"Getting a 'W,"' Woods said during a 30-minute press conference at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., site of his inaugural AT&T National.

Woods's wife, Elin, gave birth to the couple's first child on June 18, a day after the final round of the U.S. Open, where Woods tied for second. The 31-year-old Woods played the tournament's final three rounds after his wife was admitted to a hospital in Orlando, Fla.

"She had some complications," Woods said. "I wanted to be there, but the doctor and Elin said, `There's nothing you can do.' It wasn't life-threatening."

During the past two weeks, the world's top-ranked golfer said, he has practiced sparingly and spends most of his time attending to his daughter, Sam Alexis. Her first name is the nickname Woods's father, Earl, gave him as a child.

"My father had always called me Sam since the day I was born," Woods said. When Woods, whose given name is Eldrick, would ask his father why he never used Tiger, he was told, "Well, you look more like a Sam."

Sam Alexis Woods already has had a golf club placed in her hand by her dad.

"She couldn't quite hold it, but it was there," Woods said.

An only child, Woods said he plans to have more kids, a decision that was made by his wife, who didn't travel with Woods to the tournament.

"She's in charge of that," he said.

The tournament in the nation's capital area replaces the International, a Colorado event taken off the schedule this year because organizers couldn't find a sponsor willing to commit without the top-ranked Woods in the field.

Because of the schedule change, Greg McLaughlin, director of this week's event and president of the Tiger Woods Foundation, had just 117 days to plan for it.

"It came like that," McLaughlin said, snapping his fingers.

As many as 120,000 spectators are expected during the week, including 5,000 members of the military each day. Woods, whose father was a Green Beret in the U.S. Army, has given military members free admission.

While the field includes five of the world's top six players, including Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Adam Scott, there's also a strong presence of Woods's personal friends.

Chris Riley, a member of the 2004 U.S. Ryder Cup team who grew up playing junior tournaments against Woods in Southern California, received one of eight sponsor's exemptions from the host. Riley, who won two weeks ago on the minor-league Nationwide Tour, has made the two-round cut in just two of seven PGA Tour events this season.

"I've had a rough couple years, so it was nice of Tiger to invite me," Riley said in an interview. "I was surprised a little bit. I'm sure there were a lot of people that wanted a sponsor's exemption."

Notah Begay III, Woods's former Stanford University roommate who has been playing this season in Europe, was also invited, as was Brad Faxon, Spain's Pablo Martin, Kevin Stadler and 19-year-old national college champion Jamie Lovemark from the University of Southern California. Woods played a practice round this morning with Begay.

The tournament, with a $6 million purse, will be played at Congressional through 2008, with the possibility of making the course its permanent home. The venue, which hosted two U.S. Opens and a PGA Championship, was Woods's first and only choice for his tournament, McLaughlin said.

The 83-year-old course was appropriate, said Chad Campbell, a three-time PGA Tour winner.

"Tiger does everything first class,' Campbell said. "When you have a tournament on a great golf course, you're going to have a great field. And then you put Tiger's name on it, it makes it twice as good."

The PGA Tour-operated TPC at Avenel course, site of the previous Washington-area tournament, is undergoing a major renovation. The course might end up hosting Woods's tournament in 2009, when Congressional will stage the U.S. Amateur Championship, and 2011, when the U.S. Open is played there.

Washington had a PGA Tour event every year since 1968 before being left off this year's schedule as organizers sought a sponsor to replace closely held Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. Woods rarely played in the event.

AT&T Inc., which also sponsors PGA Tour events in California and Atlanta, has a long relationship with Woods and is the presenting sponsor of his annual Tiger Jam Benefit Concert in Las Vegas.

The tournament will benefit Woods's foundation, an educational charity that provides financial assistance to underprivileged children in U.S. cities. Woods opened a 35,000- square-foot learning center in Anaheim, California, last year and said he plans to open a second one in the Washington area.

"We view this as our audition," McLaughlin said. "We're endeavoring to try to put it together. We're a long way away. It's a lot of work."

So is raising a child, Woods said.