Global Nicklaus Design courses host impressive list of mid-summer professional tournaments

Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario

Last week’s RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Ontario, the M2M Russian Challenge at Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club in Moscow, and the USGA’s U.S. Junior Girls Championship at Sycamore Hills in Fort Wayne, Ind., shared more in common than the championship golf. All three events showcased Jack Nicklaus-designed layouts, highlighting the Golden Bear’s incredible worldwide design résumé. Add to that four other events hosted at championship-caliber Nicklaus Design courses since June. The U.S. Women’s Open, the Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA Tour, the Regions Tradition on the Champions Tour, and the Midwest Classic Presented by Cadillac on the Web.com Tour pointed worldwide attention to Sebonack Golf Club (NY), Annandale Golf Club (Miss.), Shoal Creek (Ala.), and Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate (Kan.), respectively.

These seven events dot a schedule of no fewer than 23 professional tournaments or USGA championships hosted on Nicklaus Design tracks in 2013. With close to 380 courses open for play in 36 countries, Nicklaus Design reaffirms its position as the world’s leading golf course design firm.

American Brandt Snedeker clinched the RBC Canadian Open title and his second PGA Tour victory this year on Sunday, closing with 2-under 70 for a three-stroke victory. That same weekend, Northern Ireland’s Michael Hoey won the M2M Russian Challenge by four shots, securing his fifth European Tour title; and Gabriella Then, 17 and an incoming freshman at the University of Southern California, never trailed in her six matches en route to the Girls’ Junior title, securing an exemption for the 2013 Women’s Amateur Championship next month. Several weeks ago, Inbee Park made history at Sebonack, becoming the first female golfer since 1950 to win the first three major championships in a calendar year after winning the U.S. Women’s Open. She is going for No. 4 this week at St. Andrews in the Women’s British Open. Other golfers to become champions at Nicklaus Design layouts in recent weeks are Woody Austin (Sanderson Farms Championship), David Frost (Regions Tradition), and Jamie Lovemark (Midwest Classic).

Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club in Moscow

Nicklaus Design newcomers like Sebonack, which opened for play in 2006, and was named Best New Private Course in America by Golf Digest, and Tseleevo Golf and Polo Club (2008), are relatively new to the championship scene, while Shoal Creek and Glen Abbey Golf Club, both opened for play in 1976, are long-established Tour stops.

Upcoming tournaments at Nicklaus Design courses include the Reno-Tahoe Open at Montreaux Golf & Country Club (Reno, Nev.); the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneages (Perthshire, Scotland); the Boeing Classic at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge (Snoqualmie, Wash.); the Hotel Fitness Championship at Sycamore Hills Golf Club (Fort Wayne, Ind.); the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship at the Scarlet Golf Course at The Ohio State University (Columbus); The Presidents Cup at Muirfield Village Golf Club (Dublin, Ohio); the Reignwood Pine Valley LPGA Classic at Pine Valley Golf Club (Beijing); and the LPGA KEP HanaBank Championship at Sky 72 Golf Club, Ocean Course (Incheon, South Korea). To learn more about Nicklaus Design, visit www.nicklaus.com/design.