The National (golf)

The National, originally titled for sponsorship reasons as the AT&T National and later as the Quicken Loans National, was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour from 2007 to 2018. It was hosted by Tiger Woods and benefited the Tiger Woods Foundation. It was usually held either in late June or during the Fourth of July weekend in the Washington, D.C. area, except for 2010 and 2011 when it was held near Philadelphia.

The National
Tournament information
LocationWashington, D.C. area, U.S.
Established2007
Tour(s)PGA Tour
FormatStroke play
Final year2018
Tournament record score
Aggregate259 Francesco Molinari (2018)
To par−21 Francesco Molinari (2018)
Final champion
Francesco Molinari

The National was a 72-hole stroke play tournament. It was one of a few events given "invitational" status by the PGA Tour and consequently had a field of only 120 players, as opposed to 156 players at most full-field tournaments.

The first edition of The National in 2007 was held July 5–8 on the Blue Course at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, northwest of Washington. The event returned to Congressional in 2008 and 2009 when it was held midway between the U.S. Open and The Open Championship to ensure a strong field of competitors. The National was part of the Open Qualifying Series that gave non-exempt players a chance to compete in The Open.

History

The event was officially announced on March 7, 2007, to replace The International, which tour officials had abruptly cancelled four weeks earlier on February 8.[1] The National was a standard 72-hole stroke play event, and did not use the modified Stableford scoring system used by The International in Colorado.

The D.C. area had hosted a regular tour event for over a quarter century; the Kemper Open arrived in 1980, but was terminated after the 2006 event. It was played at Congressional from 1980 to 1986, then moved to the nearby TPC at Avenel in 1987. Later renamed the Booz Allen Classic, it returned to Congressional in 2005, to give Avenel time to undergo renovations, which did not occur.[2]

Congressional originally agreed to host the event for the first two years, and after opting out of hosting the 2009 U.S. Amateur, agreed to host the event in 2009 as well.[3][4] The Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, hosted the 2010 and 2011 events, due to Congressional being reconfigured for the 2011 U.S. Open.[5] The tournament was played at Congressional from 2012 to 2014[6] and returned in 2016.[7] It was played in Virginia at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville in August 2015 and was played at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Potomac in 2017.[7]

Other courses that were originally considered for the new tournament were in the Kansas City, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, and Portland areas. Possible sites for the 2010 and 2011 events were the TPC at Avenel (now TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, former site of the Booz Allen Classic) and Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, (four-time host of the Presidents Cup).[8][9] CBS Sports and Golf Channel currently carry the Quicken Loans National on television.

After the 2017 tournament, the Quicken Loans sponsorship deal ended leaving The National with no sponsor for 2018,[10] scheduled for June 28 to July 1.[11] The PGA Tour also announced that it would be buying out the remaining two years of its contract with Congressional Country Club to host the 2018 and 2020 editions.[12] Despite a lack of title sponsor and host course, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed that the event would occur in 2018, stating, "We made the commitment. Our players are going to be showing up there and we're going to be playing for that amount of money."[13] On May 30, less than a month before the event, Quicken Loans agreed to sponsor for a fifth consecutive year.[14][15] On July 10, 2018, it was announced that the Detroit Golf Club would host the Rocket Mortgage Classic in 2019, replacing The National.[16]

Invitational status

The National was one of a few tournaments given "invitational" status by the PGA Tour,[17] and consequently it had a reduced field of only 120 players (as opposed to most full-field open tournaments with a field of 156 players). Other tournaments with invitational status include the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the RBC Heritage, the Fort Worth Invitational, and the Memorial Tournament.

Invitational tournaments had smaller fields (between 100 and 132 players), and had more freedom than full-field open tournaments in determining which players were eligible to participate in their event, as invitational tournaments were not required to fill their fields using the PGA Tour Priority Ranking System. Furthermore, unlike full-field open tournaments, invitational tournaments did not offer open qualifying (aka Monday qualifying). The Los Angeles Open was converted to an invitational and starting in 2020 will inherit the National's format.

Field
Tiger Woods at the pro-am in 2009

The field consisted of 120 players invited using the following criteria:[18]

  1. Quicken Loans National winners from past five years
  2. The Players Championship and major championship winners in the last five years
  3. The Tour Championship and World Golf Championships winners in the past three years
  4. Arnold Palmer Invitational and Memorial Tournament winners in the past three years
  5. Tournament winner in past 12 months
  6. Prior year U.S. Amateur winner
  7. Current PGA Tour members who were playing members on last named U.S. Ryder Cup team, European Ryder Cup team, U.S. Presidents Cup team, and International Presidents Cup team
  8. Top 125 from prior year FedEx Cup points list
  9. Top 10 from the current FedEx Cup points list (as of Friday prior)
  10. 8 sponsors exemptions – 2 from Web.com Tour finals, 2 members not otherwise exempt, and 4 unrestricted
  11. Remaining positions filled from current year FedEx Cup point list

Winners
YearPlayerCountryScoreTo parMargin
of victory		Runner-upWinner's
share ($)		Purse ($)Host club
Quicken Loans National
2018Francesco Molinari Italy259−218 strokes Ryan Armour1,278,0007,100,000TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm
2017Kyle Stanley United States273−7Playoff Charles Howell III1,278,0007,100,000TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm
2016Billy Hurley III United States267−173 strokes Vijay Singh1,242,0006,900,000Congressional Country Club
2015Troy Merritt United States266−183 strokes Rickie Fowler1,206,0006,700,000Robert Trent Jones Golf Club
2014Justin Rose (2) England280−4Playoff Shawn Stefani1,170,0006,500,000Congressional Country Club
AT&T National
2013Bill Haas United States272−123 strokes Roberto Castro1,170,0006,500,000Congressional Country Club
2012Tiger Woods (2) United States276−82 strokes Bo Van Pelt1,170,0006,500,000Congressional Country Club
2011Nick Watney United States267−132 strokes K. J. Choi1,116,0006,200,000Aronimink Golf Club
2010Justin Rose England270−101 stroke Ryan Moore1,116,0006,200,000Aronimink Golf Club
2009Tiger Woods United States267−131 stroke Hunter Mahan1,080,0006,000,000Congressional Country Club
2008Anthony Kim United States268−122 strokes Fredrik Jacobson1,080,0006,000,000Congressional Country Club
2007K. J. Choi South Korea271−93 strokes Steve Stricker1,080,0006,000,000Congressional Country Club
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References
  1. "Host course not chosen yet for AT&T National". ESPN. Associated Press. March 7, 2007.
  2. White, Joseph (June 10, 2005). "Congressional has major feel to it". Free Lance-Star. (Fredericksburg, Virginia). p. B7.
  3. "Congressional will host Tiger, AT&T National". ESPN. Associated Press. April 6, 2007.
  4. "Tiger Woods and AT&T National to Return to Congressional Country Club in 2009". AT&T National.
  5. Woods' tournament moving to Philly area for 2010–11 Archived October 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Svrluga, Barry (July 1, 2009). "As host of the AT&T National, Tiger Woods is busy this week – but he expects to win". The Washington Post.
  7. "TPC Potomac to host Quicken in '17". ESPN. Associated Press. October 2, 2014.
  8. "On Golf: AT&T at Aronimink in '11?". Philadelphia Inquirer. March 2, 2008.
  9. "Woods expects to play at Open". Philly.com. Daily News Wire Services. May 28, 2008.
  10. "Tiger Woods' Washington DC Area PGA Tour Event Can't find a Sponsor, Won't be played at Congressional". Golf Digest. September 18, 2017.
  11. "2017-2018 PGA Tour Schedule". PGA Tour. November 14, 2017.
  12. "Tiger Woods' Washington DC Area PGA Tour Event Can't find a Sponsor, Won't be played at Congressional". Golf Digest. September 18, 2017.
  13. "Monahan: Woods' tourney on, sponsored or not". Golf Channel. October 3, 2017.
  14. "Quicken Loans to sponsor 2018 National". Quicken Loans National. (news). May 30, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  15. "Quicken Loans to sponsor 2018 National". PGA Tour. May 31, 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
  16. Crawford, Kirkland (July 10, 2018). "PGA Tour's Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in June 2019". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  17. "Field for Tiger's tournament set at 120". golf.com. March 29, 2007.
  18. "2015–16 PGA Tour Player Handbook & Tournament Regulations" (PDF). October 5, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 12, 2016.

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