2015 Quicken Loans National

[tbowles411]

A post-mortem from the week here:

We missed you golf. We're glad we didn't have to go to Congressional to watch, and the place was packed all 4 days.

All of these guys were good. Insanely good. People like to cry about weak fields. Bullcrap. This was a good field, but the place it held on the calendar didn't help it any. Troy Merrick was great to watch. He was unflappable and just kept his head down and did this thing. Great job after missing 8 of your last 10 cuts, now you're set for 2 years and get all that comes with the win. Also a check for almost $1M doesn't hurt either!

Rickie didn't really have his best stuff on Sunday. It happens. The course fought back and kept the scores from getting out of hand yesterday. It was insanely humid yesterday and the place dried out. That's why shots weren't sticking any longer, they were spinning back and bouncing all over the place.

Tiger: You showed some real progress out there. The course was not easy, you had to hit fairways and for the most part, you did. Saturday's round should have been worse, but you dug deep and kept it from spiraling out of control. I saw it first hand. A 74 was amazing from where you were playing from. I really now believe it is a process and you just now need to put it all together. I still don't believe in Chris Como, but you obviously do. It's starting to pay off a bit. You showed more humanity, much more so than in recent years. You even slapped some hands and fist bumped some folks. You interacted with kids and a ton of military folks. The looks on their faces were priceless. Some were in disbelief you saw them, and two that you gave them a piece of yourself. You looked "normal." This is what people wanted from you all along. And with rows of 10-15 people deep, you didn't disappoint. The swing process aside, this process is good as well. You gained and probably regained a bunch of fans here. In the vein of Monty Python, "You're not dead yet." Age and perspective does that to people.

It was amazing to hear of the stories people had. They saw these guys all around the area. There were Rickie and Tiger sightings everywhere including in our favorite restaurant. They were together a lot hanging out like "normal people." People were respectful, and didn't rush them to get pictures or disturb them too much. Folks in church were excited to report that they had seen these guys just chatting away again, like "normal people." They posed for some pics, gave some autographs and seemed very warm to everyone who said hello, but people were respectful and tried to stay out of their way. You all made an impression and we're grateful you visited an out of the way western county in Virginia.

I said "normal" a lot, because that's what these people are. Just like us. They just golf a lot better.

[Dave230]

[quote name='redfirebird08' timestamp='1438573781' post='12067742']
[quote name='amanuel777' timestamp='1438568268' post='12067254']
[quote]

2014 and 2015 seasons. But even in 2013 he wilted under the pressure of the majors right when he would get himself into contention on the weekends.
[/quote]

BS. In 2013 at the Masters, if his approach shot was one inch to the left or right instead of hitting the pin, it would have been a totally different story.
[/quote]

You can play the "if" game all you want, but he had plenty of holes to make up ground and didn't get it done. Besides, he should have followed the Hogan rule: aim a few feet away from the pin on purpose.

He was in prime position at Muirfield that year after 3 rounds and choked like a dog on Sunday.
[/quote]

2013 Open - started final round t2, finished t6.
2012 PGA - started third round in the lead, finished t11
2012 Open - started third round 3rd, finished 3rd
2012 US Open - started third round in the lead, finished t21
2011 Masters - started third round 3rd, finished t4
2010 Open - started final round 3rd, finished t4.

2013 Masters, he would have been t2 going into the weekend if he birdied the hole, t7 if he just dropped it in the right place. Given the recent history in majors from that sort of position, there were no guarantees of anything.

[JJCOOP7]

Anyone know where most of the pro's stayed?

I was thinking Westfield's Marriott may have been the nicest/closet hotel that the tour could have grabbed up for the week.

[tbowles411]

[quote name='jjcopeland7' timestamp='1438613149' post='12069314']
Anyone know where most of the pro's stayed?

I was thinking Westfield's Marriott may have been the nicest/closet hotel that the tour could have grabbed up for the week.
[/quote]
Many of them rented houses on the course and very close by. Those are million dollar homes on the course. Extremely exclusive with a Big "A" set of gates. Coming from Chantilly it's not too far, but you don't want to be dealing with traffic getting to the property when you need to get warmed up and ready.

[Creedo77]

Yeah a lot of the players will stay around the course with members who offer to put them up.

We had 4 guys come out on Tuesday to TPC and play. The members that were playing with them mentioned that in previous years at Congressional they would stay with them. there are a lot of guys who will stay in hotels close to the venue, and I'm not talking about the Ritz (more like Best Westerns).

[lazyjc4]

[quote name='jjcopeland7' timestamp='1438613149' post='12069314']
Anyone know where most of the pro's stayed?

I was thinking Westfield's Marriott may have been the nicest/closet hotel that the tour could have grabbed up for the week.
[/quote]

Many stayed in the Hampton Inn right there in Gainesville, a few other I know stayed at various hotels in Manassas. With parking traffic diverted to the local concert venue, traffic to/from the golf course was a non-issue. Tiger rented a townhome in the neighborhood, and I know a few local members housed players, too.