Medinah's Ryder Cup boss has hot ticket on his hands

HAVEN, Wis. - When Michael Belot, tournament director for the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah Country Club, stopped by to talk with the Daily Herald, the first two questions for him were obvious:

• Can you guarantee no fog delays?

• Have you hired Jim Gray yet to join your PR staff?

The answer to the first is probably not, as is the answer to the second, although the words Ryder Cup were never mentioned more than they were over a 12-hour period following Gray's nose-to-nose with U.S. captain Corey Pavin on Wednesday.

The bottom line is not much PR is necessary when it comes to an event with the prestige of the Ryder Cup.

"This is the biggest event Medinah has had or will ever have," Belot said.

It's a nice feather in the cap for the membership at Medinah, which put on quite a show in 2006 with the PGA Championship and now gets to host one of the biggest international events in the world.

"You need to have three things," Belot said of the selection process that ended with Medinah being chosen as host course. "You need to have a top golf course, and Medinah certainly is that. And then you narrow it down more by needing to have the infrastructure and the space to fit everything.

"And then to narrow it even more, you have to have a membership that's willing to sacrifice. It's a big commitment on their part. In 2006 they shut down Course 3 for a couple of weeks and Course 1 was shut down for a couple of months. But it worked out great - and it will again."

The course itself will have quite a different look after 12 of its greens were completely redone and the 15th hole underwent a major transformation.

"It's now a drivable Par 4," Belot said. "You're down 1, you're up 1, you're going to have a tough decision to make. A big risk/reward hole; it should be interesting."

Tickets for the 2012 Ryder Cup will be sold via a random draw and information on how to enter for a chance to purchase a limited amount will be detailed early next year.

"They'll be the hottest tickets in Chicago in 2012," Belot said, "no doubt about it."