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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 14, 2006

Ron Philo

MEDINAH, ILLINOIS

KELLY ELBIN: Ron Philo, Jr., ladies and gentlemen, the reigning PGA Professional National Champion. Ron won the National Championship in June in Central New York at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino. Ron is also the PGA head professional at Metropolis Country Club in White Plains, New York.

I don't know, some thoughts on coming to Medinah as the reigning PGA Professional National Champion.

RON PHILO: It's good to be here. Do you need a statement?

KELLY ELBIN: Just some general comments about representing the PGA professionals and your thoughts on the golf course, as well.

RON PHILO: Well, it's great to be here again. And this golf course in particular, Medinah is fantastic. This was the first time I had had a chance to play it was last week. Conditions are great. A lot of history, a lot of great play that's gone on here in the past. It's exciting and thrilling to be a part of.

You know, with regard to the professional, how do we say that now, the PGA Professional National Championship, it's a thrill to be here on behalf of all the golf professionals who make the game so great across the country as one of their representatives, and I think one of the things that's also important for us as the club professionals who are here is the fact that our association and those of us who are here not only represent the other professionals, but all of the clubs who make this such a great game who employ us and who have the interest in the game of golf that give you all something to write about or people who are reading about it give us jobs to help them enjoy the game as much as they can.

To come here and take part in our National Championship is a real treat. It's an honor, it's a privilege, and it's a professional maybe a milestone, but it's a part of being a PGA professional, competing in events. Our task is to bring the game back to the members and the avid golfers across the country; that's what we do. We're the connection between the game and the players, which in the last three or four decades, the folks who are out here playing are sort of, they are a little less touchable than they used to be 50 years ago when things started around clubs like this.

Q. Ron, this is obviously not your first PGA; what do you have, six or seven now?

RON PHILO: This is my seventh.

Q. Do you think when Thursday comes, will you be feeling any different as the club pro champion on the first tee and the rest of the week than you have in the past, because of that victory?

RON PHILO: I mean, I've felt different every day since winning the National Championship.

So certainly, I'll feel different than I have at previous ones, but I'm not sure if that's because I won the National Championship or because I have six under my belt. I guess I'll find out on Thursday (smiling).

Q. I was going to ask you, who is going to caddie for you this year, but I think I know now.

RON PHILO: Yeah, the young lady sitting in front of you.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about the relationship that you two have on the golf course when you're playing and she's caddying?

RON PHILO: You know, I think it goes well beyond the relationship on the golf course. It's just the relationship we have in general. I mean, golf has been a passion in my family for six plus decades. You know, it's a common interest we share. It's a common bond. It's sort of just an unspoken thing. I can imagine what it's like for twins because there's just an unspoken connection that you can feel; you don't have to use words. And that's what makes it such a great experience.

KELLY ELBIN: For the record, Ron's sister is Laura Diaz on the LPGA.

Q. How important is it to have a strong number of club professionals here? As the numbers over the last decade have dwindled to 20, is it okay if it stays at 20 or bounces up to a larger number? What's your take on 20 as the dwindling number of professionals here this week?

RON PHILO: This tournament has grown, like so many other tournaments in the game. This has gone beyond the club professional, so to speak. One of the reasons we renamed the PGA Professional National Championship from the Club Professional Championship was because the association has grown into a much wider to fill a much wider spectrum of individuals.

I think it's extremely important that we play a role here. I don't know that I have a real concern exactly how we get here. You know, I think it's a very challenging balance that the association and its officers have to manage. I think there are players in the game who have a significant ability who are going to be absent from this Championship. But I think that's true in every one of the majors. This is the tournament that belongs to the PGA Professionals of America. It is an invitational, just like Augusta is an invitational.

The fact that we have a system for qualifying 20 is what the association and its officers have determined is the appropriate number. You know, is it exactly the way I would choose it? No. I think personally I'd like to see some of the guys on the Nationwide have an opportunity to get in here, the Jason Gore effect that took place last year at the USGA Championship down at Pinehurst created an extreme amount of excitement, not only for that Championship but for the game in general. There are those players who are PGA members who are competing on the Nationwide Tour right now and have the ability to be here and compete.

I don't think the number is the most significant thing. I think our presence is important because we're going to carry this championship back to all of the clubs, and that connection I think is what's so important. I think there are a large number of PGA professionals out there who are capable of competing. There are guys who I just played in our local qualifier who are capable of competing at every level of the game who aren't going to get to the national PGA Professional National Championship.

The argument I hear is about keeping this the strongest field in golf, and it is. It was and it is and it will continue to be.

Q. Along those lines, Tiger, Phil, top players spent the last two weeks preparing solely for this event. Can you just talk about how you balance preparing for this week along with responsibilities and duties at the club?

RON PHILO: I prepare for this event and every event every day. I don't have the ability or the luxury to come to the site, but in some way, shape or form, whether it's just a few minutes in between golf instruction or in between tournaments. I've been playing golf for 40 years; the hole is the same size here as it is everywhere else. The rough is significantly deeper, and I don't know how you could get prepared for that except for playing at a bunch of other major championships. Will Phil and Tiger know the golf course a little better? Yeah.

But my job is to know my game as well as I can know it, and that's what I bring here. I bring my knowledge of my game, and that's I do that every day.

Q. Some people might consider having a high caliber LPGA Tour player in the family a big advantage. I know you play a lot together; how is that an advantage for you?

RON PHILO: The big advantages are the understanding of me and understanding of one another. You know, the calming effect is significant.

Just the ability to share, share the game with someone that you're so close to. When it all gets when it's all said and done, we're out here playing a game. I mean, it's a wonderful and extraordinary privilege to have the opportunity to play a game and make money at it. To be able to share that experience with someone that you love and someone that you've known your whole life, I don't know if I have words that can describe it. But it's an advantage because she knows what's going to happen with the golf ball. She knows what's supposed to happen with the golf ball, where it's supposed to be, and she knows how to help me focus in on making it go there.

Q. I'm from the U.K., and we take pictures and write about it and we had your Club Pro Championship live on the Golf Channel. Life's a bit of a blur, but I notice this year, it might have happened last year, but the club pros played together in the past but this year they all seem to be split up between the regular players of the championships, etc. Now, I think it's a great idea; what's your opinion about it?

RON PHILO: No, I'm thrilled to be a part of the field, as opposed to an add on. I'm not sure exactly when that started, but I've had the privilege over the last, I think, four Championships to have been paired with members of the regular tour, having played with Geoff Ogilvy and Rod Pampling at Oak Hill, and Robert Gamez who else we played with Tim Clark at Whistling Straits. You know, I think being a part of the field, that's one of the big things for us is bringing the game back to our members.

As a PGA professional, I play golf because I love to compete. But I also play competitive golf because it makes me a better professional for my members. The experience I have standing alongside some of the greatest players in the world and seeing how they perform is something that I can share with my students. To get a chance to go around on a golf course in a competitive situation that's been set up by Kerry Haigh and Mark Tschetschot and the rest of the PGA professional staff is something that I can bring back to my members to set up for our tournaments to make them as big as they can be.

We just had our club championship, and that may be the biggest event that my members ever play in is their home club championship. And our goal is to try to make that feel for them like this feels for me. Whether it's getting all of the course right, marked correctly and getting hole locations out to them and getting their names on the back of their caddies' bibs, that's the privilege that we have that we can continue to be a part of and bring back, not just the check that we may or may not get at the end of the week.

KELLY ELBIN: Ron will play on Thursday at 12:35 PM with PGA Champions Larry Nelson and Wayne Grady.

Q. How are you playing right now, and do you feel as confident now in your game as you did when you went into the Club Pro Championship?

RON PHILO: I've been having a bit of a streak this summer. After winning the National club after winning the PGA Professional National Championship, I came home to win our Westchester Open. I got to see my name engraved on a trophy that features Ben Hogan and a few other notable professionals that spent time in the Westchester area.

I won the Rhode Island open the week after that, or the two days after leaving here at Newport National and then I went home to win our local PGA Professional National Championship qualifying event that was held last week.

I've been feeling pretty good about my game lately. It's always interesting to put it onto this venue and this stage and arena and see how the game holds up.

KELLY ELBIN: Ron, having made the cut at Baltusrol last year, what kind of confidence does that give you going into Thursday's play this year?

RON PHILO: I'm not sure how to answer, if it gives me any more confidence. I think confidence is something that just comes from inside, not necessarily last year's or last week's.

You know, I've had close encounters at this tournament before, but yeah, I feel good about playing golf right now. I feel good about playing golf on this golf course. I feel good about having my sister here to walk around again. I'm just really looking forward to Thursday.

KELLY ELBIN: Ron Philo, Jr., thank you very much.

End of FastScripts.

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