Woods Plays Red, White and Blue on the Green

Golf great Tiger Woods jetted into Washington today to promote his upcoming AT&T National Invitational tournament as a potentially "historic" event meant to honor service members and their families. The tourney, to be held through the week of Independence Day at suburban Maryland's Congressional Country Club, promises to be a classic Washington event, mixing celebrities and politicians with athletes and thousands of military personnel, who can attend for free.

Woods's education foundation will be the beneficiary. The patriotic emphasis is unusually pointed for a professional sporting event, but Woods did not hesitate to play it up big at a news conference.

"It's the nation's birthday," said Woods. "I want to make a very ardent outreach to the men and women who serve the U.S. military." He added, "Hopefully, it will produce something historic in nature." Organizers say that 30,000 military personnel and family members will be offered transport to the tournament from area military bases--a plan to be coordinated with the Pentagon. Woods noted that he grew up in a military household; his late father, Earl, was a veteran. He was also asked if his interest in Washington signaled an interest in politics--specifically, running for president someday.

"Hell, no," he replied.

--Thomas Omestad