The AT&T National, hosted by Tiger Woods, normally takes place in Bethesda, Maryland. However, with Congressional Country Club preparing to host the US Open, the AT&T event was been moved to Aronimink for two years. This will be the final year the Philly area course hosts the event, but the record crowds of nearly 200,000 and positive reviews of the course have led some to speculate that a major championship could potentially be held there in the future.
Tiger Woods was asked today whether he thought Aronimink could host a major in the future?
“Certainly it has the greens, the green complexes to do that.” He said, “The only thing it’s probably missing is the length and maybe a little infrastructure as well. Certainly I think that Aronimink is a hell of a golf course, and they’ve had major championships in the past, but we’ll see what happens.”
Aronimink has previously hosted the PGA Championship in 1963, the US Amateur Championship in 1977, the US Juniors Champs in 1997, and the Senior PGA Championships in 2003.
Last year at the AT&T National, Robert Garrigus said “You know, it’s got a major-championship feel here. I was telling everybody, you could hold a U.S. Open here tomorrow. You don’t even need to do anything to the place.”
Clearly Aronimink can handle the crowds, having drawn nearly 200,000 to last year’s AT&T National. The question is what tournament the course could potentially draw? The US Open doesn’t seem likely given that so many Opens are scheduled to be played somewhat nearby in the coming years. The most likely shot at Aronimink has is the PGA Championship in 2018.