2015 Ryder Cup penciled in for Hazeltine

Hazeltine National Golf Club and the PGA of America are completing the final stages of a contract that would bring the Ryder Cup matches to the course in September 2015.

Bill Travis, general chairman of the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine, said he was optimistic the PGA's executive board will approve a contract that the PGA staff has been negotiating with him and other Hazeltine members.

The contract, if approved, also would call for a second PGA Championship to be played at Hazeltine, perhaps in 2009.

The Ryder Cup is the biennial competition between the top pros from the United States and Europe. The sites alternate between the U.S. and Europe.

The 1999 Ryder Cup will be held in September at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., with the 2003, 2007 and 2011 U.S.-hosted events already scheduled for Oakland Hills (Detroit), Valhalla (Louisville, Ky.) and Medinah (Chicago).

Hazeltine will undertake extensive construction starting this spring to create better locations for corporate customers and television facilities than were available during the 1991 U.S. Open.

The costs of the project, including a terrace for a corporate tent village along the seventh fairway, are being shared by Hazeltine and the PGA.

TRW