WASHINGTON – Tiger Woods joined elite company Wednesday as one of only three players to host a PGA Tour event during their careers.

But this wasn’t about taking his place with Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Woods was more interested in the dozen children seated to the side of a packed lounge in the National Press Club, where Woods and PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced plans for the AT&T; National that marks the return of golf to the nation’s capital.

Woods made clear that the tournament would pay tribute to the military over the Fourth of July, and pay for a new Tiger Woods Learning Center in the Washington area as he expands his foundation’s goal to help children.

“The last year or so, we’ve been looking up and down the Eastern seaboard for a new learning center,” Woods said. “And then this opportunity fell into our laps. It makes sense to build it here, we just haven’t had time to find a site yet.”

The first step is to build a tournament. It will be played July 5-8, and Woods isn’t sure if he will be able to play this year because his wife is expecting their first child. But while Palmer bought the Bay Hill Club and Nicklaus built his own course in his hometown outside Columbus, Ohio, Woods is establishing his tournament roots in Washington.

“That’s our intent, to stay here and have this be our home event, hopefully for perpetuity,” he said.

The Tiger Woods Foundation will run the tournament, with charitable money going to the foundation toward building a learning center. Woods’ first learning center, which cost $25 million, opened a year ago in Anaheim, Calif.

Woods becomes the youngest player, at age 31, to host a tournament. Bobby Jones was 32 when the Augusta National Invitation – which later became the Masters – was held in 1934. Nicklaus was 36 when the Memorial was played for the first time. Palmer was 44 when he took over at Bay Hill, and Byron Nelson had been long retired when he gave his name to a tournament in Dallas.

“Not too many people are fortunate to have an opportunity like this,” Woods said. “What Bobby Jones did for golf and starting the Masters, that won’t be touched. As far as what Jack has done at the Memorial, or Arnold at Bay Hill or Mr. Nelson in Dallas, those have been true legends of the game. They made a tremendous impact on our sport.

“I want to build something along that level,” he said. “Obviously, with my competitive nature, I want it to be better.”