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By Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

ILE BIZARD, MONTREAL, Canada -- The world's best golfers have encountered a grueling collection of course setups this year in the major championships and at several PGA TOUR events during the inaugural FedExCup season.

Trevor Immelman hits off an uneven lie during Wednesday's practice round. (WireImage)

Pars have had to be scratched out with guile and muscle. A paucity of birdies has driven scoring averages higher for most players. Greens have been firm, fairways narrow and rough lush and penal. Brows have been furrowed deeper than the bunkers at Jack Nicklaus' Muirfield Village Golf Club.

The pressure of The Presidents Cup will make this week's tournament feel like a major. The venue will make it feel like an exhibition. Since The Presidents Cup is both, this works out swell.

Royal Montreal Golf Club has a long and distinguished history, but it is short and might be extinguished by the world's best players when foursomes matches kick off the seventh edition of this biennial competition Thursday afternoon.

Designed by Dick Wilson, and renovated recently by Rees Jones, Royal Montreal's Blue Course is 300 yards longer than when Scott Verplank claimed the Canadian Open title here in 2001, but still is relatively modest at 7,171 yards, par 70. Stronger contours have been installed in its small greens and the bunkers have been deepened, but there is little rough to contend with and the greens surfaces are as true as an infant's smile.

"I think the golf course is a pretty neat golf course for this format and for this event," Verplank, playing in his second Presidents Cups, said. "I think it will produce some pretty exciting golf, and, hopefully, for both teams."

With wide fairways and negligible rough to impede the advance of long-flying balls, players from both sides are predicting birdies to be plentiful. The golf course's only real defense is the greens, which feature multiple tiers or are broken up into quadrants by a central spine. However, unless the greens firm up in the cooler weather predicted for the weekend, this feature might actually fuel further aggressive play and flag hunting.

"There will be a lot of birdies this week, a lot of birdies, which will be great for the galleries," said Gary Player, the International Team captain, who, like his counterpart and close friend, Nicklaus, is serving his fourth term as team leader.

"It will be good for the fans," Verplank added. "I guarantee you, the players will like it, too."

Phil Mickelson, known for his swashbuckling style of play, expects to have company this week in the vein of high-flying golf. Again, you can look to the greens.

"Most every green complex has the middle of the green as a high point and then little roll-offs to the corners," said Mickelson, the only U.S. player to have competed in every Presidents Cup. "The reason that's interesting is that all of the pin placements you can get to from the center of the green -- and if you do short-side yourself, you're chipping back into the slope, as opposed to a green that's high around the edges and low in the middle; if you short-side yourself, the ball is going to run to the middle of the green.

""What makes that interesting is that there's going to be a lot of up and down pars and there won't be many bogeys. You'll have to win with birdies and so you'll see a lot more aggressive play and you'll see some pretty easy recovery shots on short-sided pin placements that normally pose a problem. We'll see a lot of those get up-and-down."

The tiers and humps are expected to pose some challenges if the ball is not placed in the proper position. At least, that is the theory. But even that isn't as much of a consideration due to the condition of the putting surfaces.

Steve Stricker pitches up to one of Royal Montreal's greens. (WireImage)

"A lot of putts are going to go in this week because the greens are so perfect," said former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, playing in his first Presidents Cup. "I don't know. There are some slopes. But if you want to watch professionals hole putts, put on a team match-play event, and balls will go in from everywhere. The surface is perfect, it's a perfect speed and they are perfect greens. Guys will hole everything out here I would think."

The golf course does present to strategic conundrums for the competitors and captains. First, all four par-3s fall on odd-numbered holes. The two par-5s are even-numbered. "So," Nicklaus conceded, "you've got to figure out who are your real good iron and players and also who are your real good putters."

Secondly, there are six holes with water on them, and they all are on the back, including the final five. If there is a bit of noose-tightening as matches progress, the presence of water could drown a few hopes.

Nevertheless, even with those considerations, nothing is going to impact the matches more than flat-stick proficiency on some frightfully challenging greens.

"In any team event, golf, period; putting is probably the most crucial element of the game," Masters champion Zach Johnson said. "Anybody that wins a golf tournament out here, typically they put pretty well that week and if you're going to win a match, you're going to have to putt well.

"As far as the greens ... there are tiers here and roll-offs to different sections of the greens. Getting the ball in the right sort of area of the green certainly will make it easier to make putts rather than having to go up and down hills," Johnson added. "If you're putting well and you're seeing the line, you have the speed down. All of these guys can make putts. I don't think one team has the advantage either way, that's for sure. It's just a matter of who executes and who in the end makes more putts."