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Last year we had a tournament no one
wanted to play in. This year we have a
tournament likely to fast track into a PGA
stalwart. What a difference a year makes.
More aptly, what a difference Tiger Woods
makes.
What a
bizarre set of circumstances necessitated to
make the A T and T National happen. Booz
Allen, title sponsor of the Booz Allen sans
FBR sans Kemper Insurance Open played hard
ball with the PGA, no more money unless
Avenel gets a face lift that makes it pretty
enough to lure Tiger. The players would then
spend another year awaiting the review of
the of the Avenel face-lift that may be more
Joan Rivers then Dick Clark. And Tiger isn’t
getting any younger. By the time Avenel was
ready, Woods may already have passed Jack
Nicklaus’s record of major victories.
So The Booz
bows out and the tour goes for the cash in
Tennessee forming their new Fed Ex Cup
alliance. Avenel wouldn’t be part of the
newly formed playoff chase on tour. Despite
the region supporting a substandard field,
the PGA Tour offered to throw DC a
Nationwide tour bone. Nobody was fetching.
A few short
months of mourning later, and down goes the
International, one of those goofy scored
tourneys that ran into a similar sponsorship
issue. Suddenly the tour had a spot on it’s
schedule, perfect timing for Tiger to do
something about cementing his name on the
tour long after his playing days would
finish, own an event.
Jack
Nicklaus’s Memorial might not be a major,
but everyone shows up. Byron Nelson’s
tournament in Texas was a can’t miss until
the legend passed. Congressional Country
Club realized it finally had something to
embrace. Why ruin its hallowed fairways for
a substandard field? It finally had reason
to open its doors to the public on an annual
basis. Golf’s most marketable star was going
to host the thing. How could it fail?
So here we
are on the precipice of one of the most
remarkable turnarounds in DC sports history.
We went from minor golf stop to vast golfing
wasteland to hottest party in town. All
thanks to Tiger and the stork that couldn’t
have delivered his first child at a more
prefect time. It allowed Woods his
necessitated family time to allow him to be
player and not just figurehead of the A T
and T National.
The reality
of this tournament however won’t be known
until next year when player’s schedules are
open and available for the Tiger effect to
lure them too. Regardless, golf has become
relevant again in DC, all thanks to a set of
circumstances no one could have foreseen.
Bram
Weinstein |
