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**truebluefan** · 05-26-2008, 04:04 AM

Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Maryland
Purse: $6,000,000

Trigger · 07-02-2008, 08:42 PM

The AT&T National is a great event at one of the most beautiful golf courses in the country. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend last year, and it was a great experience. You have great access to the players, and it is fun to watch the pros look human as they struggle around an incredibly difficult layout.
I think that an historically steady US Open player will come away with a win, as it will be set up similarly. Extremely thick rough and slick greens were the standard last season.
The highlight for me was watching John Daly drive the green on a 365 yd par 4.
My pick for this year is Jim Furyk, who is overdue for a "W".

**truebluefan** · 07-05-2008, 10:34 PM

Tiger Woods said Monday that his doctors have advised him not to attend the AT&T National, a PGA Tour event he hosts this week at Congressional Country Club.

"But who knows," said Woods, speaking in a conference call from his home in Orlando. "I don't listen to my doctors too well."

Woods had reconstructive surgery on his left knee a week ago. A tendon was transplanted from his right hamstring to replace the torn ACL, and doctors removed some torn cartilage. He said he is experiencing swelling in the knee.

"I'm in a straight leg brace," he said. "I'm letting everything calm down for three weeks post-op. Then I can start some weight bearing and gradually start putting weight on the knee and flexing it. I will be on crutches for those three weeks."

Playing on a torn ACL and with stress fractures in his left knee, Woods won the U.S. Open, beating Rocco Mediate in a 19-hole playoff on June 16. Woods limped noticeably during the tournament.

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**truebluefan** · 07-05-2008, 10:36 PM

NELSON SILVERIO: Notah, 67 with six birdies and one bogey, just take us through your round.

NOTAH BEGAY III: Well, it was one hell of a surprise for me to be perfectly honest. I had not played a lot of golf this year, and my fourth event on the TOUR, and I've been spending a lot of time on mini-tours, and just when I ruptured my disk last May, I didn't really think I might be able to play. I seriously thought I wasn't going to be able to play anymore.

So to work back, hired new trainers, new doctors, new swing coach just in an effort to sort of make one last push for sort of getting my full-time status back, and today, just hit it really pretty solid.

I hit quite a few fairways and that's what you have to do out here. This of go course is very difficult from tee-to-green and you have to hit some fairways and put the ball in the right spots on the greens and if you do, you're going to hit some good putts, and I could easily have shot 5-, or 6-under today. I missed several putts inside six feet.

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**truebluefan** · 07-05-2008, 10:37 PM

BETHESDA, Md. -- To put it bluntly, Thursday's 67 at Congressional Country Club came as "one hell of a surprise" to Notah Begay III.

After all, AT&T National was only his fourth PGA TOUR event of the season. He's still on the comeback trail, too, after a ruptured disk in his lower back last year left Begay wondering if he'd ever be able to play again.

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**truebluefan** · 07-05-2008, 10:38 PM

Q. Mixed bag for you?

FRED FUNK: Yeah, I played really well. I screwed up No. 6 and I had something that's never really happened to me. On 18 tee, I had a dragonfly hit my shaft on the way down and I just totally flinched and hit it 150 yards off the tee dead right in the trees and ended up making bogey there. That was a little upsetting.

I played really well. I hit the ball extremely good, especially with my irons and I had a lot of chances and I seemed to always be on defensive side of the hole where I had these breaker downhillers, and I couldn't be aggressive with them.

So I'm really pleased with the way I hit my irons and played overall, so things are looking up.

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**truebluefan** · 07-05-2008, 10:39 PM

K.J. CHOI: No. 6, I hit 3-iron and it plugged and I could save par, but that pin plugged is a tough shot and you have to have a good lie. I hit it high and it looked like it was pin-high. I made good contact, but hit it two feet short. Then I turned around and everybody clapped and I made it.

It's a good number, 2-under par today. I wasn't nervous and I enjoyed the round and I had a good group and the crowd was great, good tournament.

Q. Feeling good being the defending champion and 2-under to start?

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**truebluefan** · 07-05-2008, 10:39 PM

Q. Talk about the round today.

STUART APPLEBY: Played decent. The course was playing reasonably easy. Not easy as in, you'll make a pile of birdies, but it was in front of us. It was not a lot of birdies. Greens were receptive. Not too quick. Course is firming up so the ball was bouncing a little bit, but it's not getting any easier. That score, 3-under each day, would look really good.

Q. What do you think the end result will be; maybe 6-under would win it?

STUART APPLEBY: It would be Mother Nature's call on that one. If it stays dry, you won't see under par scores as easy. And if it gets dry and a little faster on the greens that, will be tough.

Last year the greens were not very smooth, so I think that was a bit of a factor, but this year, the course is just magnificent.

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**truebluefan** · 07-05-2008, 10:40 PM

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) -- Steve Marino used to consider it a treat the few times he played Congressional as a teenager. It was a thrill on Thursday to play bogey-free in the first round of the AT&T National and shoot 5-under 65 for a one-shot lead.

Marino, who grew up a half-hour away in Fairfax, Va., birdied three of his opening four holes, never had a par putt longer than 5 feet and finished off his round with an 8-foot birdie to be in the lead after any round for only the second time in his career.

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**truebluefan** · 07-05-2008, 10:41 PM

BETHESDA, Md. -- Jeff Overton grinned, thrust his arms into the air and did his best Rocky Balboa imitation. Minus the courthouse steps, of course.

"I finally made a cut," Overton explained the celebration.

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