn't make the cut.

"But we shouldn't take anything away from Poulter. He is a great champion and has promised to be back next year to defend his title.

"One of the main reasons is because his daughter had such a great time in the resort. We have first class children's facilities and Ian said his daughter had enjoyed herself so much that he promised he'd bring her next year."

Sir Terry also claimed the television audience was the biggest yet.

"We don't know the exact figures but I know that around a billion homes across the world were able to pick up the Wales Open," he said.

Exactly 15,061 people turned up yesterday, breaking the 2000 record by one. Overall the aggregate figure was up by 46 people, meaning record crowds.