Sports

PGA TOUR: Will Tiger's Tournament Return to Congressional in 2015?

It's unclear if the AT&T National—The Tiger Woods Tournament—will return to Bethesda's Congressional Country Club next year.

With the 2013 AT&T National set to get underway Thursday morning at Congressional Country Club, attention Wednesday turned to the future of the event in Bethesda.

Plans for the 2015 tournament are unclear, but tournament founder and world No. 1 golfer Tiger Woods said he hopes the event doesn’t leave the area.

“We would love to be back here. This is a fantastic event, a fantastic golf course with a great history,” Woods said. “Obviously it’s up to the members and the board whether we come back here or not. I know we’d like to play [at Congressional] and we’re obviously going to have more in-depth discussions once this tournament is over and see where everyone is.”

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Next year's AT&T National marks the final year in Congressional Country Club's three-year deal to host the event.

Woods said that he hopes the AT&T National develops into one of the PGA Tour’s most difficult events, and Congressional’s Blue Course has all the characteristics to make that possible. 

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“This course lends itself to [being difficult], it has a history of that, and I think that’s how it should be played,” Woods said. “Don’t make it U.S. Open hard, where par or over par is going to win the tournament, but a lot of these guys, if they play well and shoot an under par score they’re going to move on. I’d like to see if you shoot 2- or 3-under par every day you should be able to lead the tournament. That’s the balance we’d like to attain.”

Jason Day, the world’s No. 18 golfer and runner-up at the U.S. Open, said Congressional is set up like the major event.

“I played [the course] this morning, it kind of feels like the U.S. Open again. It’s got some length to it and the rough is pretty dense out there.”

Day will be playing in one of Thursday’s featured groupings, alongside fellow Australians Adam Scott and Marc Leishman.

The opportunity to play with his countrymen makes the tournament more fun, said Day, who’s known Scott since he was 15 years old and played with Leishman as an Austrialian amateur.

Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, said Congressional fits his game well and he'll look to continue past success at the course.

The field has lightened in the last week, with Woods and U.S. Open champion Justin Rose withdrawing.

Woods, the AT&T National’s defending champion, said he’s disappointed not to be able to play. 

“I’ll be here throughout the week here and there, but it’s frustrating for me because I want to play, and I know how the golf course is set up right now, too,” Woods said. “I like the set up, and the years that it’s set up this way I’ve done well.”

Editor's Note: This article was corrected after incorrectly identifying the year in which the AT&T National's contract expires with Congressional Country Club.


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