At Congo, there are just no lines for AT&T National

On Bradley Boulevard, which borders the course, a tree toppled by Friday night’s violent thunderstorm dangled precariously over the street, held up only by power lines. The road was closed. Even with no spectators, traffic was jammed from Potomac Village to River Road leading to Congressional. Getting an expected crowd of 20,000 fans in and out without major delays would have been impossible.

Workers with chainsaws spent the entire night just clearing four downed trees from the drive that leads into Congressional, according to Mark Russell, the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules and competition. On the course, many other spectator traffic areas were blocked by trees and limbs.

“It was an easy decision. It was just too dangerous,” Russell said early Saturday. “It’s going to take a long time to clean this up. We talk about the golf course, but the whole area is suffering from this.”

There was a “giant tree” across the 14th fairway and another in the 18th fairway, Russell said. There were several trees down behind the green at No. 2. All over the periphery of the course, there were piles of debris that had been removed from the fairways and cart paths. An hour after players teed off at 1 p.m., a cleaning crew was still working furiously on the 18th hole, loading branches and limbs onto the back of a maintenance cart.

To get an idea of what Congressional’s Blue Course looked like before it was cleaned up, you needed only to look over to Congressional Gold, its lush fairways strewn with tree parts. On the 18th hole of the Gold Course were two fallen trees, one in the fairway, another across the teeing area.

The last time spectators were barred from a professional golf tournament was the final round of the Champions Tour Boone Valley Classic in Missouri in 2000, when heavy rains left the main parking area under water.

“That’s a very drastic decision, not allowing fans to come out,” Russell said. “But it’s in their best interest.”

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