| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Established | 2007 |
| Course | TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm |
| Par | 70 |
| Length | 7,107 yards (6,499 m) |
| Tour | PGA Tour |
| Format | Stroke play |
| Prize fund | US$7,100,000 |
| Month played | June/July |
| Final year | 2018 |
| Tournament record score | |
| Aggregate | 259Francesco Molinari (2018) |
| To par | −21as above |
| Final champion | |
 Francesco Molinari | |
| Location map | |
The National, originally titled for sponsorship reasons as theAT&T National and later as theQuicken Loans National, was a professional golf tournament on thePGA Tour from 2007 to 2018. It was hosted byTiger Woods and benefited theTiger Woods Foundation. It was usually held either in late June or during theFourth of July weekend in theWashington, D.C. area, except for 2010 and 2011 when it was held nearPhiladelphia.
The National was a 72-holestroke 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 in2007 was held July 5–8 on the Blue Course at theCongressional Country Club inBethesda,Maryland, northwest of Washington. The event returned to Congressional in2008 and2009 when it was held midway between theU.S. Open andThe 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.
The event was officially announced on March 7, 2007, to replaceThe International, which tour officials had abruptly cancelled four weeks earlier onFebruary 8.[1] The National was a standard 72-holestroke play event, and did not use themodified Stableford scoring system used by The International inColorado.
The D.C. area had hosted a regular tour event for over a quarter century; theKemper Open arrived in1980, but was terminated after the2006 event. It was played at Congressional from 1980 to1986, then moved to the nearbyTPC at Avenel in1987. Later renamed theBooz Allen Classic, it returned to Congressional in2005, to give Avenel time to undergo renovations, which didnot occur.[2]
Congressional originally agreed to host the event for the first two years, and after opting out of hosting the 2009U.S. Amateur, agreed to host the event in 2009 as well.[3][4] TheAronimink Golf Club inNewtown Square, Pennsylvania, hosted the 2010 and 2011 events, due to Congressional being reconfigured for the2011 U.S. Open.[5] The tournament was played at Congressional from 2012 to 2014[6] and returned in 2016.[7] It was played inVirginia atRobert Trent Jones Golf Club inGainesville in July and August2015 and was played atTPC Potomac at Avenel Farm inPotomac in 2017.[7]
Other courses that were originally considered for the new tournament were in theKansas City,Minneapolis-Saint Paul, andPortland areas. Possible sites for the 2010 and 2011 events were theTPC at Avenel (now TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, former site of theBooz Allen Classic) and Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, (four-time host of thePresidents Cup).[8][9]CBS Sports andGolf Channel currently carry the Quicken Loans National on television.
After the 2017 tournament, theQuicken Loans sponsorship deal ended leaving The National with no sponsor for2018,[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 withCongressional Country Club to host the 2018 and 2020editions.[12] Despite a lack of title sponsor and host course, PGA Tour commissionerJay 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 theDetroit Golf Club would host theRocket Mortgage Classic in 2019, replacing The National.[16]
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 theArnold Palmer Invitational, theRBC Heritage, theFort Worth Invitational, and theMemorial Tournament.
Invitational tournaments have smaller fields (between 100 and 132 players), and have more freedom than full-field open tournaments in determining which players are eligible to participate in their event, as invitational tournaments are not required to fill their fields using the PGA Tour Priority Ranking System. Furthermore, unlike full-field open tournaments, invitational tournaments do not offer open qualifying (aka Monday qualifying). TheLos Angeles Open was converted to an invitational in 2020, inheriting the National's format.
The field consisted of 120 players invited using the following criteria:[18]
Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.
38°59′20″N77°12′07″W / 38.989°N 77.202°W /38.989; -77.202
