Fresh off Brooks Koepka’s breakthrough major victory at Erin Hills and Jordan Spieth’s walk-off win at the Travelers Championship, the PGA Tour returns to the DMV this week for the Quicken Loans National.
The championship moves to TPC Potomac this year after Billy Hurley III, a naval academy graduate and Maryland native, won last year’s event at Congressional Country Club.
Rickie Fowler headlines a strong field that features 14 of the top 26 in the FedEx Cup standings. Fowler finished second to Troy Merritt two years ago and will make his first start since finishing in a tie for 5th at the US Open.
Joining Fowler will be Justin Thomas, a three-time winner this season who finished T9 at the US Open, and Patrick Reed, a key member of the 2016 US Ryder Cup team. Thomas enters the week ranked 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking, while Reed comes in at 17th.
Other notable players teeing it up this week include 2011 FedEx Cup champion Bill Haas and 2016 PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker. Five previous Quicken Loans National champions are in the field: KJ Choi, Nick Watney, Troy Merritt, Haas and Hurley.
This week marks the third course in as many years for the Quicken Loans National, which began in 2007. Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville hosted the event in 2015, and next year it will return to Congressional.
TPC Potomac returns to the PGA Tour schedule for the first time since 2006, the final year of the Booz Allen Classic. The tournament was known as the Kemper Open from 1987-99 before changing names three times.
The Quicken Loans National managed by and benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, but Woods will not make an appearance this week after he underwent back surgery earlier this year and was arrested for DUI last month.
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