I'm shocked. Last year, the AT&T National at Congressional got some of the best players in the game including Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, Geoff Ogilvy, and Justin Rose. This year, none of those players are coming back. In fact, there is only one top-10 player in the world ranking who is competing next week, Steve Stricker.
I have no explanation for this. Congressional is a true test and will host the U.S. Open in three years. The tournament falls out the same time it did last year, two weeks before the British Open. Plus, there's a big purse and Tiger Woods is the host.
There's still no word as to whether or not Woods will be able to make it up to the district for the week, but he must be disappointed with the quality of the field. This is the kind of field one would expect at the old Booz Allen at Avenel.