Tiger’s presence expected to boost ticket sales in sponsorless tournament
With his body at full health, his game in top form and major-championship season set to begin in 10 days, a rejuvenated Tiger Woods announced he will play this summer at the still-sponsor-less tournament in Potomac, Maryland, that benefits his charitable foundation.
The tournament, now called simply The National, will run June 28-July 1 at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, two weeks after the U.S. Open. Woods, 42, is a two-time winner of the tournament, but hasn’t played in it since tying for 18th in 2015.
“I am really looking forward to being back in the D.C. area this summer playing in The National,” Woods said in a statement released Monday. “... The National has always been a special event for me.”
Woods is in the middle of a two-week break in his schedule ahead of The Masters, which begins April 5 and for which he is the unlikely betting favourite, with Westgate Las Vegas Superbook listing him at 9-1 odds to win his first major title since the 2008 U.S. Open. He will be seeking his fifth green jacket.
After injuries sidelined him for much of the past four years, Woods returned to competitive golf in late November and has made six starts worldwide since, capped by back-to-back top-five finishes in Florida at the Valspar Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he contended on the weekend in both tournaments. His world ranking has risen from 674th to 105th along the way.
Woods has also spoken openly about his physical struggles following spinal-fusion surgery on his back last year — his fourth back surgery.
“For the better part of four to six months,” he told ESPN, “I had to be helped out of bed every day. And there were some days where you’d help me, and I couldn’t stand up. I’d have to either just fall to the floor or just stay in bed. Coming back and playing golf was never in my thoughts. It was just, ’How do I get away from this pain? How do I live again?’”
The National began its life in 2007 as the AT&T National, but its most recent title sponsor, Quicken Loans, ended its relationship with the tournament last year, and organizers have been unable to find a new one. The tournament, which boasts a total purse of $7.1 million, benefits the TGR Foundation, Woods’s youth-focused charitable arm.
If the reaction to Woods’s presence in Florida this month was any indication, his announcement Monday is certain to drive ticket sales, with tournament-day tickets starting at $15.