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Tournament Stats:
AT&T National
July 2 - July 5, 2009
Congressional Country Club
Bethesda, MD
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,278 yards
Purse: $6 million with $1.08 million going to the winner
Defending Champions: Anthony Kim
Results & Scores 2008 AT&T National
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:268 (Anthony Kim in 2008 AT&T National)
54-Hole Record:
200 (Tom Pernice in 2008 AT&T National)
36-Hole Record:
131 (Tom Pernice, Jeff Overton in 2008 AT&T National)
Low round of tournament:
63 (Tom Pernice in the second round; Peter Mahan in the final round of the 2008 AT&T National)
Tournament information:
At the start of the 2007 PGA season, it appeared that The International, the PGA's lone stop in Colorado, would be gearing up to host its 21st annual golf tournament. However, doubts began to arise about the tournament's future very early on in the season as the search for a corporate sponsor was at a stand-still. On February 8, 2007, tournament director Greg Vickers announced that the 2007 International would not be played, primarily due to the lack of corporate sponsorship.As soon as the date opened up on the PGA calendar, Tiger Woods, who has expressed a desire to host a tournament in the past, entered into discussions with the PGA Tour. His goal was to create an exclusive tournament that would not only fill this year's void left by the demise of The International, but for years to come. On March 7, with less than one month of negotiations behind the two parties, Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour announced that the Washington D.C. area would play host to the Inaugural AT&T National. The event took over for the Booz Allen Classic which folded after the July 2006 event after a 39 year run with 27 of those in the Washington D.C. area. The event will be played at The Congressional Country Club in nearby Bethesda, MD.
Despite the short time in getting it ready, the first year went off well and it looked like the future of this event was going to be great. Unfortunely things changed last year as Tiger Woods had surgery right before the event and was not only able to play but he couldn't even attend the event. But things will be different this year as Woods is back and ready to go.
Course information:
From the beginning, Congressman Oscar Bland and O.R. Lubring envisioned The Congressional Country Club as a bond between Washington-based businessman and politicians. In 1921, the two founders took their idea to then Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover in hopes of gaining the approval of one of Washington's biggest power brokers. Hoover loved the idea and agreed to become the Club's President from the breaking of ground in 1922 to its inauguration in 1924.The Congressional boasts two championship courses, the Blue and Gold; however, the Blue course has played host to every professional event at Congressional. The course was originally designed by Devereaux Emmet in 1922. Since the Blue course's creation, there have been three major changes to the golf course. Bobby Jones, in 1957, built 9 holes that would eventually become part of the Gold Course. The final 9 holes were completed by Rees Jones in 1989. In 2006, Rees Jones returned to The Congressional to redesign the Par 3 18th. The tee box and the green was flipped-flopped and the hole now plays a lot harder with the water coming more into play. The hole is now the 10th hole, and each proceeding hole was shifted backward accordingly.
The Blue course received acclaim when it was ranked 89th among "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses" by Golf Digest in 2005 and 86th in 2007 & '08. It plays as a 7,278 yard Par 70. With a course rating, of 75.4, slope rating of 142, and 11 feet on the stimpmeter, Congressional could be one of the most difficult stops on tour this year. The fairways feature a 7/16" cut of Bent, Poa Annua, and Rye while the greens are a .105" cut of Bent and Poa Annua. The course has scaled back the rough to a manageable 4" cut of Rye, Fescue, and Blue Grass.
The Congressional Blue Course can be described as having a fair amount of bunkers in almost unfair places. Unlike most courses, the 102 bunkers that line Congressional are placed in the vicinity of where golfers are aiming. No hole better exemplifies this than the par 3 2nd. The 211-yard hole has six bunkers (front, left, and right) that guard the large, undulating green. The AT&T will be at Congressional for it's third year but next year National will move to Aronimink Golf Club in suburban Philadelphia in 2010 and 2011 so Congressional can prepare for and host the 2011 US Open but the tournament will return to Congressional from 2012 to at least 2014.
The Buzz:
Big news is that Tiger is back to play in the AT&T National after being hurt last year. This will be the third year for this event that has grown into one of the bigger events on Tour. Next year the event will move to Aronimink for two years before this event is back at Congressional.The course is again in good shape, with all of the rain in the D.C. area the rough will be tougher for the players. Only problem for the event is the fact that even though Tiger is back the event won't see the likes of Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Geoff Ogilvy and Adam Scott, the type of marquee players that fans love to watch. Woods couldn't even get Kenny Perry, the hottest player right now to attend. But he does have the U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover, who despite being a bit tired from his victory has honored his commitment that he made before the victory. So you have to give him a lot of credit for that.
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Here are some things to look for this week:
Here are some of the secrets that it will take to play well this week at the AT&T National: Key stat for the winner:
Congressional played host to the 1997 U.S. Open and will play host of the Open in 2011. Most believe that, like it would be in a U.S. Open, the key statistic will be fairways hit off the tee. The rough is at 4 inches which will be costly for players that don't hit it straight. In 2007 K.J. Choi was T5th in fairways hit, greens hit and putting which is a deadly combination while last year Anthony Kim was T12th in greens hit and T8th in putting - Experience at Congresssional will be a big help, look for players that have been in this event the last two years to do well.
- Hitting greens will be at a premium, just like in a U.S. Open hitting lots of greens goes a long way in this event. Look for the winner to hit globs of greens this week.
- Look for good putters to have a significant advantage because Congressional's undulated greens should be dried out with no significant rain in the forecast.
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