Presidents Cup preview: 7 things to know about Medinah Country Club

The Presidents Cup returns to Medinah Country Club outside Chicago, the site of Europe’s famous comeback at the 2012 Ryder Cup. This time, 12 Americans will face 12 Internationals on the club’s No. 3 course. The U.S. holds a lopsided 13-1-1 record in the Presidents Cup, so the International team will need some magic of its own. Here are seven things to know about Medinah.

1. What’s in the name

The club was founded in 1924 by a group of Shriners who belonged to Chicago’s Medinah Temple. The temple itself was named for Medina, the holy city in Saudi Arabia. The clubhouse’s distinctive architecture, with domes and minarets, reflects that Middle Eastern origin.

1. Medinah knows big events

Medinah has three golf courses, but No. 3 has carried most of the tournament load. It has hosted three U.S. Opens, a PGA Championship, a U.S. Senior Open, the unforgettable 2012 Ryder Cup and now the Presidents Cup.

1. Sergio’s tree is gone, but the memory remains

Even people who did not see it live have probably watched the shot in replay. In the final round of the 1999 PGA Championship, Sergio Garcia was chasing Tiger Woods when his drive finished behind a tree on the 16th hole. The prudent play was to punch out, but Garcia took a mighty swipe with a long iron. His eyes were nearly closed at impact, and his left leg kicked wide. Somehow, the ball found the green. Garcia chased it down the fairway, hop-skipping as he went.

The tree is gone today, removed during the 2009 renovation. Garcia’s feat lives on, though, marked by a plaque at the spot where he pulled it off.

1. No. 3 has many authors

Tom Bendelow designed the original course when it opened in 1928. Over the decades, other famous architects made alterations to varying degrees. A.W. Tillinghast worked on the course in the 1930s, brought in partly to help the club survive the Great Depression by making the layout sturdy enough to attract championship golf.

Roger Packard reworked the course in the 1980s ahead of the U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Open. Rees Jones completed a full overhaul in the early 2000s for the PGA Championship.

Most recently, Ogilvy, Cocking and Mead, or OCM, led a restoration intended to move the course back toward its 1920s character. The work added bunkers, increasing the total from 70 to 117; expanded greens to create more pin locations; removed trees; built three new holes; and modified the routing so that Lake Kadijah plays a larger role in the closing stretch.

1. One of the captains helped remake the course

The O in OCM stands for Geoff Ogilvy. He won the 2006 U.S. Open and now captains the International team, trying to engineer an upset on a course he helped reshape.

1. The new routing is designed to increase the drama

After the OCM renovation, Medinah’s routing was revised again for the Presidents Cup. Matches will begin on the fifth hole, partly to ensure that the dramatic holes along Lake Kadijah influence the competition. Some 80 percent of matches end by the 16th hole.

The re-sequencing also makes logistical sense: it helps manage spectator flow, an important consideration as Medinah expects crowds on the scale of Chicago’s major sports venues.

1. Length matters, but only so much

No. 3 measures more than 7,600 yards from the tips. That sounds like a lot until you remember that distance alone does little to deter today’s best players.

Consider the course’s longest hole. It is the 10th for members but will play as the sixth hole in the Presidents Cup. It is a 646-yard par 5 that runs downhill and downwind. Despite the daunting yardage, the bigger hitters on both teams should have little trouble reaching the green in two.

That is worth remembering throughout the competition. Just as there are no pictures on a scorecard, the numbers written on it can be deceptive, too.