RYDER CUP

September 17, 2025

Kathy Hochul

Derek Sprague

Atif Zaim

Bethpage Black Course

Future Venues Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Greg Dillard, and on behalf of the PGA of America, thank you for joining us today at Bethpage State Park. In just a few short days, the 45th Ryder Cup will be contested right here on the world-renowned Black course as 24 of the world's best players representing the United States and Europe go head-to-head in match play competition.

Before golf's greatest team event gets underway next week, we are here today to share some very exciting news regarding future championships coming to New York. For that, I am pleased to welcome the governor of the great state of New York, Kathy Hochul.

KATHY HOCHUL: Yeah, you teed that up well, Greg. It's always about the next championships and how we can get them to come to New York.

I want to, first of all, thank the PGA and homegrown New Yorker, our CEO Derek Sprague, who may have left our state physically sometimes, but we still consider him a New Yorker and really appreciate your leadership of the PGA, as well as the Ryder Cup general chairman, our own Larry Schwarz. I want to thank Larry. Let's give him a round of applause.

[Applause.]

We have our parks commissioner and the whole team who got this beautiful, beautiful jewel that we have here on Long Island, our parks commissioner Randy Simons, the entire parks team. Also, this is an economic development driver for us, so to have the leader, Hope Knight, of our entire economic development team and our chairman Kevin Law here, we're grateful for both of them as well.

The PGA is a New York institution, as most significant institutions are, and we're very proud of this history. It is the birthplace of the PGA. It started in 1916 at the Wanamaker store in Manhattan, and the first ever PGA Championship was in Bronxville, not far from here.

So we've hosted a lot of PGA Championships. No other state can claim more than we have here in New York.

The much-anticipated Ryder Cup, which we're so excited about, finally here, the golf world's most anticipated event is just about to unfold, about to kick off here in nine days. Our countdown has begun. We're counting on Team USA to make us all proud, as I know they will.

But before we welcome everyone else and our European visitors and the fans and the millions of fans from around the globe, we have some exciting news to announce here too.

Drum roll: Come 2028, we'll be expecting to host the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for the first time ever right here. Let's give a round of applause for that, right here at the Bethpage Black course.

And while we're at it, let's make one more great announcement. In 2033 - I presume I might still be governor - I don't know, we don't have term limits - but 2033, the PGA Championship will be returning to Bethpage once again.

We are, again, so proud of that legacy, so proud to honor that right here on Long Island. Honored to do that, and I want to thank everyone, and let's watch a video.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, governor. For those of you here who aren't familiar with these historic major championships, check out this video.

[Video shown.]

Governor, I believe you have an additional announcement to make.

KATHY HOCHUL: Well, Greg, we are on a roll here, and great golf is not limited to Long Island. I'm proud to announce that the PGA Championship will return to the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester in 2035 for the fifth time. Five times. Oak Hill has proven once again that it's one of the best courses in the world, and I saw it firsthand when I attended the 2023 PGA Championship there, as well.

We're so proud. The spectators it draws, the economic impact in the Rochester area is $190 million. We're expecting even more in this area. So open up your wallets, everybody.

I don't look at it just as an economic boost, I look at it as a point of pride. We know the eyes of the world will be on New York here at Bethpage and also at Oak Hill over the next few years, so as governor I could not be prouder that we are the home to golf and always will be, and it's an unparalleled opportunity for fans to come here in person, explore our great state. I encourage you to visit more than just these two great regions, but we have so much more to offer. So proud of that as well.

Breathtaking beauty. Make sure you get out, go see things. We have incredible state parks no far from the world's greatest beaches right here on Long Island as well. Our parks commissioner is nodding his head because he wants you to get out and explore everything that is great in our small towns and the great historic venues we have here as well.

We are looking forward to welcoming everybody, and so Greg, one more video.

THE MODERATOR: Let's do it. Let's see what's in store for us at Oak Hill.

[Video shown.]

KATHY HOCHUL: Once again, New York is proud to support the PGA and continue our shared legacy well into the future. Thank you again, Derek and the entire PGA, for your confidence in us and our incredible courses, and best of luck to our Ryder Cup team led by our captain Keegan Bradley, a St. John's University graduate. A little more hometown pride in all of Team USA tonight. Looking forward to bringing back our trophy right here where it belongs, so thank you, everyone.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Governor. It is now my pleasure to introduce the CEO of the PGA of America, Derek Sprague. As a native New Yorker I know you are more than thrilled about these three championships coming to the state.

DEREK SPRAGUE: I promise this was not an inside job, but I am a proud New Yorker. We've just got a lot of great golf up here. Thank you, Governor Hochul, for your confidence in the PGA of America, the confidence in your state and your state parks to deliver the Ryder Cup next week. The world will be watching, as you mentioned. It's just going to be an exciting week.

What we're announcing today is just a great example of a public/private partnership where we work together to bring people together to witness all the great parks you have here in the state of New York, a lot of great golf as well as just recreational parks that Randy and I were talking about earlier, and then the economic development.

We're announcing over $500 million of economic impact here through 2025 and Oak Hill at the championship there and thousands of New Yorkers put to work, and it's just a great day for the state of New York and for the PGA of America and golf in general.

This would not be possible, as you referenced also, without Larry Schwarz, who's our general chair for the 2025 Ryder Cup. Working with your office and the rest of your team, he's just done an incredible job. This doesn't happen overnight. It takes years of planning, and he's going to see it come to life next week, Larry, so thank you.

Hope, you and your economic development team, our Empire State Development team, thanks for being here today. It means a lot. Thanks for your help putting this all together. It's just so exciting.

Randy, we caught up earlier. My wife and I and our children, we miss the beautiful parks here in New York and we love coming back every year. This is just one park; you said this is the only park next week, but New York is just filled with wonderful parks.

To Scott and Justin at Bethpage State Park here, we know this can be disruptive, doing a massive buildout here. It's our largest buildout of the PGA of America in the history of our championships, and you've been so cooperative with our team here. Again, that great example of public and private partnerships even on the ground here working with Bryan Karns, our championships director.

Then last, coming over the finish line here, Oak Hill. I had my first date with my wife at Oak Hill at a major championship there, so it's good to come back there, and just a great facility Oak Hill is, great partners at Oak Hill, great team at Oak Hill. Your members are just wonderful, and you're reinvesting in the economy with an over $45 million renovation to your facility to invest in future championships, and that's why it's so great that we can bring the 2035 PGA Championship there.

Then the KPMG Women's. Our partners at KPMG and the LPGA, just incredible. When you think of we have the first woman governor of the state of New York, now we're bringing the first championship to a state park here in Bethpage in New York state, just great synergy, and the PGA of America is committed along with KPMG, they've just been an incredible partner.

In 2015 I was in the boardroom at the PGA of America and we made a commitment to the women's championship partnering with the LPGA and KPMG that we were going to bring the KPMG Women's PGA Championship to the same major championship venues as the men's. Now we have a Ryder Cup here, a PGA Championship and now a women's championship, playing the same great venues.

Also a commitment to elevating the purses, and with great partners like KPMG and Atif, you and your team have been incredible over the last 10 years, to elevate the women's game.

Then to shine the spotlight on the best female players in the world with our partners at NBC, give them network coverage. So we've stayed true to our word for the last 10 years, and this announcement today, we'll commit that even through '28, Atif, and hopefully many more years into the future.

Thank you so much.

Oak Hill, will be the fifth PGA Championship there in '35. Just incredible. And then coming back here again in '33. We were here in '19. I think Brooks Koepka likes this announcement, winning in '19 here and winning in '23 at Oak Hill. He's like, geez, they must have listened to me, I want to go back to those places.

We're so excited at the PGA of America to make this announcement today to come back to the state of New York.

As you mentioned, we were founded in 1916 at the Hotel Martinique and they've got a lot of our PGA memorabilia there in their banquet rooms, and we have the original minutes at our headquarters in Frisco, Texas, showcasing when we were founded in New York City at the Hotel Martinique.

Quite a history for the PGA of America, and this just continues the legacy, as you said, in this great state of New York, and we can't thank you enough and your team for welcoming the PGA of America back home for these major championships over the next decade.

KATHY HOCHUL: Sounds great.

[Applause.]

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Derek. I would now like to introduce the deputy chair and U.S. managing principal of KPMG U.S., Atif Zaim. As the title sponsor of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship for over a decade, KPMG has been on the forefront of driving change in the women's game. In addition to hosting the championship at great courses like Bethpage, what other progress has KPMG helped drive?

ATIF ZAIM: Thank you, Greg, and thank you, Governor Hochul, Derek and all of you for being here. KPMG is committed to excellence, so in our client service, bringing our integrity, innovation, our expertise, and the same is true of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. We really believe it elevates and sets the standard for excellence in women's golf.

We've been proud to deliver this with the PGA of America and the LPGA Tour for over a decade, and one of our priorities, Derek was mentioning this a little bit earlier, is really to take and host these championships at the most iconic courses in major markets, so you can imagine how thrilled we are to bring this back to the New York area and specifically on Long Island, a place I'm very proud to call home. The governor told me I can call myself a New Yorker. I wasn't born here but I've been here for 25 years and certainly a very proud Long Islander.

New York is the largest market for KPMG. We have an office just down the road here in Long Island. Our headquarters are in Manhattan. In fact, we're quite excited about moving across town in a couple of weeks to the Hudson Yards area to Manhattan west we're moving into.

But beyond this top course and the major markets, we're also very proud that the KPMG Women's PGA Championship has one of the highest purses in the game of women's golf. In fact, since we started the sponsorship, the title sponsorship, the purse size has gone up by 430 percent. Just in June in Frisco, home of PGA of America, the players competed for a $12 million purse, tied for the highest in women's golf. So we're really excited about that.

The final point I want to make is technology, and as you know, technology is impacting everything from the world of business to the world of sport, and we believe that with our support, the women's championship, this championship, is one of the most tech forward on the LPGA Tour, so just like we bring cutting-edge technology to all of our clients to help them with their outcomes, we're bringing KPMG Performance Insights, this AI-enabled technology to the players on the Tour.

A lot of different ways, Greg, in which we are supporting and elevating the women's game of golf, and I'll just go back to Bethpage one more time. It is the highest ranked course that this championship has been hosted at, and we couldn't be more excited and more proud.

Q. For the governor, two questions: How would you describe your own golf game? And have you been fortunate enough to play Bethpage Black? And a related question, you said - I'm trying to quote you here - that it's not just an economic boost but a point of pride to have it here. Can you talk nonetheless about the economic boost and how proud it makes you relative to your game?

KATHY HOCHUL: Well, my game is to be the governor of the state of New York. I plan on learning to be a great golfer in retirement, which I'm not looking forward to anytime soon, so I'll just put that out there.

But also, it's a sport that's been part of my life, unfortunately as an observer. My father was an avid golfer, my brothers were golfers, so I was the young daughter, young little sister that tagged along and witnessed it but never had the opportunity to really perfect the game, so I won't even go there.

But I am a great admirer of the skill and the talent and the discipline required for successful golfers, men and women, and as an avid sports fan all around, there's not a sport that I don't have a strong interest in because I love the competitive spirit, which is what I have to embrace in order to be a governor or run for office, and anyone who also is a political athlete understands the respect that I hold for sports, the leaders of the sports, the champions of the sports, but as someone who also is so proud of our state parks and our venues, this is a very big deal for us. This is huge.

I look at all the venues around the country that are -- we're, again, competing with to host these incredible globally watched events, and when we win and we're able to announce more events, that's where my heart swells with pride, to know that people realize we have nothing but the best, the best courses, the best talent, the best people around them, but also there's a little bit of New York swagger in that, something we just can't help, but we're enormously proud.

DEREK SPRAGUE: When you're ready to take up the game, governor, we have over 1000 PGA professionals right here in the state of New York and some of the finest in the Met PGA, some of whom are here with us today, and I can't thank all of you enough for all of your help and with Bryan Karns and our team here on the ground at Bethpage. When you're ready to take up the game, just call the PGA of America and we'll put you in the great hands of our PGA professionals here.

KATHY HOCHUL: I will. I will take you up on that for sure.

Q. For Derek, I assume you've been to plenty of Ryder Cups, but the people on Long Island keep hearing what this is. How best can you describe what this is for the people that may not be familiar with it because this is not a typical tournament?

DEREK SPRAGUE: Yeah, I think for me, this is my ninth Ryder Cup next week, so I've been to a number of them starting -- I know I don't look that old, but my first one was 2008 at Valhalla, and here we are in 2025 at Bethpage.

A couple words that come to mind is "electric." "Patriotism" is another word as an American, proud American and proud New Yorker. It's just going to be that much more elevated next week.

When I talk about the electricity, the Ryder Cup is all about sportsmanship as well, and yes, you've heard it's going to be very spirited competition, but I can tell you because I've attended both Ryder Cups on foreign soil as well as American soil, and it's just as loud on both sides of the pond.

But at the end of the day, sportsmanship is the north star for this event. The teams know that. At the end of the day, besides sportsmanship, the game of golf wins because of that sportsmanship and that mutual respect between the teams. You've got the best players in Europe playing the best players in America. It'll be spirited next week, but those two terms come to mind, patriotism and electric atmosphere here around every Ryder Cup is just special.

Hearing the chants throughout the course are just magical. Maybe that's the third word, "magical."

Q. Why is Bethpage Black and Long Island in specific so well fitted for events like this?

DEREK SPRAGUE: Well, I think the magnitude of the course. I mean, it's a championship layout. It's iconic. It's the people's country club. Next week, as our said, it's America's country club. It's a tough test of golf to test the best players in the world on both sides, both teams.

Then I think that spirit that proud New Yorkers bring to all their sporting events here, they'll be cheering for their team and they'll be encouraging them in the nicest manner they can when they don't hit the great shots. But they'll be loud, and that's what I think makes this atmosphere that much more special for the Ryder Cup.