BlogQuicken Loans Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

Just got back this afternoon from Paris and have to say enjoy my three week European trip.  But it’s always nice to be back home.  Arrived in Washington D.C., a town that has very little buzz over the Quicken Loans tournament.

Have to think that those involved with the Quicken Loans aren’t very happy about this date.  After years of being in a great slot right around Indepence Day, the event is now wedged in between the British Open and the WGC Bridgestone.  In a season in which there are a lot of major events, players are skipping this event in droves.

Now there is good news and that is in the 2016 schedule, the Quicken Loans will be played the week after the U.S. Open.  Still the bad news the WGC Bridgestone will be the week after, which means that players will still probably skip Quicken Loans.

Tournament information:

At the start of the 2007 PGA season, it appeared that The International, the PGA’s lone stop in Colorado, would be gearing up to host its 21st annual golf tournament. However, doubts began to arise about the tournament’s future very early on in the season as the search for a corporate sponsor was at a stand-still. On February 8, 2007, tournament director Greg Vickers announced that the 2007 International would not be played, primarily due to the lack of corporate sponsorship.

As soon as the date opened up on the PGA Tour calendar, Tiger Woods, who has expressed a desire to host a tournament in the past, entered into discussions with the PGA Tour. His goal was to create an exclusive event that would not only fill the year’s void left by the demise of The International, but for years to come. On March 7, with less than one month of negotiations behind the two parties, Tiger Woods and the PGA Tour announced that the Washington D.C. area would play host to the inaugural AT&T National. The event took over for the Booz Allen Classic, which folded after the July 2006 event after a 39 year run with 27 of those in the Washington D.C. area. The 2007 event was played at The Congressional Country Club in nearby Bethesda, MD.

Despite the short time in getting it ready, the first year went off well, and it looked like the future of this event was going to be great.  In 2008 tournament host Tiger Woods had surgery right before the event and was not only able to play, but he couldn’t even attend the event. He did return the next year and won.

The event had a great run at Congressional and with it holding the U.S. Open in 2011 it needed to rebuild its greens.  So the AT&T National moved in 2010 for two years to the Philadelphia area with Aronimink Golf Club having a  successful run with Justin Rose and Nick Watney winning.  The tournament returned to Congressional in 2012 and will hold the event this year before it moves to Robert Trent Jones for 2015.  The RTJ Club hosted the Presidents Cup four times, most recently in 2005.  The change was brought on when Congressional members didn’t want the event on a permanent basis, so they voted to bring it back in 2016, 2018 and 2020.  Look for the event to move around the Washing D.C. area, possibly going for a year to TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms and Trump National Golf Club, which is east of Washington and near Dulles Airport.

Course information:

Robert Trent Jones G.C.

• Gainesville, Va.
• 7,385 yards     Par 36-35–71

Robert Trent Jones was founded by the legendary golf course designer Robert Trent Jones “while conducting an aerial site survey for another project,” and it was designed by him, too. This course, located about 35 miles from downtown Washington D.C., is on Lake Manassas an 850-acre  body of water. Mr. Jones is to have said “the terrain is aesthetically perfect, I don’t think we could have done anything better anywhere.” He actually bought this land in the hopes of attracting a world-class membership because there was a need to create a world renowned golf course in the area. He called this course “my masterpiece,” and it opened for play in April 1991. RTJ has a clubhouse that is a 65,000 square foot Georgian-style mansion, with its red brick exterior and stately white columns and portico serves as the clubhouse. The club does not allow for residential development, but does allow members of the club to construct cottages.   You also won’t find any pool or tennis courts as this is a golf only club.

The course weaves around Lake Manassas with nine holes running adjacent to it, and seven of the nine have greens on natural peninsulas. Lake Manassas is visible from nearly every hole on the course.  For all the water around the golf course the only hole that a player has to fly the ball over open water on Lake Manassas is the par-three eleventh hole.  There are 65 bunkers on the course and the par 3, fourth hole is not on the lake but has a carry over a pond in front of the green.  The course is tree lined, but the fairways are very generous so accuracy isn’t a key to playing well. Fairway bunkers are generally placed inside the dogleg or on the side that affords the best approach into the green.  The greens average 6,000 square feet and have enough undulation to them to make it challenging.

RTJ opened in 1991 and became the early home of the new Presidents Cup, playing host to the U.S.-vs.-International team matches four times in 1994, ’96, 2000 and 2005. This will be the Quicken Loans National’s first visit, as the tournament ventures away from Congressional CC in odd-numbered years.  So nobody will have an advantage since most of the players have never played the course before.  In looking at what players will have to do well, total driving, hitting greens and making putts inside ten feet is a good starting point.

Here are some of the things  it takes to play well at the Quicken Loans National:

Key stat for the winner:

Have to say that proximity to the hole is probably the most important stat for this week.  Once you get it close to the hole, of course you have to make those ten footers so look for a player that does well in the seven to 15 foot range.

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

• Experience will mean nothing this week.  As is the case with no courses on the PGA Tour, the unknown player with no PGA Tour wins seem to find their way to the top.  Since the find isn’t loaded with marquee names, don’t be surprised to see a player that we don’t know much about doing well.
• Along the lines of inexperience, be sure to look over on top the who’s hot list of players in the field this week.
• Weather will not play a factor this year, as for rain and thunderstorms.  Other than Thursday afternoon with a 60% chance of afternoon storms, the rest of the tournament will be clear of rain and storms.  But don’t expect to get away scott free, you will still have to put up with hot and muggy days. This time of year the Washington D.C. area will be steamy with high humidity and temperatures in the mid-90s.