This week, the Presidents Cup returns to Canada for the second time in the tournament’s history, on the Blue Course at Royal Montreal Golf Club.
The international team will be looking to be more competitive than they were in 2007, where they lost 19½ to 14½ to the United States.
The Blue Course has remained very similar to last year’s, giving us a preview of how players will approach the course. The design is tight and punishing, ideal for precise players, with tree-lined fairways, thick rough and small, elevated greens.
Presidents Cup, course
Royal Montreal Golf Club is the oldest club in North America, founded in 1873, although its current location changed in 1959, when it moved from its historic location in Montreal to the island of Île Bizard, eight kilometres to the west. Two new courses were built here, designed by Dick Wilson and remodeled by Rees Jones between 2004 and 2005.
The area was originally occupied by agricultural land and apple orchards. The course embodies many of the elements that characterized the architecture of golf courses of that period: the narrow fairways that wind through the trees and the greens surrounded by rough make the game one-dimensional, making strategy a little influential element in the competition.
The spectacle of the Presidents Cup will however be guaranteed by the match play formula and the great desire for revenge of the international team, which has won the event only once, in 1998.
The final holes
As in every team match play competition, everything will be decided on the last holes, which in this case are full of water obstacles that make the shots to the green very delicate. Here are the three holes that decided the outcome of the 2007 edition.
Hole 14 – 360 meters, Par 4
In 2007, four lopsided matches ended on the 14th hole, including an impressive 5&4 victory by Vijay Singh and Stuart Appleby over Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk in the Friday fourballs.
The 14th hole on the Blue course at Royal Montreal is very similar to another famous Dick Wilson-designed hole, the 18th at Bay Hill, except this time it is a mirror image, with the water hazard on the left. The lake extends all the way down the fairway to the front edge of a narrow green that extends left around the water. The landing area is only 20 meters wide, so most players will opt for a safe tee shot.
New advanced tees have recently been created, which could be used to transform the hole into an exciting, drivable par 4.
Hole 15 – 410 metres, Par 4
If the 14th resembles the finishing hole at Bay Hill, the 15th is very similar to the 18th at Doral’s Blue Monster, another Dick Wilson classic. From the tee, players have the option of playing a safe iron, leaving a long approach to a poorly protected green, or attempting a fade drive to a narrow landing area just a few metres from the green.
Any drive too straight or too far left will end up in the water. The green has been moved back 40 metres by Jones, and its surface is divided into distinct sections, marked by steps and undulations.
Hole 17 – 145 meters, Par 3
Nearly half of the 34 matches in 2007 (16) ended on this par 3. The 17th hole was moved closer to the water on the right in the 2004 redesign. It usually requires a short iron for professionals, but club choice can be tricky when the wind and pressure pick up.
Hole 18 – 400 meters, Par 4
The final hole at Royal Montreal is a medium-length but tricky par 4, with a dogleg left protected by a pond.
At the 1975 Canadian Open, Jack Nicklaus teed up the 18th with a one-shot lead over Tom Weiskopf. Nicklaus, however, sent his tee shot into the water hazard on the left, scoring a bogey that sent him to a playoff, which Weiskopf won.
More than three decades later, Tiger Woods suffered the same fate during his 2007 Presidents Cup singles match against Mike Weir. Woods also hit his drive into the water, eventually conceding the hole to the Canadian and losing the match.