Medinah Country Club: Course No. 3

Medinah Country Club's Course No. 3 is a storied championship venues in American golf, having hosted three U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, and the 2012 Ryder Cup. Originally designed by Tom Bendelow in 1928 and significantly renovated by Rees Jones, the par-72 layout stretches over 7,600 yards through towering oaks on the club's 640-acre campus west of Chicago.

Medinah Country Club owes its existence to the Medinah Shriners, the Chicago-area chapter of the fraternal organization that took its name from the holy Arabian city. Founded in 1924, the club was conceived on a grand scale from the very beginning. The Shriners acquired a vast tract of 640 acres in the western Chicago suburb of Medinah, Illinois, and by the late 1920s the club boasted approximately 1,500 golfing and social members. Their ambition was nothing less than to create the most impressive private club in the Midwest, and the scope of the facilities they built reflected that vision: three full eighteen-hole golf courses, Lake Kadijah for swimming and boating, a gun club, racquet courts, and the centerpiece of it all -- a Byzantine-style clubhouse designed by architect Richard G. Schmid in 1926. Schmid's clubhouse remains a standout extraordinary structures in American golf. Spanning 105,000 square feet, it features a sixty-foot dome, minarets, and classic Moorish architectural details that evoke the Near Eastern aesthetic the Shriners adopted as part of their fraternal identity. The blending of Byzantine, Oriental, Louis XIV, and Italian architectural elements created a building unlike anything else in the country club world, and it continues to serve as a striking visual signature for the club nearly a century after its construction. For the golf courses, the club retained Tom Bendelow, the prolific Scottish-born architect who had designed hundreds of courses across America. Bendelow laid out all three eighteen-hole courses at Medinah, with Course No. 1 opening in September 1925, Course No. 2 following in 1926, and Course No. 3 completing the trio in 1928. Course No. 3 was originally designed for the club's women members and was initially considered the tamest of the three layouts. That reputation changed quickly after Harry Cooper fired a 63 during the 1930 Medinah Open, which prompted the club to bring in Harry Collis to refashion and strengthen the course.

Collis's modifications transformed No. 3 from a gentle layout into a formidable championship test, and the strengthened version quickly established itself as the club's leading competitive venue. Course No. 3's championship journey began with the Western Open, a significant non-major tournaments on the professional circuit during the early and mid-twentieth century. Medinah hosted the Western Open three times on Course No. 3 -- in 1939, 1962, and 1966 -- bringing the best players of their respective eras to the densely wooded, demanding layout west of Chicago. The first major championship arrived in 1949, when Course No. 3 hosted the U.S. Open. Cary Middlecoff captured the title with a 72-hole total of 286, two over par, defeating Sam Snead and Clayton Heafner. The course proved a stern test for the strongest field in American golf, and Medinah's reputation as a championship venue was firmly established. The U.S. Open returned in 1975, when Lou Graham won in an 18-hole Monday playoff over John Mahaffey. Graham shot 71 to Mahaffey's 73 in the playoff, claiming his only major championship over a course that once again proved an exacting examination. The third U.S. Open at Medinah, in 1990, produced a standout dramatic finishes in the championship's history.

Hale Irwin, at 45 years and 15 days of age, became the oldest U.S. Open champion by holing a remarkable 45-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Mike Donald. After the two men tied in the 18-hole Monday playoff, Irwin prevailed at the 91st hole in sudden death -- the first sudden-death playoff in U.S. Open history. Irwin's victory, and his jubilant sprint around the 18th green high-fiving spectators, remains one of the indelible images in major championship golf. Medinah's relationship with the PGA Championship proved equally memorable. Tiger Woods won the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, and when the PGA returned in 2006, Woods captured the title again, this time finishing at 18 under par with a 72-hole total of 270. For the 2006 championship, Rees Jones had been brought in to prepare the course, extending it to 7,561 yards -- at the time, the longest layout in major championship history. Jones's work continued a pattern of renovations that had reshaped Course No. 3 over the decades. Roger Packard had undertaken a significant redesign in 1986 in preparation for championship play, and earlier modifications by Dick Nugent in 1970 and Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Roger Rulewich in the 1990s had also left their mark on the layout. The 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah produced what many consider the greatest comeback in the competition's history. Europe entered the final day's singles matches trailing the United States 10-6, a deficit that appeared insurmountable.

What followed was an extraordinary afternoon of golf as the European team won eight and halved one of the twelve singles matches to claim a 14.5-13.5 victory. The decisive moment came when Germany's Martin Kaymer holed a five-foot putt on the 18th green to defeat Steve Stricker, clinching the point that allowed Europe to retain the cup. The "Miracle at Medinah" instantly entered Ryder Cup lore and cemented Course No. 3's place in the collective memory of the game. In preparation for the 2026 Presidents Cup, Medinah embarked on its most ambitious renovation yet. The club engaged OCM Golf -- the design firm founded by 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy along with partners Ashley Cocking and Mike Mead -- to develop a master plan for a comprehensive transformation of Course No. 3. Completed in 2024, the OCM renovation introduced partial routing changes, particularly through holes 13-18, along with wider fairways bordered by fescue rough, expanded greens complexes, and enhanced integration of the course's natural topography. The renovation signaled a philosophical shift for the course, moving away from the narrow, heavily treed corridors of recent decades toward a more open, strategic style that encourages creative shotmaking while maintaining the challenge expected of a venue that has hosted five major championships. Across nearly a century of championship golf, Course No. 3 at Medinah has witnessed some of the game's most dramatic moments and hosted its greatest players. From Cary Middlecoff to Tiger Woods, from Hale Irwin's improbable celebration to Europe's miraculous comeback, the course has consistently produced theater that transcends sport. With the OCM renovation positioning it for a new era, Medinah No. 3 continues to evolve while honoring the competitive legacy that began with Tom Bendelow's original vision in 1928.