	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

GINN CLUBS AND RESORTS MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 22, 2006

Annika Sorenstam

STEVE BRENER: I'd like to welcome everybody. To start out I'd like to turn it over to Ginn Clubs and Resorts president and CEO, Bobby Ginn. Bobby has an announcement to make today. Bobby?
BOBBY GINN: Thanks, Steve. This is an exciting day for us at Ginn. After over two years of working with Annika on the possibility of her bringing her academy to Reunion, Florida, the resort that we have in Osceola County next to Orlando, we finally today broke ground and had an announcement that the facility will start construction immediately and be completed in about a year, and Annika will be the operator and owner of the facility.
We just couldn't be more pleased at Reunion to be able to have someone like Annika take the interest in giving something back to the game of golf. It's very important to us as a company. Golf is a part of everything that we do. Almost every community we have is centered around golf, and Reunion was certainly that way with three great golf courses. It was always planned that we would have great golf and that we would have potential tournaments on the golf courses we have here and eventually we would have an academy.
But to have Annika and someone of her stature that's best of the best is going to do nothing but help us elevate how we operate as a company and how this facility will operate inside he union resort. So today was an extremely important day for us, a lot of hard work went in on both sides. And Annika's enthusiasm, it helped all of us work that much harder to bring this thing off to the highest level that we can and certainly we want to try to give her the best platform to work off of. So it makes it a very exciting day for Reunion.
STEVE BRENER: Annika, you're going to be a busy lady. Talk about the academy.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I know. I will be a busy lady. But this is a dream of mine, something I've been working on for three years, and obviously I'm very excited about today because to be able to announce this means a lot to me. And first of all, I found a great partner in Bobby Ginn and Reunion, to really see my vision, to kind of see what I'm talking about. And we're going to be able to showcase obviously something that I stand for, but also with Reunion and what they stand for, which is a first-class, one-of-a-kind facility where anybody who enjoys the game can come and work with my instructor that I've been working with for over 20 years; but then also combine it with fitness and there will be my trainer I've been working with for over five years. So you'll be coming to the school and working with those two directly, and we are going to have Annika drills, Annika exercises.
And this is really a great way for me to share my knowledge, give back to the game and hopefully to reach out to all people that enjoy the game. We're talking about juniors, we're talking about adults, you name it. But when it comes to the juniors, this is the way for me to give back by giving them good fundamentals and hopefully they get a chance to enjoy the game as much as I do because this game has been wonderful to me.
So I'm really excited about this. I'm very, very proud of what we have accomplished so far and I'm looking forward to the future and what more stuff we can do. But this is just one thing out of many.
So, a great day, and very proud to be associated with Bobby and his team.
STEVE BRENER: Do you foresee additional Annika Sorenstam Academies, or are you planning just the one here?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: We're starting with one. I want to make this one-of-a-kind, and then we go from there.
STEVE BRENER: And your coach is Henry Reis; is that right?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Henry Reis, that's correct.
STEVE BRENER: He'll be the lead instructor?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes.

Q. I'm just wondering if this academy, if there is a particular academy you looked at when thinking of this one, or have you patterned it after anything else?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, no, it's not really a pattern from anything. I think it's just things that, you know, when you travel around the world, you see a lot of things. I've been fortunate to go to many private facilities where I would see clubs with great service and really what I'm doing is I'm just taking those ideas and putting it into one to combine it with my instructors.
I mean, there's a lot of golf schools out there, there are a lot of gyms and fitness areas, and now I'm trying to put it together in one area. And really what I want to achieve is that first-class experience that people are looking for. That's really what Reunion Resorts and Clubs is all about, and here I can give them my name and my knowledge.

Q. How large will the staff be?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: We're actually not going to be very big, probably five, six people total.

Q. And you're going to handpick the staff?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yes, we already started the interview process, and I've been part of every interview so far.

Q. Curious how much of this new academy will Vision 54 be incorporated? Obviously you talked about the fitness aspect. How much of the mental part of the game that you lean on so much on the LPGA will become a part of the academy as well?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: That's a very good question. Definitely, it's going to be one of the building stones of this academy. As you know I've been working very closely with Pia Nilsson, and she's going to make some visits at the academy and we will be doing programs together.
The difference from the Vision 54 of today is we're going to bring the fitness part to it. So I'm very excited about that. I think that's really going to be something special.

Q. Is the academy going to be open only to members of Reunion and guests that are staying at Reunion, or can the general public come in and use the academy?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think I can answer that question. It's going to be open to really any golf enthusiast. It's going to be right here. So members will obviously pretty much -- they will be right here, so it will be really convenient for them. But it's really open to anyone who wants to get better and learn more about the game.

Q. And I know that Reunion is such a family-friendly environment and I know that fitness is going to be a big part of your academy, but is there any type of program that you see having for children and helping them kind of grow into the game and get them excited about the game?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Oh, absolutely. I can't give you really any specific programs yet and packages. We're just in the beginning stages. But that's definitely something we're targeting.
You know, as a golfer growing up, I know what it's all about, and we're definitely reaching out to kids at all levels. I think, you know, we're so lucky to have Reunion on our side. There's so many things you can do here. I think the academy is just one thing, but we're definitely trying to come up with some fun summer activities for the kids. They have a great water park here, we have tennis, everything, you name it. So I think we're going to be able to offer everything a kid can want.

Q. Just wondering how much time you intend on spending with this, can we expect to see you gradually cutting back on your playing schedule to focus on your academy more?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, like I said this is just the beginning, and I'm in the middle of competing and so forth. I have a few more years to give 100%, and maybe in a few years we will gradually expand the academy. I will make a few personal appearances at the academy, but, you know, obviously playing is my first priority.

Q. I don't want to put you in a rocking chair yet, but when the time comes and you gradually start to cut back your schedule, will this make it easier, do you think, for to you give up the playing aspect?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I mean, this is one of the things I'm working on. I'm planting a seed for what to do after the competition and the academy is one part. I've been involved in some golf course design. I'm getting involved with the golf tournament that I'm sure you've heard about, the Ginn Tribute in Charleston.
So that's are just a few things that I'm just starting to plant a seed for, so I think it will be a lot easier for me to say good-bye to the competition when I have all of these great projects on the side.

Q. Has this been a more difficult than you thought to put together, easier; how would you gauge that?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well so far, it's been all right. It's been a little more than I thought but I think now it's when it really starts. It's one thing to have ideas in the head. It's one thing to plot them down on paper. All of a sudden I'm seeing trucks, I'm seeing the people involved; I'm getting a little nervous.

Q. How many resorts are there and will you be expanding to other places?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: You mean how many resorts the Ginn Company has?

Q. Yes.
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: I think maybe Bobby can answer that.
BOBBY GINN: We're developing resorts all over. There are two that we have here in Florida, but this is the only one that has a golf academy. I think this is the only one that Annika has got a golf academy at for sure.

Q. For those of us on the West Coast, is there any chance that the golf academies will eventually be moved out here or have some out here?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: We're working on that. You know, obviously it's something we would like to achieve down the road. We're just excited to have one. We're going to do this the best we can and then we're going to take bigger turns.

Q. Obviously your good friend and practice pal, Tiger Woods, opened up a different kind of center in California this year, a learning center, and I'm curious if you consulted with him the all or talked with him at all about kind of what his process was of kind of leaving something for future generations, and did you compare notes with him at all in your endeavor?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, I've talked to him a little bit about it. Obviously he's doing something incredible over there and something I think is very inspirational. This will be as of now, a bit on a smaller scale, but we have the same agent, so I've got a lot of ideas from him. So I'm definitely following somebody who has achieved a lot and who is making great headway.
It's fun to be able to share something like that with him. Obviously I admire him a lot and what he's achieved on the course and off the course.

Q. And just for the record, I imagine you probably received a text from him sometime in the last couple of days; can you confirm that?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, I can't really tell you what it says other than, you know, he's just reminding me who is leading.

Q. Probably we have a First Tee chapter in Lakeland, and I was wondering if the academy would be something that those junior golfers would be able to take part in?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Yeah, absolutely. As a matter of fact today here at the announcement and kind of the breaking ground, we invited a few of the girls here, so they have already participated which was great.

Q. Bobby you have two LPGA events, you're sponsoring a Champions Tour event, anything else in the works you can maybe tell us about?
BOBBY GINN: We've got a few things going on. (Laughter) We're not ready to make an announcement but we are obviously expanding our event schedule.
We have announced as you know Charleston with Annika hosting there. We've come back and we have a course in Naples this year, and we're sponsoring the Champions Tour in Hammock Beach in the Open here at Reunion. But we are continuing to be aggressive to add professional golf to as many of the resorts as we can get dates on. It's a huge part of our overall plan.

Q. When will the academy be fully functional, when will it be fully up and ready to go?
ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Our plan right now is waiting for our permits and once we get the permits, it will probably be a year.
But I think really what we're trying to do is be able to showcase it for the LPGA tournament here, but it won't be up and running until probably early fall next year.
STEVE BRENER: We have a news release that I'll get out to everyone, and we will have a transcript of the call.

End of FastScripts...

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297