WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

June 24, 2003

Ridley Howard

Jan Potter

Todd Rhinehart

Tiger Woods

TODD RHINEHART: Thank you, James. It's our pleasure to welcome you to Capital City Club, Crab Apple Golf Course. The World Golf Championships starting in 1999 as the video showed, and in the short five years of its history I believe the World Golf Championships have done what they were set out to do back in 1996 when the various tours from across the world set out to embark on the World Golf Championships. We have set up a series of events that brings the top players from across the world under one series to compete in various formats, and different places across the world. The American Express Championship is probably, to me, our elite events because it's the Top-50 players in the world, and it's also the top money leaders from the various tours across the world. It's the Top-30 on the PGA TOUR Money List, the top 20 on the European Tour Order of Merit, and the Top 3 players from the Japan Tour, the Asian PGA, Southern Africa Tour and PGA TOUR of Australasia. So what we end up with is about 75 players playing all four days, no cut. One of the interesting things that happened during the U.S. Open, I think only 28 of the Top-50 players made the cut and were around on the weekend; that won't be the case come the first week of October here. They will be here all four days playing for a purse of $6 million with over $1 million to the winner. So as you see, these are the events that players mark on their calendar, and I think it's fitting that we are here in Atlanta this year. With the storied history of the Olympics back in 1996, this event is very much an internationally-flavored field. We have over 19 countries represented who will be here and over 35 of our players who will be in event from different countries. So you really do have a big melting pot of players cross the world. K.J. choi last year won two events on the PGA TOUR, and we would never have heard of players like that if it was not for the World Golf Championships. We are very fortunate to have a group of umbrella sponsors like American Express. And I know during the week of the tournament, Jan Potter will touch on it later, but there's a special event that will be part of the American Express Championship, and that's what's really elite about this event. As the video showed, great history with the event so far, Tiger Woods has won two events; Mike Weir has won, as well. You look at how this year on the PGA TOUR is coming about, Tiger right now is fourth on the Money List. We have players Mike Weir, Davis Love and Tiger Woods have won three events already on the PGA TOUR. So as we are halfway through the calendar year, it is really setting out to be an interesting summer and Fall Finish for the PGA TOUR, and this event being the first week of October is really the second-to-last event where the top players in the world will be competing. We have THE TOUR Championship in Houston this year, which as many of you know been at East Lake the first week of November. But this event is really the big, big event for the players before that final year end Top-30 players playing. So we expect all Top-50 players to be here competing for the first place prize. It's also a great way for the players to get ready for the Presidents Cup, which will be in South Africa this year. You look at how the international field is starting to shape up with Mike Weir, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, the American players are going to have their hands full in South Africa this year, but it should be a great event. That's one reason why I think this event come first week of October will be very competitive. These events cannot be done without the support of people like the membership at Capital City Club, cannot be done without the support of Cherokee County and Fulton County. This golf course is unique. When you drive in the front gate, you're in Fulton County, and when you drive across the bridge, you are in Cherokee County. So we are working with both municipalities to bring people out to the golf course. As many of you know who have lived around here, traffic is not always the easiest way to get around here, but we feel like working with the different municipalities, the Department of Transportation to come up with a good game plan, traffic route to go get people to the golf course. One of the unique things about this event, people will park almost right on site. There is no shuttles. They will enter the golf course at hole No. 8, be able to walk right in and watch the world's greatest players for all four days. We have 15 hours of live television coverage, which is unique. Outside the majors, it's really the most coverage we will have. ESPN and ABC, WSB locally, will be carrying our broadcast. A schedule of events: We are closed on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday are practice rounds. There are no Pro-Ams with the World Golf Championships. Again, given that major feel, like when the PGA Championship was at Atlanta Athletic Club. It's just practice rounds. So it's great time to watch the world greatest players and be up close and face-to-face with greatness. This is not like a PGA Championship where you are going to have 40,090 people 15 rows deep and can't watch the players play. We will have 25,000 people out here during the week of the tournament. It's really a neat format. They play in twosomes. So Thursday, Friday and Sunday, tee times will start at approximately 8:30 in the morning and run till about 2:00 in the afternoon and play will conclude at 6:00. So there are opportunities in the morning to walk some holes with your favorite golfers, come back -- and this golf course, which you'll see today playing, has a lot of good viewing areas and you can sit at one hole and watch a lot of players in the afternoon. On Saturday, we actually play in threesomes off 1 and 10 and we finish at 3:30 local time because of college football on ABC. But it should be a great event. One of the things that the World Golf Championships benefits is the First Tee. Many of you are familiar with the First Tee. It's a way to create affordability and accessibility to people who might not have normal assess to the game of golf and the values it teaches. In our five years, we have given over $7 million to the First Tee Program. We are very glad to be a part of it and the Atlanta Chapter here is one that we are working closely with and glad to be a part of with them. Tickets are still available. We have a toll free number with Ticketmaster, 888-TOUR-TIX. There are weekly passes as well as daily passes, and we still have corporate packages available. During these tough economic times, as many of you know, sometimes sponsorships are not part of it. Fortunately, we still have a lot of great partners. The local community has supported the event tremendously. As we get closer, we know we'll draw even bigger support. We are glad to have you out here today, and enjoy your round.

JAN POTTER: Thank you, James. It really is a pleasure for me to be here today to help kick off the activities for the American Express Championship, particularly in the fact that we have a lot of sun out there today, so I'm really thrilled, coming from New York. As a long-time partner of the World Golf Championships, our titled event is a particularly important platform for us each year, and I think this year in particular, it's a really special, exciting and important one for us, as it really is going to be the first time that we actually get to play our event here in the United States. As you saw, we had to cancel it for September 11 and we are absolutely delighted to be here in Atlanta for this. Really, our whole desire and approach is to create not only here with the sponsorship, but as with all of our sponsorships, really unique exciting opportunities to really bring the events to life and really to bring to the fans some interesting opportunities. Ideally, create what we hope are truly memorable experiences, which is why we are so excited bring to Atlanta a special live event that is going to enable to combine our desire to create these unique experiences with one of the truly most dynamic and intriguing golf legends today, and that's Tiger Woods. He's the American Express defending champion. American Express does have a long history with Tiger Woods, who really transcends the sports world today and he holds a significant place in the hearts and minds of people around the word. Back in 1997, American Express really recognized his winning spirit, his ability to really connect with people beyond the golf fans, which is why we signed him as a spokesperson for the company. Hopefully you're all familiar with our TV commercials that he's done for American Express, but beyond that we have also worked with Tiger to create these live events, not only here in the United States and Canada, but in Spain, Ireland and London. We are delighted on September 30 that we'll be able to bring to Atlanta and American Express will set Tiger loose in Atlanta's historic Piedmont Park. Tiger will be with us to host a live event which enable him to showcase his talents, and the spectators will be treated to an insider's look to how the No. 1 player in the world really prepares for a tournament such as this one. He'll be able to share with everybody how to develop his winning shots. It was mentioned earlier, Tiger is the only one to have won the World Golf Championships Grand Slam, and he's won two American Express Championships. Access to this event, really, it's very simple. All you need to do is just buy a ticket on your American Express card, of course, and all of the details regarding the pricing and ticket information are in your press packets. Any American Express tournament ticket buyer will also receive a number of additional benefits. There will be free admission for any child under 12, not only to the exhibition, but to the tournament, as well, and there will be a free one-year subscription to Travel and Leisure Golf Magazine. As I mentioned earlier, our whole desire is to create unique and interesting opportunities for card members and make their experience on-site even better. When you come on site into the Welcome Pavilion and you show your American Express card, our card members will be able to get a free sports rental, which they can use to help them get even closer for the day and to get closer to Tiger. They will also be able to take a digital photo with Tiger Woods right there in the Welcome Pavilion and everybody will receive a Limited Edition special Tiger Woods bobble head, which is really a lot of fun and after the last tournament, they became a very hot item on eBay all of a sudden. It was really a lot of fun. Just a few other added benefits that we'll also be doing on site -- well, that's really it on-site. I think that the Tiger Live event and having been to a number of them, real really an exciting opportunity. It's a memorable experience that I think everybody will take away with them. It's a great opportunity, and I think we are going to show you a video that's going to give you a brief taste of what to expect in September. I think that it's going to really help demonstrate the power of Tiger Woods connecting with his fans and what a unique, special opportunity this is going to be for everybody, and our card members, as well. We are looking forward to a terrific fantastic crowd in September, and we hope all of you will be joining us for the exhibition, as well as for the tournament. And with that, I want to thank you all for your time today.

RIDLEY HOWARD: It's a pleasure to stand in for Tiger Woods today. (Laughter.) On behalf of the Capital City Club, the membership, the board of directors and the staff, I'd like to welcome you here. We are quite honored to join with American Express, a member since '84 and the PGA TOUR, to offer this great championship this year. Capital City Club is celebrating our 120th year, we founded in 1883. We have three clubs, the Downtown Club, Capital City at Brook Haven, and the new club that you're standing in. This golf course opened June 1 a year ago, and the clubhouse opened in October. I think you'll enjoy your day and have an opportunity to look around and you'll realize why we are so proud of it. Our golf heritage, the history of Capital City Club and golf is not something many of you in Atlanta think of instantly, but we do have a very proud golf heritage. Bobby Jones was the winner of the inaugural Georgia State Amateur Championship in 1916 at our Brook Haven course. In 1945, Byron Nelson won the Atlanta Open at Brook Haven which was the fourth of his streak of 11 that all golfers know about. In 1947 and in 1953, LPGA Hall of Fame member Louise Suggs won the Women's Western Amateur Championship in Brook Haven. She is an honorary member of the club, defeated by Dot Kirby in the finals. Dot is also an honorary member. In '52 Capital City, Harvey Ward won the British Amateur and Charlie Yates also won the British Amateur in 1938. Danny Yates, who is our chairman for this tournament, and is unavailable today because he was the medalist in qualifying for the Senior Open, and is playing there this week, Danny, his amateur record includes three Georgia State Amateur Championships, runner-up in the '88 U.S. Amateur, 1992 U.S. Mid-Am champion, two-time member of the Walker Cup team in 1989 and '93, and two-time captain of the Walker Cup team in '99, and most recently at Ocean Forest in 2001. He's a member of both the Southern Golf Association Hall of Fame and the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame. So we are very proud to add the American Express Championship to our list of significant golf events. Those of you who are playing today I think will be enjoying the top-notch and very new course, a year old, Tom Fazio designed. We were delighted to work with Tom Fazio. We think he's right at the top of the game. We gave him a wonderful piece of property and we let him and his team design this course. You will be playing it as a par 72. The pros will be playing it as a par 70. You'll see four new tee boxes that the Fazio team came back and added to make it a little more challenging on a few holes, strategically to bring in some sand traps, bunkers and landing areas into play. But enjoy today because in a month and a half when the rough is about 3 1/2 inches long and the greens, as you'll see, are firm and rolling at about 12, it will probably never be easier than it is today. We think at a par 70, this course will hold its own. You will see a venue that's challenging to the players, but also a great venue to watch golf. I think the spectators will be able to see a lot of great golf here. There are some advantage points where you can see several holes. We are excited about having everybody out. Appreciate you all be here today. Please look around, enjoy the clubhouse, enjoy the native American heritage that we celebrated in this clubhouse this way. We are very proud of relics that came right off this property. And Bobby Jones' gold membership card, it's out in the lobby. So there are a lot of things that we celebrate at Capital City, and we are looking forward to celebrating the American Express Championship.

TIGER WOODS: Good morning, guys.

TIGER WOODS: I guess I played 71 great holes. It was probably the best set of greens that I have ever putted on, and I don't think you would have ever guessed it would have been in Ireland. If anything, you probably would have said the best set of greens you putted on were in Australia somewhere or the Sand Belt, but these were the smoothest greens I have ever seen, and the scores reflected that. You hit the ball anywhere on there 20, 30 feet away, you felt like you should make the putt. It was a very interesting finish. We had a lot of birdies being thrown on the back nine with Goose and myself, and Sergio, a lot of players up there with a chance to win. I was fortunate enough to come out on top.

TIGER WOODS: I think every player can attest to this: That it's actually worked out better than we all envisioned. These are the premiere tournaments, and we all want to qualify for them. We all want to get into them and ultimately we all want to win them. These are events that you plan your schedule around and you really want to be able to have your game at the top of its form for these events because you know you're playing against the best. Granted, you're playing the against the best in the four major championships, but any time you get to play against the best outside of those events, you just get jacked up to play, and I think everyone feels that way.

TIGER WOODS: You know, that's the first description I've heard of the golf course. All I know, I was listening to the gentleman before talk about the fairways being ample wide and the rough being about 3 1/2 inches and the greens running about 12. That's all I know about the golf course. I really can't comment on the golf course. All I know is I'm excited to play because this is a great event and has a great field each and every year, and it's a tournament that each and every player wants to be able to win.

TIGER WOODS: No. It's one of those things where, as players, we all know the guys on Tour. And when they are picking up yardages where they are making the same swing, and all of a sudden the ball is jumping out of there 20, 30 yards further and they can't replicate that same type of gain with the rest of their clubs, or even their 3-wood, it's with driver only. And you know when you watch us on the range you watch us hit balls, you watch a ball knuckle off the face, you know it's taking off too fast. There are some guys who are -- I'm out there and I can hit my 3-wood past. I'm not the only one who feels this way. A lot of players feel this way, where you can hit your 3-wood past their 3-wood and all of a sudden you get outdriven by 10, 20, 30 yards with their driver. Well, there's something wrong with that picture in the sense that you can't increase your clubhead speed by five or six miles an hour from your driver to your 3-wood. If you're making the same move at it, it should be comparable. But these guys are making the same move, and all of a sudden the ball is just flying off the face.

TIGER WOODS: No. It makes me sensitive to it because this is golf. This is the last bastion of all the sports where you call penalties on yourself. I don't see Shaq going down the paint and charging and running over somebody and says, "Oh, I'm sorry. That's a foul on me. Here's the ball." You know, you just don't see that in any other sport. But golf is the last bastion, and I don't want to see that ruined. If technology -- it's not necessarily the players. Players may not know this, but it's got to be the manufacturers, and the manufacturers are going to be producing clubs over the limit, then something has to be done by that.

TIGER WOODS: I would have testing on the first tee of every round we play in. And if you want to be like NASCAR or something like that or Formula I, go ahead and test the top 5, ten finishers each and every week. Right after the round just hand them over in the scoring tent, here's my driver and red light/green light. You don't have to see what the COR really is. I mean, it could be .829 and be right on the limit or be .830 and it would be illegal and .831 is illegal. If it's red light/green light situation, your driver is good and go ahead and move on about your business.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it has not really changed it that much. I've always supported this tournament. I've always enjoyed playing in this tournament. This is one of the premiere events, and any time you get to play against the best, I think you're going to -- you're certainly going to gravitate playing towards those events. And this is one of those events, whether it's at the end of the TOUR Championships or it's just before. You're going to see guys playing in this event because it's the best against the best.

TIGER WOODS: More and more often.

TIGER WOODS: Well, as a player out there, you know some of the guys, what their swings and the yardages they should be producing with that type of swing. I've hit every single ball out there on the market, just to get a feel of all the golf balls. So I know what the ball is capable of. You know, all of the players know who is doing it.

TIGER WOODS: I guess that's one way of saying it. I've had a wonderful stretch of playing ever since I reconstructed my swing back in late '97, all of '98 and then kicked in in '99. And then from basically the Byron Nelson on of '99 until now, I've had a pretty good run. It's been exciting and, you know, I can't say that I'm really that disappointed because I've won three times this year. Granted, I haven't played my best of late, but it's coming around. If I hit a couple bad shots or miss a couple putts, I think people have always -- if you're up on top, people are always going to nitpick you more often than most players because you're more visible than most of the players. I think that is very apropos in this situation.

TIGER WOODS: (Laughing) Any time.

TIGER WOODS: That's when your practice rounds are going to have to be more focused than normal. You get into a routine out here on TOUR after playing a few years, you know the golf courses, you can show up on Wednesday and you know all the shots you're going to need for the week. All it takes is one practice round and you're off and you go play. When you play new venues, you're going to have to be more focused on your practice and make sure you get all of your lines and your numbers right, so that if you've got everything covered, so that there are no surprises when you get out there in competition.

TIGER WOODS: That's basically what it boils down to. You look at all of the guys on TOUR, we all hit it pretty decent. We're not bad ball-strikers. All it takes is just a few good putts and a good putting week and all of a sudden, you win. That's the only thing that really separates a person who wins and a person who is, let's say, just making the cut. It's really not that big of a disparity. If you get a few putts going, especially early in the round, get the momentum on your side and you start running with it, yeah, all of a sudden you're in contention and you've got a good shot at winning, and sometimes you do win.

TIGER WOODS: It's very close. The things that I'm working on are so close that I'm really close to putting it all together. I noticed at the U.S. Open, I played -- I played about four or five, six good holes and then I'd lose it or a couple holes and then I'd play another three or four holes and then lose it for a hole or two. That's kind of how it's been, but last week I played nine good holes and then I played two bad holes and I'd play another good seven holes. So, it's so close to being able to put it all together for all 18 holes. I'm not that far off, which is pretty exciting.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it's -- by having these events move from country to country and not only it helps the local area that we're going to, but I think it really showcases the game of golf. Because not everyone can see a player from Australia, a player from Argentina, a player from Spain anywhere in Europe and some of the United States best players; you don't get a chance to see a congregation of all of the best players like this very often, and I think by moving it around like this, it enhances the game of golf by spreading it to these new venues. I think it's great for the game of golf. I think all of these other players who the public don't see on a regular basis because they play on other tours around the world, they get a chance to see these players and they get to showcase their skills.

TIGER WOODS: The way I can swing at a golf ball is fine. It doesn't bother me. It's just the number of reps that I can get in my practice sessions. My trainer as well as my surgeon have been extremely conservative on their approach to my rehabilitation. It's been very slow and arduous. My ball count is down from what it used to be. But then again, it's forced me to be even more focused on my practice sessions because I don't have to spend -- I can't spend as much time out there hitting golf balls like I used to. Consequently, the flipside to that is when I show up at tournaments, I'm actually more fresh than I have been in the past because I'm not wearing myself out by practicing too much at home.

TIGER WOODS: Well, with the Fazio courses I have played in the past, the bunkering is always picturesque. Generally, they are bigger bunkers. The greens that he likes to design have slow, rolling slopes on them. They are not real severe as, say, some of Jack's courses or Pete Dye courses. His golf courses tend to be more subtle, wider fairways and bigger greens, but the greens are very subtle and difficult to read because of the subtleties. That's an overall generalization of Fazio courses. But every one I've ever played has always been top quality.

TIGER WOODS: Well, to me it's a lot of fun. It's a chance to basically interact with the people there, and not only to hit shots and do an exhibition, but more importantly to have them ask questions and for all of us to interact. I want them to be able to say when they walk away from one of my clinics that they have learned something, and they can go ahead and apply that and become a better player. That's what golf is; we all try to help each other out. Doing these clinics, it's a rush for me because I enjoy helping. I enjoy getting out there and trying to show people a different way of playing, maybe they never thought of playing a golf shot this way. That's how I learned. I learned by asking questions, I learned by watching people. I went to Tour events and I just watched guys hit balls on the range. You know, that's how I learned how to play the game and I think that's how the game of golf is, because we can't always go out there and reinvent the wheel. It's always nice to have someone put you in the right direction. I think that's where my feelings are about my clinics; I want someone to go out there and enjoy what I'm doing, but also, more importantly, learn from what I'm doing.

TODD RHINEHART: No event is the same place and I think that's what unique about this. You really create a new atmosphere. It's not going to the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome; that's a permanent facility. Here, you create everything, and we are very fortunate here at a beautiful facility that has plenty of room to build the necessary amenities that we need to host an events. I think what it really does is create -- when the American championship rotates in the United States and Europe, where it's at makes a tremendous feel, a tremendous impact on the community. I think it's really benefitted the places where it's been.

TODD RHINEHART: That has been discussed. This is just the fifth year of these events and I think as we are going through it, just like anything that's a new product a new brand we are learning the things that -- what are the strengths, what are the weaknesses and what are the ways we can improve. I always say when people talk about events, golf is so unique, like being a lawyer or a doctor you read on page 3, paragraph 4 what you're supposed to do. Golf events are unique and every place you go is totally different. Those are some of the things we are looking at is to try and create that durability, same place, and get the communities to, okay, we are going to have an event back here in six years, so I know to expect it. I think what we've seen with all of the other World Golf Championships events, we are always getting the common theme and all of the variables is the top players in the world and with these events we are always at -- the only exception in the World Golf Championships was back in 2000 or 2001 during the Accenture Match-Play Championship down in Australia first part of the year, and that was more of a scheduling conflict. International players, they see these events as a way for them to get their name on the world stage. It's been a discussion point when the International Federation of PGA TOURs get together. It's been discussed -- I know Accenture, not speaking for them, but La Costa is a good spot for them. We have talked about other places, whether it's Arizona, maybe even Florida, beginning of the Florida Swing. It just hasn't worked, and obviously, as you know, with all of the PGA TOUR events trying to schedule and juggle aroound, it gets very difficult. Ever since 2001, 9/11, the tragedy occurred in St. Louis where I was, security has changed on the PGA TOUR. It started actually happening when Tiger Woods started playing. Golf is unique in that people can get up close to the players. One of the things that changed is players walking from greens to tees are in secured areas. We obviously work with a security consultant in the local municipalities, whether it is the sheriff's department or state patrol to get increased security for the event. As spectators come to the event they are no longer allowed to bring in bags unless they are smaller than six inches. It's along the same things as the other national events, NFL, NBA, doing some of the same things.