Ryder Cup 2021: Whistling Straits course guide – pars, yards and hole-by-hole strategy for Europe vs USA
TEE time is nearly here for the most ferocious contest in golf.
The 43rd Ryder Cup will get underway in Whistling Straits, Wisconsin with 24 players locking horns for Europe and USA.
But how will this American links course play out over the weekend?
Here is SunSport’s hole-by-hole guide to the entire Ryder Cup course.
1st – Outward Bound, 364 yards, par 4
Anything left off the tee flirts with bunkers and dunes, while the green has deep bunkers short left and long.
2nd – Cross Country, 593 yards, par 5
Going left makes the second shot blind. A deep pot bunker is situated 35 yards short of a narrow green bordered by bunkers left and a swale right.
3rd – O’Man, 181 yards, par 3
Perched amid dunes with Lake Michigan on the left. Finding the green is not the end of the problems as it is huge and undulating.
4th – Glory, 489 yards, par 4
Bunkers and dunes drop off quickly towards the lake, but there is trouble right as well and the green is slightly elevated.
5th – Snake, 603 yards, par 5
Water either side of the fairway and then a decision has to be made on how far players think they can carry their second towards the shallow green.
6th – Gremlin’s Ear, 355 yards, par 4
Short dogleg right that some may attempt to drive, although a deep pot bunker guards the front of another slender – and undulating – green.
7th – Shipwreck, 221 yards, par 3
Lake Michigan is on the right this time, while left is a large hillside layered with sand bunkers. Spectacular, but with its length, tough too.
8th – On The Rocks, 507 yards, par 4
A blind drive with dunes, bunkers and Lake Michigan below on the right.
The water then forms a backdrop to a deep green with dunes and bunkers left and right.
9th – Down and Dirty, 446 yards, par 4
Seven Mile Creek and a series of narrow sand bunkers line the right side of the hump-backed green and going left is to be avoided as well.
10th – Voyageur, 361 yards, par 4
The bold take driver and go over the drop-off as close to the left side of the fairway edge as they can, but there are small and deep bunkers short left of the green.
11th – Sand Box, 479 yards, par 4
Anything straying right will be swallowed by sand dunes, bunkers and another drop-off. Then there is the huge bunker 100 yards out which gives the hole its name.
12th – Pop Up, 143 yards, par 3
Perhaps the toughest green on the course. The hole plays downhill with a big fall away to the dunes and the lake short or right.
13th – Cliff Hanger, 404 yards, par 4
Trouble lurks to the right of the fairway, but the approach is the really dangerous one with the great lake just off the green.
14th – Widow’s Watch, 401 yards, par 4
Going left leaves a blind second to a green which has deep sand bunkers right, left and beyond.
15th – Grand Strand, 518 yards, par 4
A really demanding par four where the drive has to avoid sunken sand dunes to the right and the approach carries more dunes.
16th – Endless Bite, 552 yards, par 5
The shortest of three monster par fives. Lake Michigan is to the left and there is another carry over dunes and bunkers for those trying to reach the green in two.
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17th – Pinched Nerve, 223 yards, par 3
The green is guarded left by sand dunes and bunkers that fall 20 feet below green level, with Lake Michigan beyond. One of the most treacherous par threes in the world of golf.
18th – Dyeabolical, 515 yards, par 4
Named after designer Pete Dye.
A tough drive, but the approach is truly intimidating across Seven Mile Creek, while the green allows for some nasty pin positions.