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U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

May 28, 2019

Charleston, South Carolina

THE MODERATOR: We are thrilled to welcome you to the 74th Women's Open Championship in Charleston. It's my pleasure this afternoon to introduce three colleagues. To my immediate left, I have the senior managing director of championships for the USGA, John Bodenhamer. On John's left, the USGA Senior Manager of U.S. Women's Open Championship Communications, Julia Pine. And on the far side, the Managing Director of Marketing and Communications for the USGA, Craig Annis. Welcome all.

JOHN BODENHAMER: Thank you, Beth.

Welcome everyone. It's great to have you with us here at Country Club of Charleston. It's beautiful outside.

We're proud to be champions of the women's game. I mean that sincerely. Since we held our first U.S. Women's Amateur more than 100 years ago, our steadfast commitment to providing elite level competition to female amateurs and professionals has been unrivaled.

Today, we're proud to be at the 74th U.S. Women's Open, the Major championship, time and again, we hear from the players is the one that they want to win the most. Our relationships and journeys with these athletes start long before they tee it up in our premiere women's championship,, from the Girls Junior through the Women's Amateur, and now through our new U.S. Senior Women's Open. We're alongside golfers throughout their careers, providing competitive opportunities to inspire their games and the fans that follow them.

USGA CEO Mike Davis, who will be with us this week and will hand out our championship trophy to a deserving winner on Sunday, shared some words with our field this week. I would like to share with all of you. I think we have a video.

(Video played.)

JOHN BODENHAMER: That commitment Mike talks about is something to which the entire staff of the USGA and our volunteer leadership is committed.

That's why I'm really thrilled today to share some exciting news with you all. The United States Golf Association has increased the purse size for the 119th U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the 74th U.S. Women's Open at the Country Club of Charleston by $500,000 each to further our commitment to providing competitors with an unmatched championship experience.

The purse for the 2019 U.S. Open will be $12.5 million, and the purse for the U.S. Women's Open will be a total of $5.5 million. These are the largest purses offered across all of golf's Major Championships and the largest purse in women's golf. We will also award $1 million to our champion this Sunday, really pleased with that.

But the purse is more than just a total number. As a result of our continued investments and dedication to player relations, any professional who happens to miss the cut for the championship will receive missed cut money. We've been doing that for decades. Amateurs in the field will receive reimbursement for their travel costs as well. We've been doing that for the last several years. Very proud of that.

We've also enhanced our investments for the on-site player experience. As you may have heard, in March, we strategically hired long time PGA TOUR player and winner and U.S. Open competitor Jason Gore as our senior director of player relations. He's spearheading our player relations outreach as we continue to build unforgettable experiences for our players for years to come.

He's been on tour every week since Augusta this year, and since being hired, he'll be here this Thursday at the Women's Open. In addition to Jason, Liz Fradkin, whom some of you have undoubtedly met, a long time USGA staff member and a very good player is working full-time in the player relations as well focusing on women's championships and competitors on the professional and amateur side.

We're are also pleased that Ali Kicklighter, after nine years with the LPGA Tour, has joined our team as well focused on experiences at the U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Women's Open. Last night, we had a special evening with our third amateur dinner. We had all of the amateur contestants, most all of them, in attendance. It's the third year we've done that.

We had two of our Hall of Fame members as our guest speakers, Beth Daniel and Meg Mallon joining them at dinner with the players was Hollis Stacy and Sandra Palmer, all former USGA champions. Boy, there were lots of stories told, a little bit of advice given for this week. It was a memory for all those great amateurs that we think they'll carry with them for a lifetime. It was just the way we demonstrate how amateur golf is a bedrock of the USGA, and it was a fun night. So wanted you to know about that.

THE MODERATOR: John, thank you so much. Obviously very excited to make that announcement and very proud to be a part of the association on such a great day. So thanks so much.

Julia, some exciting information about a new wrinkle at the Women's Open this year.

JULIA PINE: Yeah, we were really excited this year to become the first Women's Major to release a standalone app for the mobile phone. We certainly hope everyone has downloaded it, the U.S. Women's Open app. It not only makes fan experience on site better, it makes the player experience here on site better. For those who can't be in Charleston, it enhances their experience as well. They'll experience the U.S. Women's Open.

So that app will allow people here on site to track their favorite players. You can go, you can check who you want to follow, and it shows exactly where they are on the course. We have push notification capabilities so that fans don't miss any of the action outside the ropes, player signings in merch, trophy pictures in the Lexus tent. All of that can be pushed straight to your mobile device. For those who can't be here, they're getting fed highlights, live scoring updates, and social media feeds as well.

Certainly excited to be kind of leading the way in terms of not only what we're doing for the players but also for fans that experience our championship.

THE MODERATOR: Wonderful. Thank you, Julia.

Craig, a few comments I know you have to share about the USGA's commitment to women's golf.

CRAIG ANNIS: Thank you, Beth.

One of the things we're most excited about this year is our renewed commitment to making the championship more family friendly. As the father of four, I know it's pretty difficult to bring your kid to a -- or children, in my case, to a golf tournament or championship because you're asking them to do two things that are virtually impossible to do as a child, sit still and be quiet.

We want to provide opportunities for them to really engage. We know that they need a place to play while being exposed to golf, and this year's U.S. Women's Open will feature the most robust junior activations and programming that we've seen at the USGA.

We want kids to experience -- their experience with golf, whether it be the first or not, to be a positive one, and we think this will go a long way towards doing that. Along with the MUSC Children's Health, LPGA-USGA Girls Golf, and Top Dog Esports, we have a week-long junior tent activation that includes golf video games, putting and chipping stations, a junior scavenger hunt that takes kids around the course, engaging them in all aspects of the on-site experience in an entertaining and educational way.

One of the things we're really excited about, speaking of girls golf, 13 of the players in the field this week are alumni of girls golf, which is pretty special. On Saturday, we'll host the junior clinic on the driving range where we'll be joined by Hall of Famer Beth Daniel and U.S. Women's Open champion Meg Mallon.

And then all week, children under 18 are free with a ticketed adult, and so please take advantage of that to anyone who hasn't already.

And speaking of being more family friendly, as we mentioned in a previous press release, we'll be thoroughly reviewing our maternity policy to ensure that women who have children have a fair opportunity to compete in our championship. This year, while we determined what is the right move forward, we granted spots in the field to Stacy Lewis and Brittany Lincicome. Stacy accepted hers, and we're thrilled to welcome her to compete in Charleston this week.

Later this summer, we'll begin internal work to shape and craft what the policy will look like moving forward, and we'll invite two professional players to help us with this.

Lastly, this week, during the Fox Sports broadcast, we will proudly share the LPGA's drive-on campaign spot during the broadcast. The LPGA is a value partner of ours, and together we're committed to the growth ask success of not just the U.S. Women's Open and the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf, but to women's golf in general.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. We'll open for questions.

Q. For whoever wants to answer this, can you talk about the thought process behind and what it means in both the men's and women's Opens' purses were raised by an equal amount of money this year, what that signifies.
JOHN BODENHAMER: We looked at it from the overall championship experience and just felt that those were the amounts that would be meaningful and would be impactful, and we just thought about it as enhancing the championship experience overall for everybody.

Q. Anything specific that Jason or Liz have brought back in their new roles that have been implemented this week and we'll see in a couple of weeks in terms of feedback from the players?
JOHN BODENHAMER: I'm having trouble hearing with the fan in the back. I think it was what Jason and Liz are bringing back from engaging with the players. You know, I will tell you that Liz -- since Liz has been with us and out on Tour in numerous Tour events since last fall and Jason since Augusta, six, seven weeks, it's been magnificent.

I think we just had for the first time, really, a bridge to the players that we never had before to really listen to them and really be informed by them on every issue that's important to them. It also gives us an outreach to explain how we think about issues and how our decision process works. Both of them are right in the middle of that. They will have a real voice in those decision-making processes.

Q. Is the $1 million for the winner, is that a record for the Open?
JULIA PINE: For the Women's Open, yes.

Q. First time it's $1 million dollars.
John, could you talk about the process of bringing the open here to the Country Club of Charleston and your impressions of how the course is doing so far?

JOHN BODENHAMER: One word, fantastic, is how the course is doing. We couldn't be more pleased with where we are right now going into the Championship. I spoke to a couple dozen players this morning, early afternoon, and every one of them were highly complimentary.

I think really, when you think about the Country Club of Charleston, we've known about this great Seth Raynor gem for many, many years. It's been here a long time. Frank Ford, the general chairman, is a wonderful friend of ours, great player. Beth Daniel, certainly a two-time Women's Amateur champion. We've known it's been here.

For a lot of years, we've looked at Country Club of Charleston as a place we'd like to come. When we had the Women's Amateur here a couple years ago, watched Emma Talley win, it reinforced that we really wanted to bring this championship to this particular golf course, and we couldn't be more excited to begin the week.

Q. Just wondering if you could talk about the 11th hole and what you like about it, what challenges it presents, how you might sort of keep an eye on it this week.
JOHN BODENHAMER: I think it's magnificent. You look at all the history unfolded, some a bit infamous, some quite famous. It is a Seth Raynor gem. It's a Reverse Redan hole. I think, if I were to watch one hole this week, that would probably be it, but it is just such a charming part of this place and just contributes to its character.

The putting greens of the Country Club of Charleston and the Seth Raynor design are so wonderful. You go out and you look at different complexes on every hole, and that one's unique. I don't know that I've of seen anything like it anywhere else.

From a setup standpoint, I don't think it presents a whole lot different challenge than elsewhere. I think, like any other hole, we'll watch hole locations, we'll watch firmness, and I can guarantee you the players are thinking about where they want to miss it, and that isn't left.

Q. John, you mentioned the firmness of the golf course. We've had players talking about the heat, talking about this golf course getting more difficult. Obviously, USGA Championships are known for the firm and fast mentality. Do you guys have any concern of this golf course, if the heat continues, getting a little out of hand for play?
JOHN BODENHAMER: We do not. We feel really, really good. Shannon Rouillard, our championship director, who oversees the golf course and the golf course superintendent here are in close touch. In fact, Shannon just came from meeting with the golf course superintendent.

In speaking with players this morning, I think every one of them spoke about firmness and felt like they probably -- they had an expectation of seeing it a bit firmer.

I think that the golf course superintendent here has got a great handle on it. The Bermuda's growing rapidly. We think we couldn't be in a better place. It's not too firm, and it's just about perfect.

Q. Would there be a speed that you would max out on in terms of how it rolls on the stimpmeter?
JOHN BODENHAMER: I think we'll be at about 12 1/2. We're pretty close to that now, and that's generally where we'll stay. That's kind of where we want to be.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you all so much for being with us today. Thank you for being with us this week. We look forward to a wonderful championship week here at the Country Club of Charleston. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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