Drivers in Montgomery County, beware! The AT&T National golf tournament, hosted by the sport’s superstar player, Tiger Woods, began today at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda. The tournament should to make your drive home today, and the rest of this week, hideous beyond reason.

Of course, the event being here isn’t all, or even mostly, bad news. For starters, D.C. was in danger of not having its own golf tournament at all. For 20 years after the move from Congressional, the old Kemper Open/Booz Allen Classic struggled with criticism of the design and condition of Avenel’s course and with unfortunate scheduling. The event was usually placed on the weekend after the US Open, so many of the Tour’s top players would skip Washington after enduring the Open’s usual grind. In 2006, Avenel failed to draw a single player in the world Top 20 rankings, and was quickly dropped by both the Tour and the sponsor.

The AT&T’s inaugural event at Congressional immediately distinguishes itself from Washington’s previous PGA event at Potomac’s Avenel, both with the media and fan circus that surrounds Woods, and with the top flight player draw including major notables such as Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, Geoff Ogilvy and current leader K.J. Choi. Much is being made about the influx of cash the tournament will bring in as well.