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Did you know that you can see the skyline of Chicago from downtown Davenport, Iowa? Well, you can't. Christopher Columbus proved that in 1492.

John Senden hits a shot on a tree-lined hole during his victory at TPC Deere Run in 2006. Despite its location on the Illinois-Iowa border, the course has a closed-in feel. (WireImage)

But if Columbus had ever driven a Chevy across Iowa, he may have re-thought his theory that the earth is round. There is a corner of Iowa -- just across the river from the TPC Deere Run in Illinois -- where the topography changes. Cornfields give way to rolling hills covered with towering hardwood trees.

Although this land was once used for raising horses and mining coal, there was always a golf course hiding in the thicket. When D.A. Weibring was commissioned by the PGA TOUR and the John Deere Company, who donated the land, to design the TPC Deere Run, he was granted a canvas unlike any in the Midwest.

Driving onto the property down the long, straight drive that runs parallel to the par-5 10th, you still have the feel have the feel of a typical Midwestern course. However, you need only stand on the first tee to realize that you are somewhere else all together.

The par-4 first is a dogleg-left par-four that crosses a shallow ravine off the tee. Trees and bunkers guard the sloping fairway that sets up a down hill approach shot to a green framed by massive oaks.

The tee shot on the par-five second drops down some 50 feet to the fairway that runs along the banks of the Rock River. Because of the drop in elevation, the 561-yard par five plays considerably shorter than the score card. For the PGA TOUR player who find the fairway here at the second, the well-guarded green is reachable in two.

If the unique beauty of the TPC Deere Run is the centerpiece of the course, then its risk-reward nature is the theme. The three par fives on this par 71 are alternately reachable. Add to those the drivable par-four14th, and there are plenty of scoring opportunities for the best players in the world.

Don't be fooled by the scores that have won here since the John Deere Classic moved here in 2000. John Senden's shot 19 under here a year ago. J.P. Hayes holds the tournament record at Deere Run with the 22 under that he shot here in 2002.

The golf course requires players to drive the ball well with a variety of clubs. If you can find the tree-lined and heavily-sloped fairways, the top players in the world are rewarded with short irons to well-guarded greens.

The golf course is eminently memorable. No two holes are alike. But when you put short irons in the hands of the best players in the world, someone is going to run the tables and shoot the grass off the course.

Interestingly enough, at the TPC Deere Run, they always seem to bring someone along with them. Three years ago, Mark Hensby needed a sudden-death playoff to slip past John Morgan, the flamboyant young Englishman.

Sean O'Hair watched as Hammerin' Hank Kuehne bombed a drive over the trees at the corner the dogleg right par four 18th leaving a flip wedge into a back left-hole location. Big Hank was unable to get it up and down to force a playoff. Sean won by a single shot over Hank and Robert Dameron.

John Senden held off J.P. Hayes to win by a single shot a year ago. The finishing holes at the TPC Deere Run are designed with opportunity and drama in mind. From the drivable par four 14th to the difficult finishing hole, there is opportunity and danger.

The tournament fates seem to live on the reachable par-five 17th hole. Birdies and eagles become routine here when the wind is kind and the drives are straight. However, if you miss this dramatically-elevated green in the wrong place, there are bogeys lurking in the closely-mown areas two stories below the back level of the green.

In the absence of big names, the John Deere Classic never lacks drama. The only thing more impressive than the landscape at Deere Run is the excitement of the closing holes on Sunday afternoon.