BETHESDA, Md. -- Paul Goydos remembers the first time he was asked to play in a U.S. PGA Tour event, and his RSVP was immediate.
His victory at Bay Hill in 1996 got him into the Masters and allowed him for the first time to set his own schedule. He never had much success at the Byron Nelson Championship, so he thought he would skip that one and play Colonial and Memorial, both invitationals.
"I'm playing the second round of the Masters, and Byron Nelson is sitting on a chair five feet from the tee markers. You had to take your practice swing to the side because you would hit him in the forehead," Goydos said. "And he looks at me and goes, 'Hey, Paul, great playing at Bay Hill. Are you coming to the Byron Nelson?'
"And I looked at him and said, 'I am now.'"
That led some to wonder when Tiger Woods will go from the world's No. 1 player to chief recruiter for his AT&T National.
Players typically rank quality of the golf course and the spot on the calendar as their top reasons for playing, so the lack of so many top 20 players -- injuries aside -- at his tournament last week was surprising. Congressional is as good as any track in golf. The setup was close to perfect, with the rough deep enough to present problems, yet not so thick that players couldn't try to reach the green.
One problem might have been perception. Europe had 14 players among the top 50 in the world last week, none at Congressional. Most were at the European Open, with the British Open two weeks away. And this being a Ryder Cup year, some need to get in their minimum 11 tournaments for membership purposes.
Players invariably thank Woods for making them so much money. What would happen if he asked them to play in his event? That's hard to imagine, for no other reason that it's not Woods' style.
"Tiger has done a lot for this tour the last 11 years," Goydos said. "And I think if Tiger asks you to come help him out, you're going to come help him out. And if you don't, you're a nut."
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PGA Tour rules official Mickey Bradley stepped inside the ropes at Congressional to urge the group of Robert Allenby, J.J. Henry and John Rollins to close the gap between them and the next group.
"We just had a ruling on the last hole," Allenby protested.
"I know," Bradley replied. "I'm the one who gave it."
This stopped Allenby in his tracks, but only briefly.
