The community is certainly hyped up, and it’s all thanks to the Solheim Cup, which will tee off soon on September 13. The European team will be looking to retain the cup, while the U.S. squad will be hoping to reclaim it after nine years. They’ll be competing at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, the very venue that once helped Tiger Woods host a tournament, among others!

It was the 2015 season. Only five events were left on the PGA Tour’s regular season, as per ESPN. The men’s circuit then turned to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club to host the Quicken Loans National. Aside from the legend hosting the event, it also benefitted the Tiger Woods Foundation, which aimed to help students in need in Washington, D.C.

That’s not all—his connection with the iconic venue doesn’t end there. The course also hosted four Presidents Cups, the second of which took place in 1996. If you remember where Woods was that week, then you’d understand what happened back then, which we now dub as one of the 48-year-old’s “rare moments” in his 28-year-long career.

The golfer was just playing his third event as a professional at the 1996 Quad Cities Classic. The then-20-year-old was leading the scoreboard after the end of the third day (for the first time) with a 1-shot lead over Ed Fiori at the Oakwood Country Club. However, everything went awry after the par-4, 4th hole, where he hit a quadruple bogey-8, which turned his lead into him trailing behind Fiori by one shot. That, coupled with three birdies by Fiori, pretty much sealed Fiori’s victory at the event.

That day marks one of the rare times when the future 82-time PGA Tour winner would fail to convert a 54-hole lead into a victory. Impressive as it seems, Tiger Woods has managed to convert 53 of such instances, out of the total 57, into wins. Fourteen of those triumphs came at major championships. Fast forward to 2024, and the golfer might be hoping for a better fate for the American team at the Solheim Cup on this iconic course!

America vs Europe faces off at the RTJ Course

Fast forward almost nine years from the 2015 Quicken Loans National, and the American team, captained by Stacy Lewis, will tee off against Suzann Pettersen-led Europe. They will do so at the iconic venue named after the famous golf course architect and designer, Robert Trent Jones Sr., who constructed the layout in 1988 and opened it in 1991.

The grounds boast a par-72 course that plays between 5,570 and 7,425 yards. Praising the land on which it was built, the architect had also once said, “The terrain is aesthetically perfect. I don’t think we could have done anything better anywhere.” As if to agree with the designer, the first four editions of the prestigious Presidents Cup were also hosted at the same course (remember the connection the second one had with Woods?). It truly seems like the perfect course for the athletes to duke it out for patriotic glory!