Presidents Cup 2007

From TheWest.com.au
5th April 2007, 12:23 WST

The race to make the International team for the Presidents Cup is heating up, and it’s going to be harder than ever to get a start.

Such is the depth of talent from outside the US and Europe that Aaron Baddeley, who currently is ranked 26th in the world, would not make the International team if it was selected now.
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From OntGolf.ca
Written by Robert Thompson, February 27th, 2007

So the Presidents Cup is still almost eight months away, but the PGA Tour held a conference call with the two captains of the respective squads — Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. There were lots of pleasantries throughout the proceedings, before Player, who has never seen hyperbole that he couldn’t embrace, started talking about horseback riding. Yep, you heard that right.

Player: I think it’ll be one of the big sports that have taken place in Canada. Golf is obviously growing a great deal there. I’m sure Jack has designed some golf courses there. I’m doing my first golf course in a place call Cranbrook. In fact, I did my site visit on horseback. Thank God I’m a horseman; otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to walk the next day.
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From Montreal Gazette, © CanWest News Service 2007
Randy Phillips, CanWest NewsService
Published: Thursday, March 01, 2007

MONTREAL- Mike Weir led the charge to bring the Presidents Cup to Royal Montreal Golf Club in September, but the 2003 Masters champion is a long way from making the International team.

And International team captain Gary Player isn’t about to give Weir, who has played on the last three Presidents Cup teams, a free pass to be part of the 12-man team to face the U.S. in the biennial match-play competition Sept. 24-30.
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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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From Channel Canada

TSN today announced its 2007 golf coverage, which includes the biggest and most prestigious events on the golf calendar. Highlights of the schedule include The Presidents Cup from Montreal, the most esteemed golf event ever held in Canada, as well as the four majors (The Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, PGA Championship).

TSN will televise The Masters, U.S. Open and PGA Championship in High Definition on TSN HD, as well as a number of PGA TOUR events.

TSN’s coverage gets underway next weekend (Feb. 3 & 4) with the PGA TOUR’s FBR Open from Scottsdale, AZ. Additional PGA TOUR coverage includes weekday action of the Canadian Open from Angus Glen Country Club in Markham, ON, the second oldest stop on the PGA TOUR and the third oldest championship in the world (complete golf broadcast schedule below).

The 2007 Presidents Cup will be played September 27 to 30 at The Royal Montreal Golf Club, marking the first time the tournament has been held in Canada. TSN will also televise opening ceremonies on September 27. A biennial event, The Presidents Cup features the 12 best players from the United States competing against the 12 best players from the rest of the world (excluding Europe) in competitive match play format. Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player return in 2007 as Captains for the U.S. and International teams, respectively. The event attracts the biggest names in golf: participants in The 2005 Presidents Cup included Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Chris DiMarco, Vijay Singh and Canada’s Mike Weir.

In October 2006, TSN agreed to a four-year broadcast extension with the PGA TOUR for exclusive Canadian English-language rights to key events. TSN has been televising the PGA TOUR since 1985.

Golf fans can catch all the latest news and highlights from around the world of golf daily on SportsCentre, TSN’s flagship news and information program.

TSN’s 2007 Golf Broadcast Schedule

February

· PGA TOUR: FBR Open (weekend rounds) - Feb. 3 & 4
· PGA TOUR: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (weekend rounds) - Feb. 10 & 11

March

· World Golf Championships: CA Championship (weekend rounds) - March 24 & 25

April

· The Masters (Thursday & Friday) - April 5 & 6 (note: TSN will air prime time encores of the final two rounds on Saturday & Sunday)

May

· Senior PGA Championship (all rounds) - May 24 to 27

June

· U.S. Open (all rounds) - June 14 to 17
· U.S. Women’s Open (all rounds) - June 28 to July 1

July

· Senior U.S. Open (all rounds) - July 5 to 8
· British Open (all rounds) - July 19 to 22
· Senior British Open (all rounds) - July 26 to 29
· PGA TOUR: Canadian Open (Thursday & Friday) - July 26 & 27

August

· Women’s British Open (all rounds) - Aug. 2 to 5
· PGA Championship (all rounds) - Aug. 9 to 12
· PGA TOUR: Barclays Classic (weekend rounds) - Aug. 25 & 26
· U.S. Amateur (semis & final) - Aug. 25 & 26

September

· The Presidents Cup (all rounds) - Sept. 27 to 30

October

· PGA Grand Slam of Golf (both rounds) - Oct. 16 & 17

November

· U.S. Skins Game (both rounds) - Nov. 24 & 25

December

· Merrill Lynch Shootout (weekend rounds) - December 8 & 9
· PGA TOUR: Target World Challenge (weekend rounds) - December 15 & 16
· Wendy’s Three Tour Challenge (both rounds) - TBA
· ADT Skills Challenge (both rounds) - December 29 & 30

From PR Leap

News Released: November 01, 2006

(PRLEAP.COM) XP Events, the turn-key retail merchandising partner for sports organizations and world-class events, has been selected as the retail merchandising partner for The Presidents Cup 2007, which will be held September 25-30, 2007 in Montreal, Quebec. The contract was awarded by the PGA TOUR –the lead organizer for the biennial competition between the best players in the United States and the world’s best non-European players – and by Licensing Properties International (LPI) – the PGA TOUR’s licensing partner.
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By KEN FIDLIN — Toronto Sun

It’s down to crunch time for Mike Weir.
Weir’s roller-coaster season on the PGA Tour has left him sitting just outside the cut line for the prestigious Tour Championship, a tournament Weir won five years ago.

Once again yesterday, Weir failed to fire in the final round at the Funai Classic in Orlando, shooting a leisurely round of 72 while all around him players on the leaderboard were going low. Winner Joe Durant jumped from 66th spot into the Top 30 with his winner’s share of $828,000 US, bringing his season total to nearly $2.1 million.
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Montreal Gazette
Randy Phillips, CanWest News Service

ANCASTER, Ont. — The 2007 Presidents Cup at the Royal Montreal Golf Club shared the spotlight with the Canadian Open this week, proving how important the event is to the PGA Tour.

The biennial, international, match-play competition is Tim Finchem’s baby and the PGA Tour commissioner spoke precisely to it before the first ball was hit in the 97th edition of the world’s third-oldest national championship at Hamilton Golf and Country Club.

“We’re excited about it,” Finchem said of the event to be held next Sept. 25-30. “We made the decision to come to Canada with the Presidents Cup recognizing the intensity of the fan base in Canada.

“But I think the important thing about the Presidents Cup and that relationship here in Canada next year is that the Presidents Cup now has attained, and it really hit this level in Washington last year, a very special place in golf.”

Only a dozen of 45 corporate tents, priced at $70,000 US and $95,000, respectively, remain unsold. Ten-person private table seating either in the clubhouse or marquee village also is available at $20,000 and $18,000, respectively.

The event also appears to be en route toward a sellout with approximately 75 per cent of tickets already sold. Weekly passes are $350 or $250 while daily admission ranges from $35 for practice rounds to $65 on the final day, when the best 10 players selected from each of the two 12-man U.S. and international teams go head to head in singles matches.

Tickets, all in U.S. dollars, are available online at www.presidentscup.com, or via a link through the Royal Canadian Golf Association’s website at www.rcga.org.

“We’re way ahead of where we were prior to going to Washington in 2005,” Presidents Cup executive director Tom Clark said of last year at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Lake Manassas, Va., where the U.S. defeated the internationals 18 1/2 to 15 1/2, following a tie in South Africa in 2003.

“The biggest surprise has been the reception of the sponsors and ticket purchasers in the Montreal area. When we set our revenue goals, we hoped to reach people and surprisingly, they came onboard early to sign for sponsorships and hospitality.”

Players don’t receive prize money, but members of each 14-man team, including captains and their assistants, get an equal share to designate to charity. Each got $125,000 in 2005 and since the inaugural event in 1994, more than $13.5 million has been donated to charities worldwide.

From Nicklaus.com

Jack Nicklaus, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, and Gary Player (Photo by Jim Mandeville)
(Dublin, OH) — The PGA TOUR announced today that golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player will return as Captains of the United States and International Teams, respectively, for The Presidents Cup in 2007.

The biennial international team match-play competition will be played outside of the United States for the third time when the event is held September 24-30, 2007, at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The 2007 matches will mark the third consecutive Presidents Cup competition in which Captains Player and Nicklaus have led the International and United States teams.
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Royal Montreal Golf Club is the oldest club in North America and recently played host to the Bell Canadian Open in 2001.
08.05.2005 06:16 pm (ET)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The next time Americans play on the road in the Presidents Cup, they won’t have to cross an ocean, just a border.

The Presidents Cup will be played at Royal Montreal Golf Club in 2007, a move first reported nearly two years ago. With the deal finally put together, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and former Masters champion Mike Weir will be in Montreal on Aug. 15 to make the announcement.

Royal Montreal is the oldest club in North America and recently played host to the Bell Canadian Open in 2001.
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