Oakland Hills Gets Ryder Cup
Oakland Hills Country Club, the suburban Detroit golf course that Ben Hogan called a "monster" when he won the 1951 U.S. Open, was awarded the 2003 Ryder Cup matches today by the PGA of America.
It will be the first Ryder Cup matches for the Donald Ross-designed course. Oakland Hills previously was the site of the PGA championship twice (1961 and 1972) and the U.S. Open six times, the latest in 1996 when Steve Jones beat Tom Lehman and Davis Love III.
The PGA of America also awarded the 2008 PGA Championship to Oakland Hills, giving it four major events in a span of 12 years. Oakland Hills also will be the site of the U.S. Amateur in 2002.
Next year's Ryder Cup matches will be at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., followed by The Belfry in England in 2001.
The PGA also said the biennial matches between the United States and Europe will be held at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., in 2007, and at Medinah Country Club outside Chicago in 2011.
The PGA moved toward putting Valhalla into a four-year rotation for the PGA Championship by awarding it the 2004 PGA. Valhalla, designed by Jack Nicklaus and later purchased by the PGA, was the site of the 1996 PGA Championship and will get the 2000 PGA Championship.
Medinah, site of three U.S. Opens, also has become a major attraction for the PGA of America. The course where Hale Irwin won his third U.S. Open in 1990 will be the site of the PGA Championship next year, and it was awarded the 2006 PGA Championship today.
It also was awarded the 2011 Ryder Cup matches.
The PGA Championship sites are now locked up through the year 2008, with the exception of 2007.
One course bypassed by the PGA of America was Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, which made a strong bid for the 2003 Ryder Cup matches.
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