CHUBB CLASSIC PRESENTED BY SERVPRO MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 31, 2025

Paul Azinger

Sandy Diamond

Bernhard Langer

Tiburón Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everybody, or good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for taking some time to join us today as we preview the upcoming Chubb Classic in a couple of weeks and also talk about the 2025 PGA TOUR Champions season.

Joining us on this call we've got Sandy Diamond, executive director of the Chubb Classic. Also on the call with us is Ryan Dever, our tournament director, and we have five-time Chubb Classic winner and 47-time PGA TOUR Champions winner -- 48 if you count the PNC Championship which I think Bernhard says, yeah, that counts, so that's 48. Then 12-time PGA TOUR winner and new lead analyst for all the PGA TOUR Champions broadcasts on Golf Channel, Paul Azinger.

Without further ado, the Chubb Classic is taking place February 14th through the 16th just coming up in a matter of days for all of us who are working on the tournament.

I'll turn it over to Sandy for some opening comments about the tournament, about the field, and how Tiburón is looking.

Sandy?

SANDY DIAMOND: Thank you, Jeremy. Appreciate it. Good afternoon, everybody. Many, many thanks again to the media for joining us today, as well as our sincere thanks to five-time Chubb Classic champion Bernhard Langer. Bernhard, great to see you again. And we're delighted that Paul Azinger is with us, as well. Awesome to have you back in the booth. Congrats and excited to watch and listen to you all year, so kudos.

I just wanted to share a few talking points about this year's tournament. This is the 38th consecutive year of the Chubb Classic that's being played in the same market, so that's the longest running event on the PGA TOUR Champions that's in the same market all these years. It's Chubb's 27th year as title sponsor. That's also the longest running title sponsor on the PGA TOUR Champions.

We have an excellent field taking shape. Yesterday as you saw we announced several early commitments, including Hall-of-Famers Bernhard and Ernie Els, as well as former Naples resident Steve Stricker, and last year's champion Stephen Ames. They've all committed. We currently have 11 major champions in the field. Obviously we'll announce more commitments over the next week.

A couple cool initiatives I just want to point out real quick to everybody. The first thing that we do, which is really very community centric, is we have a program called the First Tee Champions Challenge in partnership with the Naples Convention and Visitors' Bureau, we invite two kids and a coach from five First Tee chapters from around the country. The chapters are Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Massachusetts and Minnesota, all expenses paid. They come to Naples and compete in a three-day competition at amazing golf courses here in town: Tiburón Gold, Windermere Golf Club and Twin Eagles and the kids also participate in community service activities, go on a catamaran ride. There's also a clinic hosted by a PGA TOUR Champions player. A really cool program. It's the 18th year that the Naples CVB has supported this, and we could not do this rewarding initiative without them. I just wanted to make mention.

The other one real quickly, the other program we do is the Hero Outpost presented by Servpro. Thanks to Servpro, this is the fourth consecutive year. They allow us to build a hospitality venue on the 17th green. We provide thanks to Servpro complimentary tickets to current and retired military, frontline workers, doctors, nurses, police, firemen, et cetera, so that's awesome.

In addition, Michelbob's restaurant, a restaurant here in Naples, they provide free food, and our beverage partner Pepsi provides free soda and water.

I'll just close by saying, as you all know, Paul, you referenced it when we were talking about the hurricanes we've all experienced here in southwest Florida, Servpro has been a very, very integral part of the cleanup and restoration in the community. Thank you, Servpro.

Those are a few key topics. I would say the golf course -- Jeremy, you mentioned that, also. The golf course is in great shape. The staff there, Grayson and his team, the director of agronomy and the superintendent, they all do an awesome job, so the golf course will be in great shape, as well.

THE MODERATOR: Sandy, thank you. Appreciate it if you could stay on if there's additional tournament questions about the tournament.

I'll turn it over to Bernhard and Paul for a couple of opening questions.

Q. Bernhard, looking forward to seeing you, going after a record sixth Chubb Classic win. We weren't able to see you last year, but you recovered from your achilles injury with style by winning at the end of the year, including that 63. Talk a little bit about the Chubb Classic. It's one of your favorite events, and you're looking forward to coming back to Tiburón and playing the Black Course in a couple weeks.

BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, absolutely. I live in Boca Raton and I've been here for 40 years now more or less, so Naples is just an hour and a half across on the other side. It feels to me like a home game. Easy to get to; I have friends over there. I'm used to the local Bermudagrasses, which is a little bit of a home advantage, I think, and it's been a wonderful tournament to me over the years.

As you said, I won it five times, which doesn't happen very often. On different golf courses, as well, not just Tiburón. But I truly love Tiburón because it's not the average course we play on on Tour. It's very tight, very narrow. You have lots of trouble on many of the tee shots, and it's not the longest course on the Champions Tour.

Those two things kind of help me to be in contention because I'm fairly straight off the tee, generally hit greens in regulation, and kind of stay away from trouble. That has helped me probably over the years to win a few times at Tiburón.

Otherwise I have lots of my family, kids, grandkids come over, some friends, and cheer me on, which is always nice.

On a different note, I really am excited to have Paul Azinger back with us or with us here because he's such a great competitor. We've had many competitions over the years. He's got so much knowledge, and Paul, welcome to our tour, and I think we're all very excited to have you as our main voice the next few years.

PAUL AZINGER: Well, I sure appreciate that.

Sandy, thank you for summing up in that synopsis really what you have going this week and what has happened in the past. I'm excited to get down there.

Unfortunately I haven't really spent much time on that Black Course. I've gone out there and practiced a few holes, but I don't know it that well. But I'm not surprised; I've heard it was tight, Bernhard, and that's why you like it and the length and all that.

I'm excited really to be at the Champions Tour at this time for a bunch of reasons. I think right now, I'm just kind of changing the main reason why I like it the most, because it has the biggest names, the stars.

Even when we were watching these stars today on that Champions Tour, when you think, oh, they don't really need the money, they're still going. Their games are still really good, but none of them really needed the money except at the very beginning.

It's all about great competition, and I really feel privileged. I skipped the Champions Tour. I only played four or five times. I don't regret that at all, but I did miss out on a lot of what they're capable of still.

It's nice to get back out, be around my peers, and see how confident they are, how polished and prepared they still want to be.

Bernhard, I noticed you on the putting green at Hualalai in the dark. There was nobody else around, just you and Terry were out there. It was virtually dark out. I don't know anybody else that was doing that.

Ernie Els and Goosen flew in from South Africa, 26 hours in the air. It took them a couple full days to get to Hualalai. They played that event, Ernie wins it with all that jet lag. I don't know if he's in Morocco or not, but the fact that he's in Naples I think is a real feather in his cap.

Then Vijay comes up to me, I haven't seen him in a while, and he just nudges me, he goes, I still got it, Zingy, and I believed him. He says his club head speed has dropped to 121. He had it at 124 two weeks ago.

I feel like it's just the best competition and the biggest names going at it. Even though they're a little older. It's a refined bunch of guys.

Other thing I realize, too, is none of them have the secret. They're all still out there grinding away.

Q. Paul, with you taking over the lead analyst chair for PGA TOUR Champions, you've been the analyst for PGA TOUR broadcasts for many years at NBC, FOX, ABC and ESPN for the PGA TOUR players. Now you are the lead analyst for your contemporaries, the players that you have competed against your entire career. Does that give you an extra spring in your step because you know all these players so well? You've competed against them at their best, and basically just talk about these upcoming tournaments.

PAUL AZINGER: Well, it's all about attitude. I don't like everybody out there. We had our run-ins, you know, so there's a lot of guys I didn't practice with or hang out with and there's a bunch of guys you do, and they're still hanging in there, and I can only really approach it with great admiration at this point. I imagine most of them wake up like the Tin Man in the "Wizard of Oz," just creaking and stiff, but they're working it out. They train still.

I was really impressed by how badly they want to play well. It matters a lot to them.

I missed out. I got my run. Maybe I peaked at the Ryder Cup and then my game kind of wasn't quite as sharp. When I got out there, I had the microphone, and I just realized actually it was Bernhard Langer that made me realize -- it was at Newport Beach and he was on the putting green, and I'd never seen Newport Beach, and I played a slow nine holes, and when I was done he was still there, and I was like, oh, man.

Bernhard, that impacted me, that level of commitment back then. That was 2010. He still has it today.

I'm kind of honored to be able to hang a little bit. Unfortunately, I'm only doing 12, and nine of the 12 I'm going to be in Jacksonville, which is going to make it a challenge. But I think it'll be all right.

Q. Jeremy, I've got a couple questions for Paul and Bernhard. Paul, I was with the TOUR for over 33 years, so when I first started was in the early '90s, and to me the defining shot early in my career was the bunker shot heard around the world, your bunker shot at the TOUR Championship in 1993. Obviously later that year you also got medical news. If I could take you back almost 33 years to that, what were you, in your early 30s at that point?

PAUL AZINGER: Yeah, I was 33 years old, and it was actually Jack's tournament where I made the bunker shot.

Q. I'm sorry, the Memorial.

PAUL AZINGER: It's fine. It's a transition point in everybody's life. But there's so many injuries, it was almost like if I'd have sliced my hand wrong or wrecked my hand or blew out an elbow or a shoulder, it might have been more -- how about a back, a bad neck or a back? It turned out to be more career threatening than having to do the chemo.

But once you see your mortality, your priorities are about really life in general and where is your faith and that sort of thing. So I think my life changed quite a bit.

Q. How much are you playing these days? Are you carrying much of a good game these days that you're confident with?

PAUL AZINGER: Oh, yeah, my voice activation system is on. I played with Rocco Mediate and Lee Janzen and Ken Duke and I kept up and passed them actually off the tee and played pretty good, so I was happy about that. Played in a pro-am.

I do love golf right now. I'm enjoying it, and I'm looking forward to watching some great golf coming up. These guys are smart. They don't make mistakes. It's just the physical part. Mentally I don't think there's a lot of mistakes being made.

Q. You touched on the Champions Tour and the state of how competitive it is now. It wasn't always that way; it was very much a nostalgic tour. If I could just get a comment, it took a guy like obviously Bernhard but Steve Stricker, guys like that, that have really excelled so much on the Champions Tour. Just touch on the quality of the competition out there these days.

PAUL AZINGER: It's pretty high level still. You have Steven Alker who won it all last year from New Zealand who never played the TOUR. You have several guys like that.

But I feel like there's going to be great anticipation for Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods will be eligible for the tournament Bernhard finished second in last week, and the big question is whether or not Tiger is going to play, what's that going to do to this tour. You've got all those giant names on this tour, and you bring Tiger in, I think the global media shows up immediately. I'm talking about the global media.

Then all of a sudden the focus is on this tour. I believe there's a lot of anticipation. A lot of guys are going to be in shape and ready and try to beat Tiger if they can. I think Tiger might even feel an obligation to play the Tour. The Tour has given Tiger a lot of money the last few years with that Player Impact Program. I'm sure he's going to give back, and it's going to be to all the benefit of these guys out here that are over 50.

Q. Paul, where are you, for starters?

PAUL AZINGER: I'm in an office at Miakka Golf Club, thanks for asking, and we're in the middle of a massive project. Dana Frye and Jason Straka are the architects. It's going to be unbelievable. It's already really coming into shape and form. I think we're only going to have nine holes done by December, but this is a massive project. The hurricane set us back a few months. But I can't wait.

I'm in the trailer. Nobody likes this trailer.

Q. Bernhard, you mentioned that your grandkids were coming over, and there are a lot of us on this call who are sort of in a similar situation where if we didn't have to work we'd be at our grandkids' little league games every day. How do you balance the desire to go want to be a granddad with continuing to stay on the putting green until dark?

BERNHARD LANGER: Yeah, great question. That's been one of the challenges of my whole life, even when I got married and started having kids. It was always at the beginning of the year, I need to keep the balance between family and my job.

I generally have tried to play golf for about half the year, more or less like 22 to 25 events a year, 26, and then the other half I try to be home. When I'm home, people think I practice 10 hours a day when I'm home. Nowhere near.

I truly -- I wear two hats basically. When I'm on Tour, I'm the golfer and the professional and everything is about me, what I need to be the best I can be for that given week or the next day. And when I get home, I put that hat away and I put another hat on, and it's like now I'm the dad and the husband, or now the grandpa, and what can I do to make my family's life better.

That's how I kind of treated my job my whole career, not just the last couple of years since I've been a grandpa. That's just the way it's been going for 50 years almost, or 40 years for sure.

I think it's a very healthy approach. Golf is not totally consuming me. It's still important. I work out every day. I try and stay in shape, and I stretch, and I devote a few hours every day to my body and my job.

I also devote a big chunk of my day to the family, to help them and invest into the next generation, which I think is very important.

Obviously my faith in God plays a very big part in all of that. It's the foundation to everything I do.

Q. (Indiscernible question on having tournaments in southwest Florida.)

BERNHARD LANGER: You have a lot of our age group people living in the Naples area. It's a wonderful time of the year when a lot of the snowbirds are in town, whether it's the Canadians or from Chicago or wherever, Boston, they're here for vacation for a few months, and it's a thrill for them to be able to see top-class golf.

Q. Being Ryder Cup stalwarts, I was just wondering your opinions on maybe this year at Bethpage what they should do to maybe kind of regulate some of the fan behavior and what, regarding the fans, would be something that would be too excessive in order to be a reason for a fan to be removed. Then on top of that, not to jumble too much, but Bernhard, going off of what Paul said earlier on Tiger Woods coming to the Champions Tour next year, would also love to hear your thoughts about how you would feel about playing against him for a few years, possibly starting in 2026?

BERNHARD LANGER: I'll go ahead, Paul. Yeah, I had the pleasure of playing with Tiger about three weeks ago or four at the PNC Championship in Orlando at the Father-Son, and he was playing with his son and I was playing with my son, and we were head-to-head all Sunday long, and it was a thrill and fun.

Tiger still loves the game. He's still very competitive, and he enjoys watching his son get better and better at the game, and Charlie loves it, so I think he will stick with it.

Anyway, for us it would be a thrill to see Tiger come out and play the Champions Tour, and I'm convinced he will play several. Depends how many.

I'm going to gradually get older and older here, and I may not be at the very top of my game when he comes out, but he always moves the needle. He's a very exciting personality to watch, and it would be fantastic for Tiger and for our tour to be competing out there, and I think all the players would welcome him, and it would be an interesting competition because the guys, as Paul says, they are very good. It's the only major senior tour in the world, so you get the best players from all over the world to compete in this, and we only have 78 Tour cards basically, so it's a very, very tough tour to get on, and only the best make it.

The guys stay in shape now. They work. If you go to a tournament, every morning there's three quarters of the field works out, stretches, does something to stay in shape. They want to hit the ball further. They want to get better. They want to be in contention and win tournaments. That's how this whole thing works. You have to be very good to even stay current for the following year.

That's my opinion on that. What was the other part of the question?

Q. Regarding the Ryder Cup this year being at Bethpage, obviously you guys have a lot of experience in past Ryder Cups. Wondering what your opinion would be on how to best regulate fan behavior and what would be too much for a fan to possibly be removed from the grounds?

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, I think the Ryder Cup has always been different. It's maybe the only tournament or one of very few where people actually sometimes boo a good shot and applaud for a bad shot. You don't see that in majors or any other tournament.

It becomes very emotional. It's more like a soccer game or a football game, that people are for one team and against the other, and it becomes very emotional and very nationalistic in a sense.

You don't want to take that away, but I think you need to be careful, like, if somebody yells at the top of the backswing to throw the player off or let's say they throw a beer can at somebody or anything like that, I think that's out of hand. That's too much.

As far as I remember, the captains of both teams have always come together and tried to come up with an agreement and a handshake and said, okay, it's going to be competitive, it's going to be emotional, but we need to keep it somewhat under control, and that's up to the organizers to figure out this is too much or this is acceptable.

I'd like to hear Paul's opinion on that.

PAUL AZINGER: Yeah, thank you. I totally agree and understand. There's a certain level of civility that's expected, and maybe that should be the big message. You know, the throwing of the beer cans and all that, if that happens, that would be terrible.

I remember Bernhard in '04, you won the crowd over. You really did. Our guys weren't signing autographs and your guys were so gracious, and I feel like it's going to be a real priority to try to win that crowd over for Luke Donald. I think that'll be something that will be a big challenge, and the American team cannot lose the crowd.

It's going to be a rowdy bunch. I can remember playing the U.S. Open there, and it was early in the morning and I hit a drive off line and this guy yells out, "you gonna need a weed whacka." I was like, that's tough. I can only imagine what it was like at the end for Sergio that one year in particular when Tiger was winning.

You're going to have -- I would want to be in the crowd and record every hole just to hear some of the great comments, edit them out, and all the things that were overheard that were the greatest heckles of all time should be a soundbyte for the week, stuff that was heard. Like you're gonna need a weed whacka. That would be great. Hopefully it will be civil. I think that should be the message. If you don't retain the level of civility that's expected, then you're out.

The other thing would be alcohol consumption. You could probably cut that back and solve all the problems.

BERNHARD LANGER: I agree with you, Paul. I think it's the toughest market for the Europeans to play against the Americans. The New York crowd is known to be that way, and they will be very boisterous and very loud and hopefully exciting. Hopefully the Europeans will be able to take all the heckling they're going to get and still perform to some extent so the Ryder Cup will not be a blowout.

Q. Paul, you've talked about more tournaments and exposure to golf coming to the Sun Coast and southwest Florida. Since that time been able to see more tournaments come in this direction. What does that mean to you, and how do we continue to grow the game of golf even more from here, especially when it comes to drawing in a younger audience?

PAUL AZINGER: Well, the younger audience is part of the challenge, I feel. The West Coast of Florida, though, is starting to receive more tournaments. The Bradenton Country Club has the LPGA event again this year. I don't even know the sponsor's name, to be honest with you, at the moment. I'm not sure who's sponsoring that.

Q. It's the Founders Cup.

PAUL AZINGER: Brand new, Hollis Stacy had everything to do with that coming, and she did a great job. We have the Korn Ferry event in Sarasota also now, and the seniors in Naples, and Concession is hosting big events, new courses are being built, so that's on the mend.

The younger audience, I don't know if the TGL was trying to strike a younger audience. I don't know if their demographic is out there that we don't know about, but maybe that's part of it. I heard Monahan mentioned trying to use those kinds of technologies to try to draw in younger crowds.

Great competition brings in the viewers. I can tell you that. Great, interesting competition is what people want to see in my opinion. That's just the way it is.

Q. Bernhard, you have been playing golf for a long time, and I'm the last person to ask anybody when they're going to retire because I'm certainly up there in age, but do you have a number in mind, or do you say I'm going until I'm 80 or go until whenever?

BERNHARD LANGER: No, I never had a number in mind. I always said the three things that need to be in place: First of all, I've got to be healthy to swing the club the way I want to swing it. Secondly, I've got to enjoy the game and have a desire, and certainly I need to be in contention or playing at a level where I'm not finishing in the bottom third of the field every week.

I've always said, if those three things are still there, if I have the desire, the health and the success, I probably will continue to play the Champions Tour. When one or two of these things go away, then it's probably time to quit playing.

Obviously if I'm not healthy, I can't play at all. If I don't have some success, I may not enjoy it as much, and then it's time to pack it in, too.

I have seen a decline of my distance over the last five years a little bit, which makes it harder for me to compete on some of the longer courses. I have to play really well to be in contention.

Even though last year I missed several months and I had a major surgery with the achilles injury I had, I still finished seventh in the Schwab Cup. I just had a good start this year. So I don't see any immediate need or reason to quit. But life can throw something at you and things can stop in a heartbeat. I'll take it one day at a time or one week at a time and certainly look forward to being over at the Chubb Classic in 10 days or so.

Q. Has the equipment helped you stay competitive?

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, yeah, I think the equipment helped everybody, not just us. It actually maybe helped the young guys even more because for every mile you swing faster, the ball goes probably two to three yards further. So driving the ball is so much easier now with the bigger club head and the lighter shaft and all that. Guys hit it over 300 yards, well over 300 yards, and they're still precise. You couldn't have done that with the persimmon club. It was much harder, much less forgiving. Even the golf ball has changed dramatically. It just goes further. It goes straighter. It lasts longer. So there's many things.

Even the hybrid club when it was introduced, it's so much easier to hit a hybrid than it is to hit a 1-iron or a 2-iron. So there's many aspects of the game where the technology has made a huge difference and made it easier for everybody in the game.

Q. A quick follow-up on Bernhard's longevity, shooting a 63 in Hawai'i.

PAUL AZINGER: Yeah, that's pretty incredible you continue to shoot those kind of scores, Bernhard. It's blowing me away.

You alluded to the persimmon driver. The driver went from the hardest club to hit to the easiest because you used to get a driver that looked good, like man, this looks nice, and then you had to make your swing hit it somehow. You always had to make your swing fit the driver. That's just the way it was.

I wished I could wake up with the same driver swing and the same iron swing, but you can almost do that now even though the iron is more of a descending blow. I just think the game has gotten easier. It's made it easier to stick around longer probably, Bernhard, but you have to stay healthy.

I'd just say, Bernhard, I know you went snow skiing there after Hawai'i. Was that fun for you? You talk about life comes at you fast, but you're heading down the slope having a big time.

Another thing, I was thinking, I wonder if deep down inside Bernhard wants to win a tournament in his 70s.

BERNHARD LANGER: I don't know. I haven't thought that far ahead. But who knows. But to go back to the skiing, it was an absolute blast. We went to Utah, Park City, for a week, had six days of skiing out of seven, so I was pretty tired. I was pooped because there were no lines at all, we had blue skies, and the one day I didn't ski, it was snowing all day, so we decided to go cross country skiing, which is one of the best exercises you can do.

So I truly had a wonderful time, and I can't wait for my next ski trip, to plan it.

PAUL AZINGER: When you're heading down a slope or doing that long-distance skiing, are you thinking about, I am treating my leg after that injury? Or are you thinking, I'm testing my leg?

BERNHARD LANGER: Actually neither. I had so much fun just letting gravity take care of it. The cool thing is my injury was the achilles in the foot, so that's all tied into a boot now. The ski boot goes almost all the way up to the knee, so there was no issue whatsoever. I had no problem shifting weight or putting pressure on it. It was actually, in regards to my injury, maybe one of the safest things I could do because I couldn't really hurt my foot no matter what I did.

PAUL AZINGER: So is that the first time you skied since that big injury?

BERNHARD LANGER: Yes, it has been. There was a small question mark whether I could do it, but I was actually convinced it should work because of the boot. Everything is so tight and packed in there that nothing can move, and it's very protected and very solid. Sure, you can break a leg, you can break an arm, you can do all sorts of things, and it may not even be your fault, but the actual surgery from the achilles tendon was no issue whatsoever.

PAUL AZINGER: Congratulations because I know how much skiing is a part of your blood.

BERNHARD LANGER: It's just the opposite from golf. In golf you play in the sunshine on green grass, and now you go into the frozen tundra and it's icicles and you've got to put on four or five layers and have a face mask and goggles, and just the snow on the trees and the peaks, I love it. I grew up that way, and I enjoy it. I wouldn't want to live in it all year long, but for a few weeks a year, it's awesome.

Q. Bernhard, I know you've always been a very humble, gracious, everything, not big on tooting your own horn. Obviously your records and your numbers are astounding. Do you ever take a personal moment perhaps and just realize not only how good at the game you are but how good for the game of golf you are to people of all ages, all handicaps, all skill levels?

BERNHARD LANGER: Well, that's very kind of you to say I am that, and I hope to be a good role model. I usually don't spend too much time looking at my achievements, but my caddie Terry Holt, a dear friend of mine, as well, every once in a while, like two weeks ago we were in Hawai'i, in Hualalai, and he goes, you made it here 17 years in a row or 18, and I'm going, yep, you're right, we're very blessed. This is a great achievement and wonderful to qualify for that small field every year and a fantastic place.

Then when I won the Schwab Cup last November, to make it 18 years in a row winning at least one tournament on the Champions Tour, which is also a record, we contemplated on the same things, said man, it's incredible that we were able to win 18 years in a row because the competition is so tough.

There's moments and a brief time when we look back and celebrate when we have been blessed with and given, but the focus is always on the future and the next tournament that comes around the corner.

Q. Paul, just taking you back to your start when you got into this end of the business, the golf analyst, is that something that you ever even entertained the thought of seeing yourself doing later in your career, and how much of a learning curve was it, and how much are you enjoying it now?

PAUL AZINGER: You don't get any time for a learning curve. You just go in there and you either can do it or you can't do it, and I was a player -- I was 45 when I started, so it was easy to do. I was still playing full time.

I do remember as a kid chipping golf balls to trunks of little trees and stuff and I always had a Hogan ball, a Snead ball, a Nicklaus ball, a Trevino ball, and I would always play and be the announcer in my head, and I was always doing that, which is kind of weird.

But yeah, I'm happy I've ended up being able to do this. I've always had a little bit of a limited role until NBC -- actually the first two years at ABC, 20 tournaments each year for two years, and a full schedule -- I kept my card both years and that was tricky.

But beyond that, ESPN was limited, FOX -- although it was 11 years long, FOX was limited, and then ESPN was really full time. This is almost limited, 12 events, I think. I'm pretty happy that -- you hit that fork in the road, and you just got to take it sometimes, and I did.

I wasn't as sold out or committed. I had an injury at just the wrong time, and I didn't want a bunch of Hall-of-Famers out-preparing me, so that's the way I looked at it.

THE MODERATOR: Bernhard and Paul, Sandy mentioned at the top of the call that this is the 38th year of the Chubb Classic. Chubb is the longest running title sponsor on the Champions Tour, and also Servpro is our presenting sponsor. For those of us that live here on the West Coast of Florida, Servpro has been pretty impactful for a lot of us.

What we're doing at the tournament, Sandy mentioned, is the Servpro Hero Outpost where it's complimentary admission to all military, first responders, fire, medical, doctors who have kept us safe.

It's also a little bit -- it's been a few months but it's going to be a little bit of a respite for southwest Florida. Paul, I know that you have been personally involved in this because Hurricane Milton gave you guys a pretty good beating. For both of you guys, just talk a little bit about what tournaments like this -- we touched on it a little bit ago, but what tournaments like this in southwest Florida and what Servpro and Chubb are doing to little bit of a respite to the community here as we still continue to recover from last year.

PAUL AZINGER: Well, I feel like sometimes that's the most underappreciated aspect of what's going on during those weeks. You have all the great players there, and it's a great thing to watch and entertaining and all that, but the effects that go out, it's like you want as many tentacles as you can have branching out or you want as many -- only as few as three or four branching out so you can stay focused on one single thing.

I know Servpro has been all over the state of Florida. The state took a hit. Everyone has got a story now. Every barrier island from Naples all the way to Cedar Key was covered with water at some point in the last couple years, even this past year, I think, and Servpro has been there serving the community, and the fact that they want to come in there and sponsor this event to get their name out, more power to them.

I'm proud to be a part of something that they're about.

BERNHARD LANGER: I totally agree with Paul. I think it's fantastic to have continuity with Chubb and the Champions Tour. It obviously works for both of them very well. It's a great market for them. We're always thrilled to have sponsors that are not just in for two or three years but for the longevity.

Servpro, I actually had a flood in my house a few years ago, and I called Servpro, and they did a wonderful job. They're professionals, truly do wonderful and amazing things to help people that are in trouble. I would highly recommend them from my personal experience with them.

But like Paul already alluded to, the real winner are the local charities. It's the money that we're able to raise for the local markets to enhance certain charities, and they're giving to help them out so the tournaments have a great impact on the local communities. That is down to the many volunteers that are helping out without getting paid, as the name volunteer says, and the sponsors that are there -- the title sponsors and supporting sponsors for the tournament.

So we're grateful for that, and we're also grateful that we can help the local communities and the charities that are involved.

THE MODERATOR: That is perfectly well said, guys, thank you. Yes, the Chubb Classic proceeds benefit over 30 organizations, 30 charities throughout southwest Florida.

Once again, we're going to have over 600 volunteers gracing the fairways of Tiburón Golf Club.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for the time today. Everybody on the call, thank you very much for joining. There will be additional announcements coming next week on additional commitments. Also as our sponsor exemptions and a couple of additional new enhancements that we're going to be doing, so be on the lookout for that.