If taking the Ashes cricket to Cardiff was a gamble, selecting the West to host World Cup football should be a no-brainer.

The England and Wales cricket board are staging an Ashes test match in the Welsh capital for the first time, and despite initial reservations from those who preferred the traditional heartlands of Old Trafford and Trent Bridge, most reports have commended the move after the first two days play.

Bristol and the West are in the running to become a candidate city for England's 2018 football World Cup bid, having similarly never hosted part of a major football championships.

And having missed out on the 1966 World Cup and the 1996 European Championships when they came to these shores, it is Bristol's turn to show the football world what it can do and bring World Cup football to the doorstep of the West Country.

The region's leading golfer, Chris Wood, is a prime example of the passion for football in the area and is the latest sports star to get behind Bristol's bid.

He may be focused on the Open golf championship which starts next week, but he did a double take when he realised Bristol was bidding for World Cup football in 2018.

The beautiful game is his second love behind golf, and the prospect of Brazil, Portugal or Spain being based in the South West seized his attention.

The thought of the five-times world champions Brazil training at Bristol Rovers' Memorial Stadium in front of 10,000 fans before entertaining 40,000 at a new stadium in Ashton Vale is a salivating prospect.

The towering 21-year-old Wood was on course for a professional career in football before becoming fonder of the many greens and fairways Bristol has to offer.

He was part of Bristol City's academy as a youngster, and at 6ft 5in drew similarities with the similarly lanky Premier League player Peter Crouch.

A knee injury meant he had more time on the golf course and he never looked back, turning pro last year after a barnstorming result as the leading amateur at the 2008 Open.

But his support for football has never waned and was exemplified by his reaction to the news Bristol is in the running for 2018.

"It would be awesome if it was held in Bristol, it really would," said Wood. "I'd definitely have to get tickets. Football was my main sport but a year after I got into the academy a little knee injury stopped me playing football for a few months and I played a lot more golf.

"David Beckham was on my wall and he's still one of my idols. I'm not embarrassed to say that.

"I think people have got a lot more respect for him in the last year or two. Just the way he works at his game.

"He used to stay in and watch Match of the Day rather than go out and get drunk with his mates.

"I was like that. A lot of my friends were going out to parties but I had to get up early to go out and practice. You learn so much from people like that.

"He won't be playing in 2018 but he might be the manager!"

That idolisation stemmed in part from Wood's first World Cup memory – Beckham's stunning free kick against Columbia in the group stage of the 1998 World Cup in Lens, France.

"I remember that tournament just looked so glitzy and glamorous and I wanted to be there, to go there," said Wood.

"I wanted to be playing. And I transferred that to golf. I wanted to play in the Masters, I wanted to play in the Open. And now I am. I was inspired by that World Cup."

Beckham's freekick was a seminal moment Wood shares with Bristol City chairman Steve Lansdown.

Lansdown, who is putting more than £40 million of his own money into the new stadium, which is currently awaiting planning permission, was at France 1998, and in Lens.

"The first World Cup match I went to was England v Columbia," he told the Post. "We were right behind the goal for Beckham's free-kick. You could see it was going in as soon as it left his foot."

The World Cup addiction, if it needed fuelling, was complete.

"Following that we went to Japan (in 2002) and made all sorts of friends. We saw a lot of Japan but it was the football that made us travel around," he added.

And there in a nutshell is one of the reasons not to ignore the claims of the West Country for the World Cup.

The West is already one of England's leading tourist destinations. Throw football into the equation and you have a very enticing prospect.