Presidents Cup 2007

From SFGate.com

San Francisco officials have reached agreement with the PGA Tour to bring the 2009 Presidents Cup to Harding Park, The Chronicle has learned.

The agreement, an amendment to the previous contract between the tour and city, ends 16 months of uncertainty about Harding’s future as a venue for big-time golf. The course hosted the American Express Championship in October 2005, its first PGA Tour event since 1969. Tiger Woods outlasted John Daly to win in a riveting playoff.

Officials from the tour and city are finalizing language on the contract amendment, two sources said. An announcement is expected early next week, though the Rec & Park commission, Board of Supervisors and mayor’s office still must give their approval, a process likely to take until the end of March.
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From PGATOUR.com

BLUE COURSE
The Royal Montreal Golf Club, the oldest golf club in North America, was founded on November 4, 1873. It was originally a 9-hole layout on Fletcher’s Field, part of Mount Royal Park. In 1896, the Club moved to Dixie, in the parish of Dorval, where 36 holes were enjoyed until the pressures of urban growth again dictated a decision to relocate. The Club moved to its present location on Ile Bizard in 1959, where 45 holes were designed by renowned Golf Course Architect Dick Wilson and his Associate Joe Lee.

In 2004, Rees Jones was retained to remodel the Blue Course. Renovations to the Front Nine were commenced in September 2004 and completed in the Spring of 2005. The Back Nine of the Blue Course was renovated in the Fall of 2005 and reopened for play in the August 2006.

The Blue Course has essentially the same layout, except that Holes 12 and 13 have been reversed; 12 is now a par 5 and 13 a par 3.

• The greens are all constructed to USGA specifications and sodded with L93 grown on the same USGA soil mix.

• The greens range in size from 4,000 to 6,000 square feet. All of the greens are elevated and tightly bunkered. The greens tend to have 3 distinct areas or “greens within a green”.

• The fairway bunkers were redesigned and relocated to a range of 280 to 320 yards from the tee. Carry bunkers are at 260 to 280 yards.

• The tees were all reconstructed into pods. Drainage has been installed in all tees.

• The fairways all have an engineered system of slit drains, similar to the Cambridge Drainage System.
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