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Golf fans this year may have to drive to the fairgrounds in order to reach the fairways at the AT&T National.

Tournament officials switched one of the two satellite parking lots for tournament visitors this year from the Crown Farm lot to the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg. Tournament parking available in Virginia last year has also been eliminated due to low turnout, according to county traffic engineer Mike Kinney.

"At the AT&T National we want fans to have an excellent experience from the time they arrive at the parking lot, to the time they leave each day," said Greg McLaughlin, CEO and president of the Tiger Woods Foundation, which organizes the tournament along with the PGA Tour. "We utilize a number of parking lots in the surrounding areas based on convenience and availability."

The main entrance to the Montgomery County Fairgrounds, where public parking will be available from June 30 to July 2, is located at 500 Perry Parkway in Gaithersburg. Public parking will be available at the Rock Spring Park lot, located at Rock Spring Drive and Fernwood Road in Bethesda, from July 3 to July 5. Signs will be posted in the weeks leading up to the tournament directing drivers to these lots.

Shuttle buses will take visitors from the two lots to the Connelly School of the Holy Child, 9029 Bradley Boulevard, in Potomac. Visitors can then use the pedestrian bridge across Bradley Boulevard to reach the course.

"It should be a good week for everybody," Kinney said.

Attendance at the tournament declined from 139,000 in 2007 to 107,000 last year, although Tiger Woods did not play in last year's event. Kinney said he expects the two public lots should be adequate for visitor parking, even though the Fourth of July falls on a Saturday and many office workers could be using the Rock Spring lot during working hours on Friday, July 3.

Kinney said he expects the situation concerning homeowners near the course selling parking spaces to be resolved this year. Homeowners wishing to sell parking spaces on their private property must apply for a permit to do so but have not always done so or understood the rules in the past. Kinney said there is no maximum for what these property owners can charge for a space on their property.

"It's kind of what the market will bear," he said.

Kinney said the county's transportation department will monitor the road situation throughout the tournament and adjust traffic signal timing when necessary to allow the buses to travel quickly on their routes.