They (the PGA Tour) want to move the tournament to a new venue.
Washington area was mentioned in the NYTimes.
Anyone has a guess which club there would host it?
>>PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- The PGA Tour has narrowed it search to four cities to replace the International, and commissioner Tim Finchem said Friday that a return to Washington likely would be the first choice if all options were equal.
The other cities being considered for the Fourth of July spot on the schedule are Portland, Ore., Minneapolis and another market he declined to identify that ''just came across the tracks.''
Finchem said he was surprised by the amount of interest from potential sponsors and cities, which included phone calls from mayors, over filling the void when the International decided to cancel the tournament July 5-8 outside Denver.
''We are working forward on a three-city, and possibly four-city review, of trying by next week to get aligned in each of those areas where to play, what the sponsorship structure would be and how the tournament would work in those different communities from a Fourth of July standpoint,'' he said in a telephone interview.
''When we get done and we're ready to prioritize, if all is about equal and Washington was one of them, we would probably prioritize Washington because we know it's a great time with the Fourth of July ... and it would be nice to have members of Congress involved.''
Finchem said Congress has been supportive of The First Tee, a program aimed at getting kids involved with golf.
Depending on how quickly the tour can study its best options, a decision could come by the end of the month.
The International, which used a modified Stableford scoring system at Castle Pines, announced Thursday that it would no longer be part of the PGA Tour schedule. Tournament founder Jack Vickers said he could not find a sponsor willing to pay some $8 million a year for a holiday week and an event that Tiger Woods doesn't play.
Woods has not played the International since 1999, and gave no indication that was going to change with a new date. The International had been played in August.
''On the one hand, the Tour's asking for a new five- or six-year commitment and you've got a one-man show out there right now that is the big difference,'' Vickers said Thursday.
Finchem disagreed. He said if that were true, ''we would have a schedule of 18 events.''
''That's just not the case,'' Finchem said. ''When Tiger Woods plays, more people watch on TV and more tickets are sold. When he doesn't play, a lot of tickets are sold, a lot of money is raised for charity and our TV numbers are solid for the value of a sponsor.''
Woods has never played in the Washington market except for the Presidents Cup in 2000 and 2005, and the U.S. Open in 1997 at Congressional.
The nation's capital lost its PGA Tour event last year when title sponsor Booz Allen declined to renew its deal after getting knocked out of the prime, FedExCup portion of the schedule. The tournament moved to the TPC Avenel in 1987 and was played there every year but 2005.
Finchem said if Washington was the Fourth of July choice, Avenel would not be ready until 2009 because of planned renovations, and even then he would not guarantee a tournament would return there.
''When you get past '07, there are probably three or four good options where to play,'' he said. ''How many are available to us in '07, we're not quite certain, although it looks like we have some good options.
Asked whether Congressional was one of them, Finchem said the tour has not contacted any clubs in the area.
He said there was precedent for staging a tournament in a short period of time. The tour announced the creation of the Presidents Cup in May 1994, and it was held that September at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in northern Virginia.<<
...another market he declined to identify that ''just came across the tracks.''....
I am wondering whether this is Liberty National.
4th of July, fireworks over the Statue, views, all that...