Will Host For Food

As the days become longer and hotter in the Washington DC area, a (ahem) young man's thoughts of course turn to...the future of AT&T National?

Sure, there are those in this area are shortsightedly thinking about the US Open at Congressional in less than a month's time.   But a tweet reminded me of true intrigue surrounding Capitol City golf:

Lets talk about the players, shall we?

In 2007 the idea of a golf tournament hosted by Tiger Woods was a no brainer.  In one fell swoop the PGA Tour replaced The International, a middling tournament best known for using Stableford scoring in Colorado, with a high profile tournament in Washington DC with the ‘greatest golfer ever' attached.  In a shrewd/heartfelt move, the tourney parlayed its place on the calendar (the July 4th weekend) and the geographical location to honor the armed forces in general and wounded warriors in particular.  Soon, the National would stand shoulder to shoulder with Bay Hill (Arnold Palmer) and the Memorial (Jack Nicklaus) as tournaments no self-respecting elite golfer would dare miss if only because of the immense stature of the living legend giving the trophy away.

Oh, the things that can happen in four short years.

Now the host has seemingly lost his game and definitely lost his Q rating.  He may be more of a liability than a help.  Especially with...

The Sponsor

Back in 2007, AT&T was happily giving Tiger Woods money to have their logo on his golf bag.  When Tiger's tournament came along, it had to be a no-brainer for AT&T, who was (and continues to be) the title sponsor at Pebble, to double down on being in the Tiger Woods business and put their name on the tourney. 

Now, due to the assumption Tiger had more women on the side than major victories (and maybe even US PGA Tour victories) AT&T no longer has an endorsement relationship with Mr. Woods.  Since the sponsorship of AT&T National is with the US PGA Tour and not with Tiger (plus I imagine the lawyers on retainer with the US PGA Tour would beat any attempts to wriggle out of the sponsorship like Tiger beat Stephen Ames  in the 2006 WGC Match Play Championship), their name remains on the marque.  I don't know how long the initial sponsorship contract was for (I'm going to guess through 2014 for reasons to come), but I can see AT&T counting the days until they can get out of this breaking-up-with-your-girlfriend-but-living-with-her-until-the-lease-runs-out level uncomfortable relationship. 

Why 2014?

The Course

The reason Tiger Woods is eating in the 215 instead of the 202 is because AT&T National is being played at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania instead of Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland due to Congressional hosting the US Open this year (the tourney was held last year in Pennsylvania as well as Congressional was being prepared for the Open).  Congressional is a vitally important cog to the success of the tournament as the course is considered the finest in the DC metropolitan area.  In fact, the demise of the Kemper Open (I'm not a native to this area, but I know enough to call it the Kemper irrelevant of the actual sponsor) was as much to do with the tourney's move from Congressional to the much maligned TPC at Avenel than any other factor. 

It was not a slam dunk for the AT&T National to be played at Congressional, even with the stellar image Tiger Woods had in 2007.  Not unlike Quail Hollow currently, the members at Congressional rightly believe they have a championship course and do not need a yearly PGA Tour visit for validation. 

Contractually, Congressional is obligated to host the AT&T National through 2013.  Do they want to be in the Tiger Woods business after that?

So, unless the Mayans are right, things can get pretty interesting around these parts in a couple of years.