IT has been very much like home in Montreal this week with echoes of the Ryder Cup last year as lovely sunny days gave way to rain just in time for the start of the President's Cup and every course in town has been awash with holiday makers who are only discovering now that this great city has good golf to offer.

Yes, and a substantial touch of Irish course design, too, at Montreal Island which has decided to name its south course the Ireland Course and incorporate a shamrock in its emblem. All of which is taken as quite an honour by this writer who designed both of the club's courses.

It is great to think generations of Montreal golfers will be reminded of the auld sod whenever they play here and will, no doubt, want to travel over and try the original.

Montreal Island is located at the eastern, or Quebec, end of the island upon which the city sits and provides an excellent balance to the Royal Montreal club which is at the far end as one exits to Ottawa.

The latter is the oldest golf club in north America, having been founded in 1873 all of 15 years before the St Andrews Club in New York, and is ultra-private; Montreal Island is one of the newest and is open to visitors in the modern way.

It is good for local golf, also, that the two Montreal clubs offer a huge contrast in architectural styles. While the parkland north course at the Island is in the same style as Royal Montreal, where the mature woodlands and sweeping lakes give the place a wonderful and grand tone, the Ireland Course has been designed and built to have the rugged and exposed appearance of an Irish links.

This is a built course in no uncertain terms. For decades the city used the 200-plus acres as a rubbish dump. It built up into quite a mountain which fortuitously came as a relief to the flat plains surrounding, assured good drainage, and exposed it to the winds generated by the St Lawrence River which flows by on two sides.

The idea of building a golf course there was expedited when the city decided the time had come to replace the old municipal course which had been ploughed under to make way for the Olympic Stadium. It had promised a replacement but nothing happened for decades until agreement was reached with my clients to build and operate two courses on a 400acre site out at the end of Sherbrooke Road and return them to the city some time mid-century.

The building process was quite sensational. The dump had been capped; but one's suggestion to keep the trucks rolling in with loads of clean materials was accepted. As many as 300 trucks arrived daily over the space of two years and sand dunes began to tower as much as 30 feet above the fairways! Few golf courses can have enjoyed such massive building.

The bunkers were made deeper than generally found in America and Canada, some double-greens were added, and back-tees stretched the course to a modern 7,180 yards. It has already staged the revived Montreal Open, once a part of the US Tour and won by Billy Casper when last played, and is now presented in immaculate condition and proving very popular.

Meanwhile, this week's main action has been at Royal Montreal whose history mirrors Dublin golf today with clubs moving out of the city in the face of development pressures. The Montreal golfers are in their third home, each further from the centre, and housing has caught up again.

But it is impossible to envisage another move now the place is world-famous.

The President's Cup has generated lots of excitement thanks in no small part to the decision of Gary Player to select Mike Weir for the International team. This has added great local enthusiasm which has been whetted all the more by Player's decision to place him opposite Phil Mickelson in the opening foursomes on Thursday.

The fact both are left-handers, each wishing to be seen as the best lefty in the world, creates a certain tension. The fact Mickelson annoyed Weir by crushing a crisp bag during his backswing in the match in 2000 is still in mind.

And the fact that the pair have faced off in six President Cup games and Weir has now won 4.5 of them is a delight to Canadians.

All the sweeter since Weir partnered Vijay Singh to salvage the Internationals' only half point in the opening session. They are now hoping Player will deliver the ultimate cherry on top by placing Weir opposite Tiger Woods in today's closing singles.

The question of finances has been raised this week and Tim Finchem, the US Tour commissioner, was asked whether the venues for the President's Cup donate to the pot in the way the K Club and others have done in the case of the Ryder Cup? He hedged it a bit when talking of the different dynamics of the two events, saying they are at different stages of development, and then intimating some government monies may be helping the event when it goes to Australia in 2011.

Looking at the Montreal show this week it is clear that corporate Canada has responded to the call to help host the biggest golfing event ever played in the country.

Corporate marquees abound and much food and drink are being consumed.

The galleries are huge and enthusiastic. It is quite a study watching the ultraattentive fans . . . who cannot take their eyes off the players, Mike Weir and Tiger Woods especially . . . totally enraptured. Soon, the snow and ice will descend on these parts and the clubs will be put away until next April.

Hopefully Mike Weir and Gary Player will have given them some great memories to dwell on by end of play this evening.