AT& T Finds a Temporary Home

Woods's Event Set to Shift to Suburban Philadelphia for '10-11

Aronimink Golf Club in the Philadelphia suburbs will be the temporary home for the AT&T National golf tournament in 2010 and 2011 if a majority of the club's membership approves a proposal to host Tiger Woods's signature event on the PGA Tour. The event will return to Congressional Country Club for at least three years starting in 2012.

Congressional has hosted the tournament since its inception in 2007 and will be the venue again in 2009. But the Bethesda club will be the site for the 2011 U.S. Open and the championship Blue Course will undergo a major renovation of the green complexes in the summer of 2010 that will make it unavailable for Woods's event those two years.

Aronimink, in Newtown Square, Pa., was the site for the 1962 PGA Championship won by Gary Player and the 2003 Senior PGA Championship won by John Jacobs. The course was designed by renowned architect Donald Ross and opened for play in 1928. It is annually listed among the top 100 golf courses in the United States, playing at 7,206 yards to a par of 70.

"We have made a proposal to Aronimink to host our event in 2010 and 2011," said Greg McLaughlin, the tournament chairman and executive director of the Tiger Woods Foundation, which runs the event and is the main charitable beneficiary. "The members still have to approve it, but we're excited about the possibility of going there. We felt it was the best place to take the championship. It's a historic course, Philadelphia is a wonderful market and they haven't had PGA Tour golf there in quite a while."

Aronimink's members will receive details on the proposal at a town meeting scheduled at the club on Oct. 15. A majority of the members must approve, with a final result expected in early November.

Last week, more than 1,500 Congressional members, the largest turnout in club history, voted by mail to continue to host Woods's tournament from 2012 to 2014 by a narrow majority margin of 37 votes. The members also agreed to another three-year option to keep the event at the River Road course from 2015 to 2017. Another vote, likely to be taken in 2014, will be necessary to approve the three option years.

McLaughlin had scouted a number of courses in the Washington area as well as venues in other markets, including Baltimore and St. Louis, before settling on Aronimink for 2010 and 2011. He said he wanted to keep the tournament at the same site for two years because "if you look at doing an event on a one-year basis, it's just very difficult from an operational standpoint. Aronimink offered us the best alternative for 2010 and 2011."

In those two years, the tournament again will be played around the July 4 date on the PGA Tour schedule. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem has told Congressional officials the tour will consider moving the event to an earlier date in late May or early June, perhaps by 2012.

McLaughlin said he was "thrilled" that the tournament will return to Congressional after 2011, despite the close vote. "It gives us clarity that we know we will be back in Washington at Congressional from 2012 to 2014. It's difficult to speculate on why the vote was so close this time. We're just happy to be coming back to a great golf course."

Dick Naumann, Aronimink's general manager, said last night that his club has a long history of hosting important tournaments, including the 1977 U.S. Amateur, and that most of the members he has spoken with "have been very positive about the idea of having the event at our club.

"Being associated with a prestigious tournament with Tiger Woods's name on it will just add to that list of significant events," he said. "We know it's going back to Congressional because Tiger wants it there long term and he's committed to the Washington market. We understand that."