Course Of Action

By Thomas Boswell
Monday, July 9, 2007

After ending his day birdie-birdie to finish tied for sixth in his own event, Tiger Woods doffed his hat to the huge crowds on three hillsides surrounding the 18th hole at Congressional Country Club. Then he gave one last stylish twirl of his putter, the involuntary gesture he makes when he's happy with work well done. Finally, he headed to the clubhouse grill to reflect on his whirlwind week and prepare to hand his inaugural AT&T National championship trophy to winner K.J. Choi.

"Elin's been watching the tournament on TV, and we talk about how pleased we are with the way it's all gone off," Woods said. In their conversations, his wife shares details of 3-week-old daughter Sam Alexis's day while Tiger talks about the extremely successful event he's been busy fathering in Washington. "She wishes she could be here. The support this area has given us has exceeded all our expectations. We want this event to be in Washington in perpetuity."

Then, Tiger grinned, simplifying his point. "Forever," he said. "Right here."

By "right here," Tiger means both Washington, which produced a crowd of 37,000 fans on Sunday, larger by 2,000 than the final U.S. Open crowd at Oakmont, and Congressional itself, with its distinguished golf legacy and sprawling magnificence.

"This week, we were auditioning for Congressional's members," said Greg McLaughlin, chairman of the Tiger Woods Foundation. "We tried to deliver the best possible product for them and represent Congressional properly."

Relatively few things move Woods to almost childlike excitement. But the combination of Washington and Congressional have got him in their grip.

"I've met President [George H.W.] Bush before and [Secretary of State] Condi Rice," Woods said of two of this week's many prominent attendees. "But the thing that moved me the most was seeing a detachment from Fort Bragg. That was exactly my father's detachment. That was my dad."

Tiger knows what he wants when he sees it, and right now, what he wants is a lifelong connection with this city and, in as many summers as possible, with Congressional, which currently is scheduled to host the 2009 U.S. Amateur and the 2011 U.S. Open. The USGA events would preclude any PGA Tour stop in those years, even Tiger's signature event.

"There's no way to know how '09 and '11 will work out right now. It's just too soon," Woods said. However, his "audition" this week, in which he showed the enormous magnetism of his personality and demonstrated the diversity of the galleries he could attract, had to make a powerful impression of Congressional.

The other three golfers in history who have reached Woods's universal popularity -- Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus -- all built their own courses to host their signature events. Many in golf assume such a project is a long-term possibility for Woods, somewhere in the Washington area. However, on Sunday, Woods dismissed any such idea, at least anytime soon, with a wave of the hand and a "No, no way."

The next-most obvious option is TPC Avenel, for which the PGA Tour plans a $20 million renovation beginning in August. However, that course may forever remain about 18 breathtaking holes and one Taj Mahal-sized clubhouse shy of Tiger's preferences.

"It is very doubtful Tiger is ever going to host any tournament at Avenel," said a source, who requested anonymity because of the delicate nature of the situation. "The tour has not been able to get him to set foot on the property. He won't go, won't even look at it."

Perhaps Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, site of three previous Presidents Cups, is a possibility. Pros approve of the course, but Woods does not speak of it with anything approaching his near-reverence for Congressional. At the moment, none of these scheduling problems and venue debates constitute a hostile conflict, merely a challenge to which everyone involved desires a solution in the wake of this week's success.

"This has been an unbelievable event. It felt like a mini-major out there because of the course, Tiger as the host and the [strong] field," runner-up Steve Stricker said. "Put all that together and you had a great-feeling tournament, run really well. Add the twist of the Fourth of July and all the military around -- it was great. I'll be back."

So will even more of golf's top stars.

Initial reaction at Congressional has been quite positive to the Woods brand.

"He isn't the 800-pound gorilla in golf. He's the 10,000-pound gorilla," one influential member said. Some in the club would appreciate it if Woods could use his vast influence in the game to make sure that, if Congressional welcomes his event frequently, it will not hurt the club's future chances to hold world-class events such as the U.S. Open or even a Ryder Cup.

"I don't know how much pull I have with the PGA of America," which controls the Ryder Cup, Woods said. "I lobbied for Mark O'Meara [to be captain], and you see how much good that did him."

This week, in every aspect of this audition that he could control, Woods tried to top all rivals.

"Tiger, this week's trophy is a lot heavier than Jack's trophy," said Choi, who won Woods's and Nicklaus's signature events this year.

The future of this tournament, beyond a return to Congressional next year, may be murky, though it is difficult to imagine that Woods -- like Nicklaus and Palmer before him -- won't end up getting some approximation of his heart's desire. For now, this is the time to appreciate an event that went off with few hitches unless you count Choi's lugubrious pace of play.

Perhaps Sunday's biggest surprise was the level of enthusiasm from a crowd that never had a Tiger charge to celebrate. Early in the day, as third-round leader Stuart Appleby collapsed, the front nine erupted with one Woods-size birdie cheer after another. Yet, Woods made no birdies, and two bogeys, in that span. The crowd was simply so large that it fed on its own enthusiasm and embraced new contenders -- including Choi, Stricker, Robert Allenby and Jim Furyk at various points, as they moved up the leader board.

Woods heard those explosions, too, and even ventured, perhaps a bit enthusiastically, that the day's atmosphere was not too far inferior to the '02 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, the benchmark for bedlam in recent golf memory.

"We're just going to keep making this event better," Woods said of his infant tournament. Already, Elin wants to come next year. How about Sam Alexis, too?

"Can babies come to golf tournaments?" Tiger wondered. "I don't know. I'm new to all of this."

But doing just fine, so far.