Q. Alice, could you just talk about maybe from the attendance standpoint of having a situation where Annika Sorenstam is in the lead, something that probably would bring fans out, and then this happening, having, I guess, 3,000 as the attendance number today, and how you think attendance will be tomorrow with where we stand?
ALICE MILLER: Boy, Doug, it's hard to say. Annika's whole situation and all the excitement around her has been good for attendance. Given the weather we have had this week, and kind of the muddy conditions for the spectators, and the challenges with the parking, we have been very pleased with our crowds the first two rounds.
You can look at it two ways, I guess: On the one hand, we tend to think we could have had just a blockbuster year attendance-wise given some good weather. On the other hand, I look at it and thing if there wasn't all this attention surrounding Annika, we wouldn't have had as good of crowds as we have had.
So we have had very, very good attendance, and with some good weather, even with a nice day tomorrow, I think we could have really a nice crowd out there.
I really would say if we went to Monday, you know, with certain people still playing in the last group, which they will be, we will have spectators out here. We will still have all the structures up, still have bleachers, and limited concessions, and we will still put on a good show, but, yeah, definitely, attendance, the weather, every week that affects tournaments, and it's the one thing we can't control.
But I have been very, very pleased with the attendance in spite of the weather and attribute a lot of that to the excitement around Annika.
Q. Will you have a chance to cut new hole positions for the fourth round?
JOHN MIZIKAR: Yes, we will. I understand there will be a slight gap in between the third and fourth round. That will give us an opportunity to go out and change hole locations, do some rolling, get the greens back into smooth conditions, since they are so soft, so we will do -- whatever opportunity we have, we will make every effort to get it as playable as possible.
Q. Barb, if you guys finish tomorrow the 72nd hole by, let's say, 6:30, quarter to 7:00, do you know what the situation is with CBS? Do they go off the air at 6:00 or are they obligated to carry this through to a conclusion?
BARB TRAMMELL: That's probably more of a tournament question.
ALICE MILLER: I know a couple years ago they stayed on for an extra half hour. We do have some leeway as far as going over. There is no hard and fast obligation on the part of CBS. There may be some extra cost to the tournament, but I think CBS is probably limited as to how far they can go. Can they go an extra half hour? Maybe. That's a good question to ask them. Would they go a couple hours extra? No, I don't think so. We probably have a little bit of overflow, but it's not a lot.
JIM MURRAY: The Herb Lottman factor, he is very persuasive, we may not take the place of 60 Minutes, but I think if the tournament goes past 6:00, we will be on the air.
Q. I am just curious, how much rain this spring and this week and how many days -- I thought I read somewhere that at least in Virginia, 24 days in May. Are you pretty much the same way here?
JOHN MIZIKAR: I think I saw a stat in the news journal not too long ago, around the end of May, that there was two days in May, I think it was the 18th and 19th, we had sunshine. The rest of the days were either cloudy or raining and damp, so we really didn't get much drying weather.
Rainfall total amounts, I have lost track, to be quite frank with you. I know today, right before we suspended play, we had six-tenths, and I am sure that has accumulated beyond that, so it's just been one of the wetter springs that I can recall.
Q. John, with the rain scheduled to end late tonight, does seven and a half hours give you enough time to get the course in really playable condition?
JOHN MIZIKAR: Well, I can say that the staff is dedicated to do whatever they can do. I believe it does. Will it be as perfect as we want it to be? No. We wish we could mow everything and have a sunny, nice dry day where the skies are blue and we can put all our touches to it, but given what we have, we will have it as playable as, you know, earthly possible.
Q. Janet, I guess this might be best for you. Just procedurally, with the players having marked their balls out there now, is there any worry about anything floating away, or even as the crews get out and work, how do you make sure that those marks are maintained?
JANET LINDSAY: Well, John and I have already spoken about this, and to prepare his -- tomorrow -- obviously, we are not as concerned about the markings in the fairway, or elsewhere other than the greens, and since they will be mowing the greens in the morning, we have alerted his crew -- they have alerted their crew, obviously, to -- it's going to take them a little bit more time to make sure that you have someone literally eyeballing or picking up the markers and then replacing them after the green has been mowed. So they are going to make every effort possible to return the markers back where they were.
Now, of course, if they are not, if, for some reason, the player's marker has -- you know, it just disappears or it isn't returned to the same spot, there are rules for that, so we anticipate some calls in the morning from players with either markers that have -- are gone altogether, or perhaps in another location, they say that's not where they were, and, again, there are rules there to cover it, and we are going to be ready to help them.
Q. Can you give us like a broad stroke idea of what the rules say in that situation.
JANET LINDSAY: Certainly. Well, first of all, if there is no marker at all there, the rules say -- and, of course, you have the three players and the three caddies there, so they make their best estimate as to where the ball was when it was marked, and then they simply replace the ball or the marker on the spot where the marker was, they simply replace it there, so they would place it.
Same thing if they show up -- and this happens periodically, where the player says that's not where my markers were, I know I was closer because this ball mark over here, this old hole plug, and again, they come to an agreement among themselves that, in fact, it had not been really replaced where their marker was.
And very often we get called into that kind of a call. And again, the game is a game of integrity, et cetera, and players aren't trying to gain anything here, they are just trying to get their ball back where it was when we suspended.
And so again, we would just place the ball on the spot where the ball was when it was marked.
Q. Do you see that happening often or occasionally, like when, you know, you have big rainstorms like this?
JANET LINDSAY: Again, it happens occasionally. For the most part, no, it doesn't happen that often. We can understand that certainly John's crew will have enough -- they are going to have enough challenges in the morning to get ready for the restart of play, but we do find that they are very, very -- you know, they are very, very careful.
And they do work with us, and they want to do the best job possible, and they want to get that spot right back where it was, but every now and then we do have a marker that disappears, and it happens, and, you know, it doesn't happen often, but I can anticipate some of that in the morning.
Q. Barb, will players be like directed right from 18 green to 1 tee when they finish their round, or will they get like a short break for a sandwich or something?
BARB TRAMMELL: Yeah, they will have, actually, have a pretty good break. We anticipate -- again, we are going to see -- if, in fact, we are able to start right at 7:30, and then based on the pace that it takes us to complete Round 3, and we will actually set estimated starting times for Round 4 while they are still finishing up Round 3, but we anticipate a good break, probably even for the first group, at least an hour, I would think, plus.
Again, that's based on if we start on time, no further delays, such that I think every group will probably have at least an hour.
Q. John, is this going to be the greatest challenge that you and your crew have faced any time of the year with this course, trying to get ready for tomorrow?
JOHN MIZIKAR: Speaking for myself, yes. Speaking for those on the staff who have been through the many tournaments they have had here -- but I would have to say yes. Your latest challenge is your worst challenge, I suppose, so yes, I would have to say so.
BARB TRAMMELL: I would just like to say on behalf of the LPGA, John and -- John Gosselin and his crew have just done a fantastic job this week with preparing the golf course under some extremely adverse conditions, and we want to commend all the long hours that they have put in. It is no small task to prepare a golf course after the amount of rainfall that they have had here.
I don't know if any of you have had the opportunity to walk out on the golf course, but if you walk out there right now, you would say there is no way we can play at all tomorrow. And it's no small miracle, I might add, if we can start at 7:30 and have no problems. So again, they have done just a fantastic job, and we really want to thank them.
Q. Just out of curiosity, how do you mark a ball in a bunker, and what do you do in the rough, as well?
JANET LINDSAY: You can handle it the same way you do on the putting green, actually. In the bunker, you can mark it with a tee, you can mark it with a coin.
Q. And then replace your ball the next day, you don't have to drop it?
JANET LINDSAY: I am sorry, marking it is the same, you mark it with a marker or a tee, even, in the bunker. Unfortunately, in a bunker, you would be dropping it on the spot instead of placing it. That is if the marker is gone and you are estimating the position. But you do replace it, if your marker is still there, you would be replacing it, so you just put it on the spot.
Q. Oh, in the bunker, you do?
JANET LINDSAY: In the bunker, that's correct. I misunderstood the question. The marking process is the same. The replacing process is the same if the marker is there. If the marker is missing, or you are estimating the position, then you would be dropping it. Now, in the rough it's the same thing, you would be placing it if the marker is still in position, dropping it if it's not. Only on the putting green, obviously, you would place.
Q. And are there little flags to mark it in the rough, because the rough is so deep, use those jumbo tees?
JANET LINDSAY: In whatever manner. Our players tend to put several tees in, so they probably put a few in.
MODERATOR: Any more questions?
Q. John, can you kind of give us even a rough estimate like how many hours you and your crew have put in this week on the course? Can you even count?
JOHN MIZIKAR: I think if I gave you a rough estimate, I would probably have underestimated the amount of time. I know that the assistant, Scott Kroll and John Klempa and some of the folks -- most of the folks on their staff have put in just an incredible amount of time in their efforts, working late into the night, and I can't do that, I am too old. They would wear me out. So they have done a great job, the whole staff has done a great job. It's just interesting to see them put forth the effort and come in at any time that you ask them, hey, we need you at midnight tomorrow night, you know, tonight, to come in and pump bunkers, and the guys are very willing. Obviously, they take great pride in what they do and want to put forth the best product.
MODERATOR: Anything else? All right. Thank you all very much.
End of FastScripts....
