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The general manager of the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms golf course said he's only focused on continuing the club's renovation, not trying to bring a PGA Tour event like the AT&T National to the club.
Michael Sullivan said the club, formerly known as TPC Avenel, is simply trying to complete repairs and a course overhaul by the end of this fall. The announcement last week that the AT&T National, the annual golf tournament sponsored by Tiger Woods, would remain at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda for several more years was not a concern, he said.
"We're just trying to do the best job we can here. That's all we're focused on. We're still in the throes of construction," Sullivan said.
PGA Tour officials agreed to fund Avenel's $25 million renovation project in early 2007, saying they hoped a PGA event would return there in 2009. The 2006 Booz Allen Classic, a PGA Tour event, was nearly canceled following heavy rain and flooding issues at the course, and it was announced afterward that the event would not be held in 2007.
The AT&T National announced on Oct. 1 it would continue at Congressional from 2012 through 2014, with an option for an additional three years from 2015 through 2017. Congressional is hosting the U.S. Open for the PGA Tour in 2010 and 2011, and AT&T has not yet announced a course for those two years. Next year, Congressional will host the tournament from July 1-5.
But Sullivan stressed that the decision was not in the club's hands, that it would be up to the PGA Tour, and that the club does not lobby to host such tournaments.
"It's not our call. We don't have anything to do with that per se," he said.
Even after construction at TPC Potomac is finished it's unclear when the course will be ready to host a tournament, since officials will first make sure the changes to the course are working for its players, he said.
Sullivan added that some of the course's members would be excited to host a PGA Tour event like the AT&T National, while others considered it a disruption.
In a May statement, Woods said he would "certainly take a look" at TPC Potomac before knee surgery ended his 2008 playing season.
TPC Potomac's renovation began last fall and involves changes to every hole on the 7,128-yard course. Improvements to the course's short game area, irrigation and landscaping are ongoing, according to Sullivan.
"We're tweaking everything as we go," he said.
