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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 3, 2020Nick FaldoNikki HaleyDustin JohnsonJim NantzScott ReidJohn TecklenburgRoger WarrenSan Francisco, California JULIUS MASON: Good morning, everyone, I'm The PGA of America's Julius Mason and I'd like to thank you very much for joining us here at the Sanctuary, an Kiawah Island today. Before we get into the PGA Championship volunteer registration details, let's make sure everybody is in the mood. (Video played.) JULIUS MASON: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the general chairman of the 2021 PGA Championship, the president of Kiawah Island Golf Resort and past president of The PGA of America, Roger Warren. When we think of The Ocean Course, we think of one of Pete Dye's ultimate masterpieces. Sadly, the golf community lost the legendary golf designer earlier this year, but can you talk about what your memories were of Pete, and talk a little about the impact he's left on The Ocean Course? ROGER WARREN: Thank you, Julius, and welcome, everybody. So happy to be here to talk about The Ocean Course and the PGA Championship in 2021, every time someone asks me this question, I begin this smile because that's what Pete Dye created in his relationship with people was the ability to smile and laugh with him. He was a wonderful man, and his wife, Alice, who is his partner in life and partner in the golf business, the two of them had such a major, major impact on golf at this resort, golf in this country, and certainly major championships, specifically PGA Championships. Pete would describe himself not as a golf course architect but as a golf course builder. You ask, what's the difference? Well, the difference for a lot of people, somebody sits down and draws a golf course and somebody else will build it. I'll never forget in 2003 when we were here changing the greens, we changed the grass and Pete came, and he was probably in his late 70s at that time, and he was out on the golf course with tools called a Sand Pro, it's what you rake bunkers with. The way he designed the greens, he'd walk over the contour, he'd feel the contour with his feet and then he would get out there and with the Sand Pro, he would just keep driving around and around and around, and he would just raise and lower the Sand Pro so he would create contours. He was truly building that green, and that was unique. Unique in his perspective of what he thought was important in building a golf course, and that spread to the over one hundred golf courses he built around the world. And Pete built golf courses, so people could play. Pete consistently change back to the Ocean Course and the subtle changes he made to the Ocean Course in most cases were about -- what he called it, being able to play the golf course and enjoy it. The golf course is one of the hardest golf courses in the country from a slope and course ratings standpoint, but at the same time, if people will get to the right set of tees for their game, and that's usually shorter than they want to admit to, but if they hit from the right set of tees for their game they can enjoy a round of golf on the golf course, and I use my wife as an example. She walks and carries golf clubs from the forward tees and has a great time because it's built for someone of her strength and ability to hit the ball and have fun. That was Alice's influence. Alice thought about that beginning player; the player who needed the short tees, she never let him forgot, you have to take care of those people when they built golf courses. She also was clearly -- and he give her credit for this multiple times. She is responsible -- you can see the ocean, the first design, the fairways and some of the greens are sitting lower in the golf course, and she told Pete, "You've got to get that up so they can see the ocean," and he did. He was smart like most husbands who are married for a long time; he listens to his wife and understands the wisdom in that thinking, and Pete was like that. Pete and Alice were two of my favorite people in golf and every time they came here, we had such an enjoyable experience, and golf as a game is better because of the influence Pete Dye and Alice Dye had on it and we are going to miss them. But at least what we have is their legacy of great golf and love of the game, and I think that's what I really remember about it. JULIUS MASON: Roger, you and your team have a very significant anniversary coming up next year, the 30th anniversary of the 1991 Ryder Cup, and that putt the Ocean Course on the map. Can you talk about the three The PGA of America major championships that have been held during that period of time? ROGER WARREN: Sure, obviously The Ryder Cup in 1991, the golf course was built in anticipation of the first event being there when the golf course opened. It was going to be the 1991 Ryder Cup, and when it first opened it was a wild place, and a wild mainly because really the only grass was on the tees and fairways. Everything else was basically sand or little sprigs of wire grass. You put in the ground to hold sand there, and if you get it on the short grass, you were in sand on the long grass, and as it happened on the Ocean Course, during The Ryder Cup, the wind was extremely heavy. So the interesting thing was, it was the perfect golf course for a match-play event because you didn't have to keep score. All you had to do was score on each hole, and win or lose. The players obviously talked about the difficulty of the golf course, but I think that a lot of people will acknowledge that the Ryder Cup at the Ocean Course in 1991 changed The Ryder Cup forever in a positive way because of the position it took in the game of golf, and the stage that it created for the game of golf. And The Ryder Cup is today -- and I'm biased because I'm a PGA guy -- is the greatest golf event in the world, and to have had the Ocean Course host it and change the tenor of the event is something we are very proud of. We held the 2007 Senior PGA Championship. Denis Watson won the event. It was the first national event we had televised since The Ryder Cup. Two years before that, 2005, I call it a major, we had a Club Professional Championship for the PGA here where we named Mike Small as the champ, and then the 2012 PGA Championship was just a wonderful opportunity to reintroduce the world of golf and the world at large to South Carolina, Charleston, Kiawah Island and the Ocean Course. The exposure -- and it's not 200 countries, because the ambassador corrected me, there aren't that many countries in the world (laughter) a certain somebody of countries and territories; we kept them all together because it's a bigger number (laughter). But every country that had TV had the PGA Championship, so we were proud of that exposure and I think that what it demonstrated to the world was that South Carolina and Charleston and Kiawah and the Ocean Course were a great place to be, and we're so excited to have it back, and we thank the PGA for their trust in us to do it, and we're all really happy and looking forward to this event being here next year. JULIUS MASON: Ladies and gentlemen, a show of hands of those that were actually here at the Ocean Course in 2012? A show of hands that were here in 2007? Are people that old? (Laughter) And finally a show of hands that were here in '91? That's pretty impressive. The Championship, Roger, next year, will feature more than 175 hours of live coverage on CBS, ESPN and ESPN+ throughout the week. Speaking of CBS Sports, our main broadcast partner, I think you know these two guys. (Video played as follows:) JIM NANTZ: Nick, when I think back to Kiawah in 2012, my mind is flooded with a lot of good thoughts: Rory at his best setting a record by margin of victory in and one of the most beautiful stages we've ever had for a major championship. SIR NICK FALDO: It's one of the most awkward and difficult stages, as well. It's quite a brute of a golf course. Obviously I played way back in The Ryder Cup there, and the cross-breeze there, which makes life so tough, it's an unbelievable Pete Dye. He bulldozed it dead-flat and created that golf course. Quite incredible. JIM NANTZ: Had the honor of going around Wednesday before the tournament, all 18 holes with Mr. Dye as he tried to explain how he had built this course and it is a masterpiece. I'm excited about going back. SIR NICK FALDO: Me, too. I love the difficulty of that golf course. It's ever-changing. The breeze really comes into play, and that was the first time we ever saw the true McIlroy spring in his feet, in his legs, when he stride into an 8-shot victory. JIM NANTZ: And the whole surrounding area, the whole Charleston community supported this major championship with gusto. It was awesome to see. SIR NICK FALDO: There's always a good buzz, great vibe, great atmosphere at that tournament. In an in an we can't wait to be back to Kiawah for the PGA Championship. (Video concludes.) JULIUS MASON: Memories from a six-time major winner and Emmy Award winner. How will the course differ from 2012 to what it's going to look like next year? ROGER WARREN: Well, it's going to be cooler, since it will be in May and not in August. JULIUS MASON: An interesting point -- ROGER WARREN: Yes, first time in its history it was played in May and this will be in May and we are looking forward to those weather changes. The golf course strategically will not change from '12 to '21. We have done some maintenance work and some changes on the golf course from a maintenance perspective. We had a number of trees that died over the years when the golf course was first built, so we were fortunate to be able to transplant some very mature trees back into those strategic locations to make sure the golf course still had the character that it had when it was built, and you'll remember in 2012, Rory shot on the third hole that ended up embedded in the rotted dead tree that was sitting out in the middle of the fairway, and was able to make par. We had to take that tree down because it became a liability and a hazard. We have since moved a much bigger tree into that area, and should at least make the players think about the shot that they have got to hit both from the tee and into the green. We have a couple trees that we moved on the 4th hole. We have a strategic tree that was placed on the right side of the 7th green. We have a tree that was over by the 8th tee and moved closer to the 8th green -- by the 9th tee and moved closer to the 8th green to try to help with spectator movement through that area. Just this week, in fact, out there playing on Saturday, we had two trees that were being trance planed on the second hole back into locations where strategic trees had died on the right side just past the landing area for the drive and just in the area between the green and the water hazard. So those kind of changes have been made relative to trees. And then we have extended a tee on the 6th hole and extended a tee and built two new tees on the 12th hole to help people be able to move around the golf course during their walking time because it was in a position where they had to hold people and they couldn't move through there until players off the 12th tee. So we built two new tees to the right of the 11th green. Other than that, golf course is still hard, and it's more mature. I think probably the best decision we made for that golf course in the last 17 years was the introduction of the paspalum grass to the greens, tees and fairways. That grass now, actually because of the success that we had at The Ocean Course, all of our golf courses at the resort have paspalum on all of the greens, tees and fairways. One of the reasons is it's a very soft column of grass, and because of this close ocean relationship with saltwater, salt in the air, and then our wells have a lot of saltwater, we have been able to produce superior conditions with that grass and I think that's what you'll see in the spring with the Ocean Course. What you will see, too, is in May, we are just coming out of the overseed season. We overseed all of our golf courses for the winter, and there will be over seed more than likely on the Ocean Course for this event, which means the rough will have a potential to be a lot higher, which we will encourage Kerry Haigh to take advantage of that opportunity to make sure the rough is high. I think the players will enjoy the challenge of the golf course, and we are looking forward to see them take on that challenge. JULIUS MASON: Roger, thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome co-chair of PGA Championship Council, former United States Ambassador to the UN and former governor of the great state of South Carolina, Nikki Haley. Nikki, a question to start off with. What the heck is the PGA Championship Council that you co-chair with Roger? GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: First of all, it's a great day in South Carolina and a great day to be talking about the 2021 PGA golf tournament, which I can tell you is going to be a masterful encore to 2012. The coin is really the partner to the PGA where we go and get with our partnership partners to make sure it's a win/win; a win/win for partners that want to come in and host their colleagues, their contacts, their families and we match that up with a successful golf tournament. We have members of the council here, the council is committed to success and committed to making sure this is a great tournament, not just for the sponsors but for the people that attend it and the families that enjoy it. JULIUS MASON: Take us back to 2012 and more personal memories what you remember from the championship, and if you wouldn't mind, give us a peak behind the curtain on what it took to bring this championship back here. GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: I think 2012, South Carolina was still a little bit of. A secret, so a lot of people weren't aware of it. And so 2012 was not only a way to showcase great golf, but 5 million people had eyes on a state that was named the friendliest state in the country; the Charleston area that was named the No. 1 vacation spot multiple years in a row. You can't meet a mean person here. You can't get a bad meal here. It was great golf with great people and a great time, and people found out the magic of South Carolina and they loved what they saw, and you match that up with Rory's win, it was fantastic. It was really a special, special event. So at that time, we made a point to also have international partners come in and tour groups come in so that we could show off the PGA and show off South Carolina, and it really was a great partnership with the PGA on how could we get more people to not just know South Carolina, but know about the PGA and know what it's like to attend the tournament. Fast-forward to 2021. I think that South Carolina and the PGA -- we are both going after the same thing, which is how do you create a family environment where you can do business on the golf course and make sure you have great memories to match that, and you put that together, and we are fantastic partners. So we let the PGA know, if you ever want to have a tournament, South Carolina doors are open. If you ever want to bring people to a great island with a great golf course, we'll keep it ready for you, and the PGA said yes and we're just thrilled that we can partner and do this again. JULIUS MASON: Nikki, talk a little bit about how the magnitude of a major championship impacts the state. GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: It's huge. You can't truly put a price on it. But just to give you an idea, the economic impact of 2012 was 193 million. 500 million people -- on the golf course for the first time, you had 50,000 visitors. It was huge. Now you fast-forward to 2021: We know it's going to be well over 200 million in terms of economic impact, and we know just the visitors, once you come to this area, you never say, "I'm not going back." You usually come buy a second home. You usually come on a family vacation, and you usually move your business here. We're really excited about the fact that this is going to happen, and what you have is a state that's very welcoming; the region and the state, we want to welcome people coming into South Carolina. We want people to visit for the first time. We want you to see how masterful that golf course is. We want to you watch the best players in the world play the best golf, and we're going to host it and we hope a lot of people come visit. JULIUS MASON: Next up, ladies and gentlemen, please say hello to our PGA Championship director who has been a resident of your community for a whole eight months now. SCOTT REID: See, I told you. JULIUS MASON: Scott Reid. Scott, go ahead and cut to the chase. Today is the first day fans will be able to register for tickets to the 2021 PGA Championship. SCOTT REID: First of all, I wanted to echo Nikki's comments that South Carolina is a very welcoming state. In eight months, I have a great team that's here today, Matt, Tyler, Kate, Ben, who have been here with me since July already working on putting together the 2021 PGA Championship, with Roger's great team, as well. But today is a big day for us. As Julius said, today is the official day that you can go through our -- start going through our registration process if you are interested in purchasing tickets to the championship. So what does that mean? Well, it means that you go to this website right here and there's no obligation. You can go ahead and basically get your place in line to kind of raising your hand, saying, hey I'm interested in purchasing tickets when they go on sale, which will be the Monday after this year's PGA Championship. So now through May 17, anybody can go online, submit their name and e-mail. They get placed into a group, which will provide you with a purchase window, and that will start happening once we get through this year's PGA Championship; your purchase window is x, if you'd like to purchase tickets, now is the time to do it. We actually ironically started this program in 2012, and it's so successful that we have continued to use it each year since 2012. So it's a great and fair process for us to make sure that people -- to the PGA Championship. JULIUS MASON: And volunteers can also register? SCOTT REID: Another big day for us, as well. We need 3,100 volunteers to make this championship happen, and we can't do it without them. Today also marks the day that you can go to this website and register to become a volunteer, and we've got -- as I mentioned, we need 3,100 volunteers. There's 30 different committees, so there's opportunities that are available. You can go to the website and learn more about what kind of volunteer opportunities there are. JULIUS MASON: So the PGA Championship is one of golf's four majors, and annually features the strongest field in major championship golf. Speaking of the strength of field, take a look here at what one of South Carolina's own had to say about it. (Video played as follows:) Q. (What are your thoughts on returning to Kiawah Island and The Ocean Course)? DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's going to be very special. I played in the PGA last time I was at Kiawah, and it's always great to be in your home state. You get a lot of family and friends out. It's a great week for me. Q. (Why is the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort such a great venue to host a major championship?) DUSTIN JOHNSON: It's an iconic golf course for South Carolina and it's great for the state. I've played Kiawah Island quite a few times. I really like the golf course. It's very challenging, obviously, depending on the wind, which can really pick up out there. It's a fun golf course, but it can be very difficult. Q. As a native South Carolinian, do you feel a sense of pride with the Palmetto State hosting major championship golf? DUSTIN JOHNSON: Absolutely. It's always great to have such a big golf tournament in your home state and get a lot of fans to come out and watch. You know, family, friends, they are all close by. So it's not very far from where I grew up, and yeah, it's something that I really enjoy. (Video concludes.) JULIUS MASON: Talk about the field, Scott. What can people expect? SCOTT REID: I see it continuing, we've always had, as you mentioned, we've always had the strongest field among the four major championships, and I suspect that to continue. Last year, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the 2019 PGA Championship, and we had 100/100 of the top-ranked players committed to play, and Justin Thomas had to withdraw at the last minute due to an injury. Heading into the week before the championship, we had all Top-100 players in the world, so we continue to have the best fields and I see that continuing for 2021, I don't think that will change. Look at all these faces right here. JULIUS MASON: Before we go to Q&A, I wanted to ask you and Roger about the traffic and transportation challenges that we experienced in 2012, and maybe what you expect to see next year. ROGER WARREN: I'll start. We did have problems with traffic issues during the 2012 PGA. We didn't enjoy the fact that we had problems, but we also learned from it. I think that one of the things that we need to do a better job is create better expectations for what people can expect; how long is it going to take to get to the golf course, where are you coming from. We know right now that if you're in downtown Charleston and you're going to drive to the Ocean Course, it's going to take you an hour. So we have to create an expectation of what it's going to take for people that it's fair so people can plan for it. People in South Carolina love their football. When they go to a Clemson game or South Carolina game, they now how long they are going to be in the parking lot and they know how long it will take to get out, so they know what to expect check. We did have an issue on Saturday when we had the rain-out, getting people out of the parking lot. We had problems getting into the parking lot a lot of day, and we have we believe found a solution for that. Getting people into the parking lot will be easier, because we are not going to charge to park. You won't have to stop and pay somebody and back the line up, so that will help people getting in and out of the parking lot. We are in the process -- and want to thank the Mayor who is here today -- they are paving a road coming in from the roundabout to the town, and as part of that, we are hope to announce that the partnership between the town and the county, we are going to be able to put eight intersections into the parking lot that will have right turn lanes, left turn lanes, helping people getting on and off the island -- buses couldn't turn left and couldn't get off the island. The engineering companies have put it together and done a great job. We are sensitive to the issues raised in 2012 and now we are going to deal with them in 2021. We also need to thank the people with the county sheriff's department; the coordination that goes on between all the police agencies and so forth is outstanding. It was outstanding in '12, and we are working right now in '21 we expect it to be even better as we learned from the planning. So is it going to be a long ride out here? Probably. But if you plan for it, then you won't be disappointed -- a little bit faster. There are basically two roads -- inaudible -- River Road that will get you to -- indiscernible -- getting to Betsy Harrison, is the goal, because then you get to four lanes, and we will be doing everything we can to move that along. We were able to get the garbage trucks to pick up garbage at night, so we didn't have to deal with garbage trucks on the road, which helps. We understand and are sensitive to it and are committed to making this experience better for people than it was in 2012. That's Scott's job. (Laughter). JULIUS MASON: Roger, those are significant, very significant changes. Scott, some thoughts? SCOTT REID: No, he hit them all. I'll just second that we have put together a great team to talk about traffic and what we can do to just make it the best experience possible. So we've got great support from all the proper agencies and our team and their team work together to make it as seamless an experience as possible. At the end of the day, we are on an island and there's only one way on and one way off, so we are just going to do our best to alleviate and limit the amount of non-bus traffic that is on Kiawah Parkway. So proper credentials to get vehicles on the island if you're not part of the bus system, so we have a plan that I'm very confident that we'll be able to execute. GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: And if all that fails, I'll be out on the road -- (laughter). ROGER WARREN: I just want to say the cooperation with Kiawah Island, the Kiawah Island Community Association, Kiawah Partners, the main real estate developer on the island, the County with Elliott Summey and his support; all of these agencies have come together in support of this event, and all of them played a role in making sure that the residents who are here, the people coming on -- inaudible -- I think that goes back to the Ambassador Governor's statements that South Carolinians will go to the extent that they have to to make sure you have a great experience and I think that's a clear example what she's talking about. We are really excited and proud to be a part of that community and a part of that. JULIUS MASON: Ladies and gentlemen, this is pretty powerful, and only one way this championship is going to turn out, and it's going to be successful. Time for Q&A. Q. How many people come to the tournament -- SCOTT REID: Yeah, we certainly have a limit. We can only fit so many people out there. We are anticipating roughly 150,000 spectators over the course of the week. Q. Governor Haley, you play golf, and in trying to build a better major championship, have you ever had -- awed. GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: First of all, I don't play golf because I've never been able to go for hours without my cell phone (laughter). So that's something I hope one day I will be able to do, but right now, I will just enjoy watching it. You know, I just talked with Connie (ph) a couple days ago and she knows I'm involved with the golf tournament. We talk a lot about how much we love the sport, and love being a part of it, and if I can do anything to pull her over here, I'm going to try and do that. Q. In 2011, the week that the tournament was going to be in '12, Kiawah did a thing with pin positions -- are you doing it this May? ROGER WARREN: We have plans to do it but we haven't sold it out yet. That will be available. It was very popular last time and I'm not sure where they will be for '21. Q. You said that 2012 was kind of a reintroduction of the Ocean Course. Does 2021 mean that the Ocean Course is part of a rotation for the PGA, and could we see more of these major championships here beyond 2021? ROGER WARREN: I would answer that question saying, I don't have any control of that or any influence any longer with the PGA, but we would hope so. We think that -- we realize that as a site from an infrastructure standpoint, that we have a challenge that's different than other tournament sites because of the road situation, because of the number of people we get around the golf course. But I firmly believe, and will continue to make my case to people who will listen, that the PGA Championship deserves to continue to come to this golf course because the primary characteristic of a major championship is a major championship venue, the golf course. And I think the golf course itself deserves to be here, and will always be the kind of test that a major championship like the PGA Championship will benefit from being here. So we have no further commitment beyond 2021, but we will continue to talk about it, because we think it's a worthy site, and would ask that all of you lobby as hard as you can to anybody (laughter) Governor? Q. You've heard from the fans, the parking and the driving and everything, but what feedback do you get from the players after 2012? ROGER WARREN: Well, the feedback that we got from the players was pretty consistent: That was a hard golf course; Friday was a very hard day when the wind blew; it was a disappointment when it rained and we had to evacuate the golf course on Saturday. There were comments -- and they stick out in my mind, but the comments to the nature of it was the finest-condition major championship course they ever played. Those kind of comments validate the quality of the site, and those people were appreciative, too, of the knowledgeable fans that were on the golf course. South Carolinians understand golf and what it's about. I think for them, many of them had their families here and enjoyed what was offered here for them. One major player was playing a lot of basketball with his kids in one of the pools and was mentioning everybody else had a great time. I think it was a great experience for the players, and certainly we didn't have as many people check out after the cut as we anticipated, so we think that some stayed and enjoyed the island. Q. Governor Haley, we are blessed in South Carolina to have championship golf in three locations. Perhaps if you would consider running in 2024, we could bring more championship golf -- (laughter). Would you please consider that? GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: Well, I will tell you that we have 300 golf courses in South Carolina, and so if we all want to look at all those golf courses, I might be a little bit -- inaudible -- we'll wait and see. I will tell you that South Carolina is a state I was blessed to serve and a state I'm so proud of. It's strong politically. It's strong from a family sense. It's strong from tourism, and people always keep their eyes on South Carolina, and I will continue to represent her as best I can and continue to sell what I think is the best place in the country as best I can. Michael and I are looking forward to moving back to South Carolina this summer when our son graduates high school -- (laughter). MAYOR JOHN TECKLENBURG: I just want to thank you all. This is Charleston's birthday this year, 350 years old, making history, and speaking of our region's history and state's history, South Carolina is the first place in America where golf was played in 1788 in the City of Charleston. So I just want to commend y'all for continuing making history in South Carolina. I was here at The Ryder Cup back in '91, and I'm looking forward to being here, and anything the City of Charleston can do to help. Q. Curious if there are any preparations -- inaudible. SCOTT REID: Yes, we are looking into that. We don't have it finalized yet but we are exploring that opportunity. But we are looking into that and we hope to have something that we can share as we get closer. Q. Roger, wondering if you can look back at 2012 and the sponsorship situation, and what you see for next year. ROGER WARREN: That's really a good question, because I want to take you back to '12 and where we were economically in this country. We were on the way out of a recession, a heavy recession. We were competing against The Ryder Cup that was in did he mina that year. We were competing against the Olympics in this country. There was a lot of competition for hospitality, sales, people who registered in entertaining at a major event. We don't have the Ryder Cup this year and we don't have the Olympics, and the environment is significantly better in this country than it was at that point. So we are very positive about the prospects for hospitality purposes and sales, and right now our initial numbers show that we have a right to be optimistic, and I think that we will exceed what we did in 2012, I've been assured by Ben Rhodes, who is the salesperson, that we will achieve that goal, and I take him at his word and I'm very excited about it (laughter). With the Championship Council doing the great work they are doing, I think it's going to be a very strong performance by this site, which is, again, a measuring stick for whether or not the PGA would come back, the financial performance. GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY: If I can add to that, I will tell you that since we started securing these sponsorships, it is gangbusters, and it's not just gangbusters from partners within South Carolina. We have sponsors from around the country. We have international sponsors coming into this golf tournament. One, because they know the kind of golf that's going to be played here. Two, they know the course and how difficult it's going to be. Three, because they know it's a vacation spot and you can't get a bad meal here. And four -- inaudible. I will tell you the council has been fantastic, but it's an easy sell. It's an easy sell. Anybody that looks at this course or knows the players and the calibre, they know it's going to be a family-friendly event, and we are going to raise the bar from 2012. This is not going to be the same tournament it was in 2012. The experiences are going to be better. The opportunities are going to be better. The golf is going to be stronger, but you're going to find a lot more things that not only will allow you to do business on the golf course, but bring your family and have a great time. So we have been real thrilled. We have a few spaces left. But we absolutely expect them to be sold out. SCOTT REID: She hit it all. I was going to say the fun thing with the council, such a great group of people. They might not be from here, but they have some sort of allegiance to here, so that's why we're getting companies from outside this area to show interest and want to come here and utilize this championship and this venue to entertain some of their key constituents and investors. Q. A little too early to announce sponsorships -- BMW -- we have Volvo -- too early for something like that? SCOTT REID: I think so. I can tell you that we are talking to every major company that's in this market for sure. Certainly we want them to support the event. We want them to be a part of it. So we are -- all those companies that you named, plus many more, we are making a point to make sure they are aware of what opportunities there are to be a part of the Championship. Q. Just wondering after 2012 if you got any feedback from Pete Dye about how the course played, and will you be memorializing him in any way during this tournament? ROGER WARREN: Well, Pet and Alice were both very, very pleased with how the event came off and how the golf course played. We are in the early stages now of putting together something to recognize them permanently. We've had a wall of fame for them in the clubhouse, and we are looking at doing something more substantial than that, and we would hope to have something to say about it fairly soon. But we are working on that, and they need to be recognized for what they created at the Ocean Course, so thank you. JULIUS MASON: Questions? Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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