Fowler highlights field at Quicken Loans National (Jun 28, 2017)
Five of the top 30 players in the world will be among the limited field at the Quicken Loans National, which begins play Thursday at the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms in Potomac, Md.
While Americans Rickie Fowler, Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed will be participating, one player who won't be on site is Tiger Woods. The 14-time major champion helped found this event 11 years ago and his foundation runs this tournament.
Woods confirmed earlier this week that he won't be in attendance after announcing last week that he is receiving treatment to manage his medications for dealing with back pain and a sleep disorder.
This year's Quicken Loans National will be played at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, which was formerly known as TPC Avenel. The facility previously was the host venue for what then was known as the Kemper Open in 1987 and continued as the Booz Allen Classic until the tournament's final year in 2006.
After a major renovation, the course re-opened on April 28, 2009. Since then, TPC Potomac has hosted two Web.com Tour events as well as the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship. This will mark the first PGA Tour tournament at TPC Potomac has held since 2006.
An invited field of 120 golfers will test the course, which will play at 7,107 yards and to a par of 70. Those golfers will be chasing a total purse of $7.1 million, with $1.278 million and 500 FedExCup points going to the winner of the 72-hole event.
Joining Fowler (the world's No. 9 player), Thomas (No. 12) and Reed (No. 17) from top 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking are Kevin Chappell (26) and South Korea's Si Woo Kim (30).
Eleven players in the top 25 in the FedExCup standings will also tee it up, most notbably Canada's Adam Hadwin (12), Brendan Steele (13), Marc Leishman of Australia (14), Billy Horschel (16), Russell Henley (18), Mackenzie Hughes of Canada (21), Gary Woodland (23) and Wesley Bryan (24).
Five past Quicken Loans National champions will try to win the event again, namely last year's winner Billy Hurley III, Troy Merritt (2015), Bill Haas (2013), Nick Watney (2011) and K.J. Choi of South Korea (2007).
Hurley, who was born in Leesburg, Va. and resides in Annapolis, Md., posted a final-round 69 to win this tournament last year by three shots over Vijay Singh of Fiji. It was the first and only PGA Tour victory for Hurley, a 2004 graduate of the United States Naval Academy graduate.
Hurley's best result this season was a tie for eighth at the Wells Fargo Championship last month. He's won more than $690,000 on Tour this year. His most recent made cut came in the final week in May at the Dean & Deluca Invitational, where he finished tied for 41st at 2-over 282.
"That's the hard thing about golf -- everybody wants you to play well at certain times, but you don't know necessarily when it's going to happen," Hurley said. "I'm going to play well at some point. If you can tell me what those five weeks are, then I can sort out my travel schedule, but you just don't know what that is."
Hurley considers the TPC Potomac as a home course, frequently playing the layout once known as TPC Avenel both before and since its two-year renovation.
The tournament, which had been held at nearby Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., for its first 10 editions, will alternate with that facility every other year, with TPC Potomac hosting the event on odd-numbered years.
"It is pretty neat to be here," said Cody Gribble, who won this season's Sanderson Farms Championship in October to qualify for the limited field and ranks 69th in the FedExCup standings.
"This is my first time here so really looking forward to kind of doing a little sightseeing, tourist stuff so, pretty cool being out here. The course is beautiful, it's a beautiful piece of land so I'm kind of ready for the week to get started."
There are four spots available at Quicken Loans National for 146th British Open Championship at Royal Birkdale for the top four finishers (not otherwise eligible). In all, the Open's Qualifying Series is being contested at 15 events in 10 countries this season; other PGA Tour events in the Series include The Greenbrier Classic (four spots available) and John Deere Classic (one spot).
