One of Jack Nicklaus’ legacies is not only playing the game better than anyone in history, but designing the places where the game is played around the world. One of the Golden Bear’s most gratifying accomplishments is the 90 or more courses he’s designed that have hosted a professional tournament worldwide. That has never been more on display than this week and summer. Although almost 4,500 miles separate them, the Champions Tour’s Boeing Classic at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge near Seattle and the European Tour’s Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in Scotland are linked by Jack’s burgeoning design footprint. In fact, over an 11-week period, beginning July 14 and ending Sept. 25, there will be 10 different Tour events, sanctioned by six different professional tours, played on Jack Nicklaus-designed courses located in five different countries.
These events have been spread evenly across the global tours, with two events each on the PGA Tour, Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour, European Tour and Ladies European Tour. The last event in this run is the Solheim Cup, the most prestigious international team event in women’s professional golf. It is a biennial, trans-Atlantic team match-play competition featuring the best U.S.-born players from the LPGA and the best European-born players from the Ladies European Tour. The 2011 Solheim Cup will be played Sept. 23-25 at Killeen Castle in County Meath, Ireland. Killeen Castle also hosted the Ladies Irish Open Aug. 5-7.
We want to congratulate these events, wish the upcoming events a great deal of success, and thank them all for being part of Jack Nicklaus’ legacy in the game.
July 14-17: Viking Classic (PGA Tour) at Annandale, Madison, Miss.
July 21-24: Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational (Nationwide Tour) on the Scarlet Course at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
Aug. 4-7: Reno-Tahoe Open (PGA Tour) at Montreux Golf & Country Club, Reno, Nev.
Aug. 5-7: Ladies Irish Open (European Ladies Tour) at Killeen Castle, Dublin, Ireland
Aug. 18-21: Midwest Classic (Nationwide Tour) at the Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate, Overland Park, Kan.
Aug. 25-28: Johnnie Walker Championship (European Tour) at Gleneagles (PGA Centenary Course), Scotland
Aug. 26-28: Boeing Classic (Champions Tour) at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, Wash.
Sept. 1-4: Omega European Masters (European Tour) at Crans-sur-Sierre, Crans-sur-Sierre, Switzerland
Sept. 16-18: Songdo IBD Championship presented by Korean Airlines (Champions Tour) at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, New Songdo City, South Korea
Sept. 23-25: Solheim Cup at Killeen Castle, Dublin, Ireland
TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, site of the Champions Tour’s in progress Boeing Classic, is one of many Jack Nicklaus designed courses hosting a professional tournament this month. Otto Greule/Getty Images