BETHESDA, Md. -- Fans will be allowed back on the grounds at Congressional for Sunday’s final round of the AT&T National, one day after a storm devastated the course and forced tournament officials to close the course to fans due to safety concerns.
Gates will open at 9 a.m. ET on Sunday, with the first tee time at 11 a.m. Players will go off both the first and 10th tees in threesomes. The final threesome of the day – Tiger Woods, Bo Van Pelt and tournament leader Brendon de Jonge – will tee off at 1:15 p.m. Click here for tee times
All fans who held tickets for Saturday’s third round can use those tickets to attend Sunday’s final round.
As for parking, tournament officials said the general parking lot is the Rock Spring lot located off Fernwood Round and Rockledge Drive. Click here for more spectator information.
AT&T National officials tweeted Sunday morning that fans will be allowed back on the Congressional grounds Sunday for the final round, one day after a storm devastated the course and caused safety concerns.
If you’re staying home, Golf Channel will have early coverage starting at 1 p.m., with CBS picking up the broadcast at 3 p.m. You can also listen to tournament coverage on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (Sirius 208, XM 93).
De Jonge, the Zimbabwe native who played college golf at Virginia Tech, takes a one-shot lead into Sunday as he seeks his first PGA TOUR win.
“It would be huge,” de Jonge said about what it would mean to win on Sunday. “Winning here would be that much more special, as well, obviously being a huge Virginia Tech contingent around here would be wonderful, and it's obviously a great tournament with a great field, so that would be a good feather in your cap. But obviously I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
Amanda Balionis and the SiriusXM team previews the final round at Congressional.
In the third round at Congressional CC, Brendon de Jonge shot a 2-under 69 to take a one-shot lead to Sunday.
BETHESDA, Md. -- Players will again go off both tees and in groups of three for Sunday’s final round of the AT&T National.
The first tee time will be at 11 a.m. ET with the final group of Brendon de Jonge, Bo Van Pelt and Tiger Woods teeing off at 1:15 p.m.
Due to the damage caused by a powerful overnight storm, workers needed the extra time to clean up the remainder of the debris around Congressional.
Fans weren’t allowed at the course for Saturday’s third round for safety reasons with several fallen trees scattered around the golf course and on cart paths.
BETHESDA, Md. -- Fans will be allowed back at Congressional Country Club for Sunday’s final round.
When they arrive, they’ll see a familiar name near the top of the leaderboard.
Tiger Woods, who won the AT&T National the last time it was played here in 2009, is one shot back of leader Brendon de Jonge after the quietest 67 of his career.
The course was closed to spectators after a storm wreaked havoc on the area overnight, knocking out power and uprooting several trees. Even though crews worked through the night to get Congressional playable, navigating the course would have been difficult and unsafe for spectators.
Woods didn’t have any problem doing just that.
His 67 included a chip-in for birdie on the sixth hole and left him in a tie for second with Bo Van Pelt, who matched Woods’ round.
“I told Tiger that was a Bo Van Pelt crowd, so I was used to that,” Van Pelt joked. “I was very comfortable with 10 or 15 people watching me play golf.”
Most players didn’t have that many people following them with only employees, club members and media on the ground most of the day.
“It was nice to just get it in,” Van Pelt said. “I think we're all fortunate that nobody got hurt out here last night. It's a credit to the grounds staff that they got this golf course ready. I'm sure if you saw pictures of what it looked like at midnight the fact that we played golf today is a minor miracle.”
De Jonge said the lack of a gallery took a little while to get used to.
”It's nice to have people out there and get the buzz and kind of feed off adrenaline,” he said.
The former Virginia Tech standout via Zimbabwe created plenty of his own, even if few were on hand to see it.
De Jonge made three birdies and just one bogey to shoot a second straight 69.
Now he’ll try to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR.
“Winning here would be that much more special,” de Jonge said. “But obviously I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
So did the maintenance staff.
They were still working to clean up the course after the round. As a result, the final round tee times were pushed back and players will again go off both tees and in groups of three.
BETHESDA, Md. -- The third round is winding down at Congressional, where Brendon de Jonge is in the lead at 7 under and Tiger Woods and Bo Van Pelt are just a shot back.
Billy Hurley III, meanwhile, is in the clubhouse at 5 under after a 66 Saturday.
Overnight leader Hunter Mahan, meanwhile, has dropped back into a tie with Hurley after playing his first 15 holes in 2 over.
Also, because there is still a significant amount of debris to clean up, the final round will be pushed back on Sunday as well with players going off both tees in groups of three sometime around 11 a.m. ET.
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM
BETHESDA, Md. -- Jim Furyk couldn’t remember the last time he played a round of competitive golf in front of so few people.
“It was just so quiet,” Furyk said. “It was odd.”
Thanks to a powerful storm Friday night that left nearly a half-million residents in the area without power and caused significant damage, spectators and volunteers weren’t allowed at Congressional for the third round of the AT&T National, which was delayed more than 5 hours as crews cleaned up fallen trees and other debris scattered across the course.
The only people on the course when Brian Harman teed off in the first group off Saturday afternoon were a handful of employees, club members and media.
“It was strange,” Harman said.
Beau Hossler, the 17-year-old amateur who made a near-historic run at the U.S. Open earlier this month, on the other hand is used to playing in front of small crowds.
“It kind of felt like a junior tournament,” said Hossler, whose only audience was his mom, stepdad, sister and cousin. “It is nice to have some people to bounce it off if you hit it in the trees, but other than that it was no different. We were lucky to get out there and play.”
Or just lucky to be able to get on the property.
Fallen trees blocked the entrance to Congressional before they were cleared out in the wee hours of Saturday morning as crews worked through the night to get the course playable.
Despite the damage, it was.
It just wasn’t safe, or even passable in some spots, for spectators.
Even players had some difficulty getting to the course, though.
Hossler is staying in a house 3 miles away and said it took more than 45 minutes to get to Congressional.
Harman’s hotel in nearby Tysons Corner still didn’t have power when he left for the golf course.
The only player who did have a sizeable gallery was Tiger Woods. It was small by his standards, however, with a few dozen people watching Woods move up the leaderboard.
The rest of the field enjoyed more quiet.
“It was peaceful,” Furyk said. “But it’s more fun when you get a reaction from the fans.”
Watch Tiger Woods make a birdie at the 181-yard 10th hole in the third round of the AT&T National.
BETHESDA, Md. -- The back-and-forth atop the leaderboard continues at the AT&T National, where Hunter Mahan and Brendon de Jonge share the lead at 7 under.
Jhonattan Vegas has the day’s best round going at 5 under through his first nine holes and is a shot back.
Tiger Woods, meanwhile, is one of four players two shots back.
Congressional also continues to play easier than it did the last two days when the scoring average was more than two strokes over par. So far in the third round, it’s playing slightly under par.