Olympia Fields - Rich In History

The first time LPGA star Stacy Lewis came onto the grounds at Olympia Fields Country Club just south of Chicago, she felt somewhat like a Lilliputian gawking at the giant in Gulliver’s Travels. Her revelation: Everything is big at Olympia Fields.

“You just drive in the parking lot and you can see the difference,” Lewis said in May upon visiting for Media Day at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. “You see the big clubhouse, the big golf courses and what's going to be long rough.”

Olympia Fields’ historical status is enough to overwhelm. Built in 1915 as “the world’s largest private club,” Olympia Fields originally had 1,000 caddies in the workforce and four 18-hole courses – there are two courses now: this week’s track, the North Course, and the South Course. Only Pinehurst and St. Andrews rivaled the immensity within club borders at that time.

The English Tudor clubhouse, at 110,000 square feet when completed in 1922, was touted as the largest clubhouse in the world and it took two years and an astronomical (in the day) $1.3 million to construct. An 80-foot clock tower, with clocks facing in each direction, stands guard over the clubhouse and property. Famed University of Chicago football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg was the club’s first president and proposed the name “Olympia” to signify the massive presence of the facility.

Golf was the club’s claim to fame almost immediately. Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus won here. Bobby Jones famously lost here, shocked by Johnny Farrell is a 36-hole playoff at the 1928 U.S. Open. The last major competitions at Olympia Fields included Jim Furyk capturing the 2003 U.S. Open and Bryson DeChambeau rolling to the 2015 U.S. Amateur title. The North Course is the first ever to host a U.S. Open (1928 and 2003), a PGA Championship (1925, 1961), a U.S. Senior Open (1997), a U.S. Amateur (2015) and a KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

The South Course, an assortment of holes from the “other” three courses when they were disbanded, is no slouch either as Ariya Jutanugarn, the world’s top-ranked player and a participant this week, won the 2011 U.S. Girls Junior on that course. Defending KPMG champion Brooke Henderson, then 13, lost in the first round of match play.

“Just having the history here of the men playing here, but more specifically just the fact that the women have never played here,” Lewis said. “It’s a big deal for us to be here and that was kind of one of the stipulations I gave (Lewis’ sponsor) KPMG is we need to be on golf courses we historically have not played in the past.”

What the world’s top women’s players – the top 100 on the LPGA money list are entered – will see is a rolling course designed by Willie Park Jr., that offers difficult dogleg holes and a brutal finish with Butterfield Creek coming into play on seven holes.

When Furyk won the 2003 U.S. Open, he finished 8-under par on a par-70, 7,100-yard course. This week’s setup will be largely from the regulation tees at Olympia Fields, playing approximately 6,600 yards and to par 71 – a similar measurement and par as when Nicklaus won the 1968 Western Open. The 18^th hole was a stout, 470-yard par 4 in 2003 and will be a reachable par 5 for the women, playing at a maximum of 485 yards as the only par 5 on the back nine.

“We have a hard golf course here,” said Brian Morrison, the Olympia Fields Director of Golf for 17 years. “We can’t grow the rough up because it would be too difficult. The players will see a classic golf course with undulating greens and every hole presents a different problem.”

Morrison focuses on four holes as focal points during the week. The par-4 fifth has Butterfield Creek to contend with. The par-4 ninth doglegs left and the par-4 12^th moves right. The 207-yard, par-3 17^th may be the determining factor in crowning a champion, playing uphill into the prevailing wind.

The capper to all this on-course difficulty and aura of history is that fans can access the course easily via the nearby train station, located 100 yards from the first tee on the western edge of the property. This will allow for Chicago golf fans to easily hop a train and get to Olympic Fields. That’s particularly another big deal to one notable fan.

“First off, I’m a Chicagoan. I was born in Chicago Heights and I was raised in Naperville,” said LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan. “So if you don’t come out here, I’m going to find you in June. This is my hometown and you can take a train here and 30 steps later be on the first tee; a pretty cool Chicago experience I’m looking forward to doing.”

The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship has been played at historic courses since 2015 where the men conducted significant championships previously. Here’s a quick rundown: