TPC Potomac No Stranger to Championship Golf
Arnold Palmer, Adam Scott, Steve Stricker. These are just a few of the names who have tasted success at TPC Potomac. In 2017, the Quicken Loans National will be contested at TPC Potomac for the first time, but it will hardly be the first PGA TOUR event at this championship course.
Professional golf in Washington D.C. dates back to the early 1920s when the US Open was held at Columbia Country Club in 1921. The US Open returned to the D.C. area when Congressional Country Club hosted the 1964 US Open and the 1976 PGA Championship. It wasn’t until the 1980s that professional golf became a mainstay in the Mid-Atlantic and TPC Potomac was at the center of the action.
Arnold Palmer set the standard at TPC Potomac in 1986 during the Chrysler Cup, an event that pitted an American team, captained by Palmer, against a foreign team captained by Gary Player. On back-to-back days during preliminary rounds, Palmer hit the same club on the same hole and experienced the same result: a hole-in-one. The King aced the 187-yard par-3 third hole with his five iron, setting the stage for championship golf at TPC Potomac.
The following year, the Kemper Open, later called the FBR Capital Open and Booz Allen Classic, moved from Congressional to TPC Potomac, where it would be held for 19 of the next 20 years. Lee Janzen earned his sixth career win in 1995 at TPC Potomac, while 1996 marked the first career PGA TOUR win for Steve Stricker. In 2004, Adam Scott earned his third career win when he cruised to a four-stroke victory at TPC Potomac. Ben Curtis won the final Booz Allen Classic at TPC Potomac in 2006.
Following the 2006 tournament, TPC Potomac underwent a significant renovation to bring the golf course up to today’s professional standards while at the same time returning the property to its original natural state through a restoration of the historic Rock Run Stream Valley, one of the main tributaries of the Potomac river. The course was virtually re-built from scratch to accentuate the beauty of the natural landscape while incorporating aesthetic and competitive enhancements. Greens and fairways were completely rebuilt and all holes were regraded to create more natural contours and reductions in fairway widths.
The most notable renovations took place along the holes nine, 10, 11, 12 and 13. The par-3 ninth hole green was relocated to the top of the hillside adjacent to the clubhouse, while the par-4 10th was converted into a par-5. By eliminating the old 11th hole, the new 10th hole was elongated and the stream restoration next to the hole was complete. On the 12th hole, a new par-3 was created using the landing area from the old 13th fairway and the renovation was completed when the 13th shifted from a par-5 to a par-4. More than 50 PGA TOUR players were consulted on the redesign including Davis Love III and Maryland native Fred Funk.
The first tournament hosted at the redesigned TPC Potomac was the 2010 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. Mark O’Meara defeated Michael Allen in a playoff. In 2012 and 2013, the Web.com Tour hosted events at TPC Potomac where a number of current PGA TOUR mainstays competed on the redesigned course.
When 120 of the top TOUR pros take to TPC Potomac June 26 – July 2 for the 2017 Quicken Loans National, TPC Potomac will write another chapter in its storied history.
