AT&T National

BETHESDA, Md. - Tiger Woods didn't get the victory he sought, but all things considered, was thrilled with the inaugural AT&T National at Congressional Country Club. He closed with an even-par 70 Sunday and tied for sixth, seven strokes behind winner K.J. Choi of South Korea.

More than 37,000 fans attended the final round, many of them tracking the top-ranked Woods, the tournament host. While losing is never fun, Woods and his staff, led by tournament director Greg McLaughlin, put on a great show for players and spectators alike.

"I didn't get a W," said Woods. "So that's frustrating in that sense. But this tournament in general has been a bigger success than I think any one of us could have imagined. Everyone who has been a part of it really worked hard to make the tournament special."

Echoing the sentiment of the players, Jim Furyk was impressed.

"Pretty amazing," he said. "We played a great golf course. It was in good condition, and the organization of this event was incredible. The fan support was unreal.

"It seemed like a huge event, to say the least. And when you think that they only had three or fourth months to put this together, everyone involved should be really proud of themselves because they did a great job."

Woods, who began the final round seven strokes off the lead, never made a charge. He struggled on the greens again and a double-bogey at the par-5 ninth took him out of contention.

"That basically put me out of the tournament," he said.

Woods kept plugging, off-setting a three-putt bogey at the par-4 15th with birdies at the par-4 11th, par-3 13th, par-4 17th and par-4 18th for a 3-under 32 on the back nine. But it wasn't enough to catch Choi.

"I had to go out there and play just a picture perfect back nine and hope," said Woods.

Woods had no complaints about his ball-striking. For the second-straight day, he hit 78 percent of the greens in regulation and tied for second in that category for the week at 76 percent.

"The weekend, I hit the ball pretty good actually," said Woods, who used 30 putts Sunday. "Didn't putt well. Yesterday I hit good putts and they didn't go in and today I hit bad putts. Again, left a lot of putts short. I needed to putt well and they were just not going to go in."

Woods is already looking ahead to next year's AT&T National.

"It will be a little bit easier planning for that event now that we have a whole year instead of 116 days," Woods said. "I think everyone will breathe a big sigh of relief when this is done. Hopefully, next year we can make it even better than we did this year."

Woods returns to competition in the British Open at Carnoustie in Scotland, July 19-22, where he seeks his third-consecutive Claret Jug.

"I'm going to go home and spend time with Elin and Sam, and I'll be at home practicing," he said. "And Hank's (Haney) coming down, we'll do some grinding and get ready to head on over."