The Quicken Loans National – formerly the AT&T – is the PGA Tour event this week at the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club.
This course has been the venue for PGA Tour and Majors in the past but the course form from pre 2011 should be treated with caution as the track had a major re-vamp before the US Open was hosted here in that year.
It’s a long track at 7,569 yards with smaller than average greens.
Golfers with plenty of length off the tee combined with decent GIR stats should be the way to go here, with the ODDY ratings a good guide too with three of the top five here in 2013 having finished inside the top 30 in 2012.
Players that have done well at Muirfield Village in the Memorial Tournament should also be given respect here with both courses sharing similarities – they are long, have bent grass greens and are ‘US Open’ type courses.
Tiger Woods makes his long awaited return this week in the tournament he hosts and his ‘match fitness’ is anyone’s guess as he’d have been desperate to play this week.
| Course: Congressional Country Club (Blue Course), Bethesda, Maryland | ||||||||
| Course Architect: Devereaux Emmett (1922), Robert Trent Jones (1957), Rees Jones (1989) | ||||||||
| Par: 71 | ||||||||
| Yardage: 7,569 yds | ||||||||
| Acres of fairway: 27 | ||||||||
| Greens: Bentgrass; average size: 5,600 sq. ft | ||||||||
| Stimp: 13 ft | ||||||||
| Last 7 winners | ||||||||
| 2013 | Bill Haas | |||||||
| 2012 | Tiger Woods | |||||||
| 2011 | Nick Watney | |||||||
| 2010 | Justin Rose | |||||||
| 2009 | Tiger Woods | |||||||
| 2008 | Anthony Kim | |||||||
| 2007 | KJ Choi | |||||||
| Oddy Oddy Oddy Recent and Course Form Ratings | ||||
| Rank | Player | Rating | Odds | Bookmaker |
| 1 | Jordan Spieth | 75.1 | $15 | Bet365 |
| 2 | Brendon Todd | 72.4 | $34 | Bet365 |
| 3 | Bill Haas | 69.9 | $34 | Sportsbet |
| 4 | Jason Day | 69.5 | $15 | Sportsbet |
| 5 | Justin Rose | 69.1 | $17 | Sportsbet |
| 6 | Marc Leishman | 68.9 | $51 | Sportsbet |
| 7 | Robert Garrigus | 67.9 | $81 | Sportsbet |
| 8 | Gary Woodland | 67.9 | $41 | Bet365 |
| 9 | Brandt Snedeker | 67.7 | $26 | Bet365 |
| 10 | Martin Flores | 64.4 | $101 | Bet365 |
Bill Haas won this tournament last year by three strokes and he’s been looking like a possible winner again in 2014 with consistent performances that have seen him make every cut barring a withdrawal at the Heritage after the first round.
He has solid form in the book at the Memorial Tournament too, with a tied 8th a few weeks ago and a tied 4th last year.
Haas is $34 each way with 
Brendon Todd is not the longest off the tee but I just can’t leave him out this week as he’s been playing some of the best golf on tour for the last few weeks and with a 13th placed finish here last year he’s shown he can cope with the length of the course.
He tied for 8th in the Memorial and but for a 3rd round 79 in the US Open he’d have been a lot higher up the leader board than his final finishing spot of 17th. He was also 60th in driving distance that week compared to 157th for the season.
Todd is $36 each way with 
Robert Garrigus’ fitness has to be a question mark having withdrawn from his last tournament but he’s had a couple of weeks off so hopefully he’ll be ok.
His course form is very solid with a 3rd and a 4th placed finish in 2011 and 2012.
Garrigus is $81 each way with 
Our final pick this week is Martin Flores whose form is a bit hit and miss but finishes of 34th and 21st in this tournament in the last two years plus a tied 19th at the memorial could see him go well at long odds this week. He has the required distance off the tee and is ranked 40th in driving distance on tour as well as 58th in GIR.
Flores is $101 each way with