PGA CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

June 27, 2005

Rob Correa

John Huneke

David Levy

Vijay Singh

Roger Warren

JULIUS MASON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Julius Mason, the director of public relations and media relations for the PGA of America, and I'd like welcome you to the 87th PGA Championship Media Day. I'd like to begin by introducing the members of our head table beginning with Rob Correa, senior vice president of programming at CBS Sports; John Huneke, general chairman of the 87th PGA Championship; Vijay Singh, the defending PGA Champion; Roger Warren, the president of the PGA of America; and David Levy, the president of Turner Sports. We also have a number of special guests in the audience joining us and I'd like you to meet some of them now. Representing the New Jersey PGA section, vice president, Mickie Gallagher. The secretary, Mike Sparks, from Baltusrol Golf Club. General manager, Kevin Vitale, president, Rich Secrist, and superintendent Mark Kuhns. We have a host of PGA Championship staff members also joining us, headed by tournament director Andy Bush in the front row right here. And now it's my pleasure to go ahead and turn the mic over to the president of PGA of America, from Kiawah Island, South Carolina Mr. Roger Warren. ROGER WARREN: Thank you, Julius. It's certainly a pleasure to be here as we start the 87th PGA Championship Media Day. In less than two months, New Jersey will experience its second PGA Championship in 87 years, and I can tell you we're very excited to be back here for the PGA Championship. And Baltusrol Golf Clubs represents for us a continuation of our commitment to take our major championship to the best championship venues in the country, and certainly Baltusrol represents that. The par-70 course for this championship will play at 7,392 yards. It will certainly feature two par 4s over 500 yards, and it will feature the par 5, 17th that will be played at 650 yards. So it will certainly be a challenge to the players. Our history has proven that we have the strongest fields assembled in major championship golf. Last year we had 95 out of the Top-100 players in our championship. It also features 27 players who have a combined record of 50 major championships in their careers, and they are all representing 19 countries from around the world. The PGA Championship is the only championship that features an all-professional field. And with this field, we will also have 25 of our club professionals in the field. Yesterday at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, we concluded the Club Professional Championship where 25 players earned the right to come to the 87th PGA Championship here at Baltusrol and they are all excited about that, the Top-25 earned that berth. The excitement of the PGA Championship commands a global audience. In addition to the millions of people who watch it in the United States, there will be 27 hours of championship coverage on CBS Sports and TNT. There will be millions of viewers in over 160 countries who will see this and we think there will be over 371 million homes for this championship. So it is a major championship seen around the world and it's exciting. We are extremely excited about being in this community. We know that the 87th PGA Championship will draw an enthusiastic support. This community over the years has always demonstrated their support for major are championship golf and we look forward to that support. Some of the fans who don't have the opportunity to get here to Baltusrol do have the opportunity to experience some of the PGA Championship and they can do that at the PGA Championship exhibit, The PGA Championship Exhibit: A History of the Season's Final Major. This is now on display at the New Jersey Center For Visual Arts, and it's a great way for people who have not -- who don't know the history of the championship to see its history and we were happy to be here recently and unveil Vijay's contribution to the exhibit, and I think it added wonderfully to that exhibit. This is truly an amazing collection of golf memorabilia. We are extremely excited to be here for this major championship. We are also very proud of our defending champion, Vijay Singh, and what he represents to the game and the quality of play, and certainly it's nice to have the No. 1 player in golf be your champion for the PGA Championship. Thank you for being here today.

ROB CORREA: Thank you, Julius. 2005 will be the 15th consecutive PGA Championship for CBS Sports. We began with John Daly in 1991, and we've seen some incredible stuff over the years including Davis and the rainbow, Tiger and the Bob May playoff. We've had multiple winners in Vijay, Tiger, Nick Price and a ton of first-time major winners, Micheel, Toms, as of late anyway, and in the last 12 years of covering the PGA Championship we have had five playoffs. We have gone to some incredibly unique golf courses in Sahalee and last year Whistling Straits, and we went to some traditional golf course, Medinah, Winged Foot and obviously this year at Baltusrol. On a ratings note, the three highest-rated PGA Championship Sundays within the last 25 years have actually been within the last six years, which is really pretty incredible considering what a fracture of the television audience is these days, and especially in light of the fact we have expanded our coverage to include so many hours. It's really difficult to get a good rating, and it's a pretty remarkable story in our business anyway. Our production will be headed by Lance Barrow, our coordinating producer and Steve Milton will direct. They are both under the tutelage of Tony Batitti. Our announcer lineup will be in towers, Peter Oosterhuis, Bobby Clampett, Gary McCord, Vern Lundquist and Bill Mackatee. David Feherty and Peter Kostis will be roaming the grounds and the 18th tower will be manned by Jim Nantz and 1977 PGA Champion, Lanny Wadkins. Our TV schedule includes a preview show kicking off our coverage on Sunday August 7 at two o'clock. We will have highlights at 12:37 A.M., and our coverage begins Saturday and Sunday of the PGA Championship. And now we'll show you some sights and sounds of past PGA Championships. (Video played).

DAVID LEVY: 2005 marks our 14th consecutive year that Turner Sports will have carried the PGA Championship with our partners at CBS. It's the sixth consecutive year the tournament will be televised on TNT. On TNT we will carry 17 hours of live coverage, six hours on Thursday from 1:00 to 7:00, six hours on Friday again from 1:00 to 7:00, and 2 1/2 hours on Saturday and Sunday, 11:00 to 1:30, giving a full 17 hours of coverage. The coverage will be hosted by Ernie Johnson from the tower. EJ will be with Bobby Clampett as well as Billy Kratzer and Jim Huber. Joining our long-time partners at the PGA of America is a special one, and one that has been a great extension to our sports so much that in 2003 we extended our rights for the PGA Championship, along with the PGA Grand Slam of Golf through 2011. Along with our television rights and through our interactive group, also acquired the rights to PGA.COM, the official site of the 27,000 for the PGA professionals around the country, also through 2011. That means that fans can log on to PGA.COM to follow all of the players, including Vijay, competing in the championship for additional coverage of the tournament, including realtime scoring, player bios, an interactive course tour and some holes that can be seen in broadband. Finally, not only does the winner of this title capture a major championship, the prize money and everything else that comes with it, they also get a ticket to Hawaii to compete with Tiger Woods, who won the Masters, and Michael Campbell, the U.S. Open winner, and the British Open winner on TNT for exclusive coverage of the PGA Grand Slam which will happen on November 22 and 23. In all, TNT will air more hours of major championship golf this year than any other network broadcast or cable. Along with the 17 hours of PGA Championship coverage, TNT will also air 28 hours of the British Open, as well as 11 hours of the Presidents Cup and seven hours of the Grand Slam of Golf. We're really proud to be a part of this, we're proud of our partners, we love our relationship with the PGA and we wish Vijay all the luck.

JOHN HUNEKE: You're too kind. And they all saw me play last week, so they know, that's not the case. Let me say on behalf of the 87th PGA Championship committee, and the members of Baltusrol, we appreciate all of the support you've been giving us over these past several months in connection with this great event. We're very excited about it. Baltusrol, as you know, was founded in 1895. This is our 110th anniversary this year, and we have hosted 15 major National Championships, including seven U.S. Opens. We began hosting actually in 1901 with the Woman's Amateur Championship, and then 1903 with the Men's U.S. Open Championship. This is our first opportunity to work with the PGA, and we are very proud of the fact that this is going so well, and we're very proud that the PGA Championship is now going to be a part of the history and tradition of Baltusrol. One of the questions I keep getting, which surprises me somewhat, is that people ask me if there are tickets available. Just so people know, I guess we are sold out of Sunday and daily tickets, but there are some other tickets available at this time, including the Wannamaker Club tickets. I think they are $400 plus tax. It's a VIP package in an air-conditioned pavilion with food and beverages. The other option is a seven-day season pass. The Wannamaker is also a seven-day ticket. And finally, we do have some daily tickets available for the championship rounds on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, as well as practice rounds on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Again, we will also have junior tickets available at the gate, so you cannot buy those ahead of time. I guess I'm supposed to give you this information, although it's probably in your packet, but you can do it on the Internet, www.pga2005.com, or you can call 1-800-PGA-TCKT. Just to reiterate, just want you to know that Baltusrol has been involved in major championship golf for a long time and we think this is going to be one of our most exciting events ever and we look forward to that. And from what I saw this morning, these guys can really play. (Laughter). This guy can.

ROGER WARREN: That's another story we won't talk about today. I had the opportunity today to understand why this man is a major champion. The PGA Championship continues the tradition of having great championship moments, and certainly last year at Whistling Straits, Vijay was involved in one of those. After having grounded out through a day with no birdies on the round to get to the playoff, and then to get to the tenth hole and almost drive the green and win the playoff with the birdie, that was his first birdie, that was another example of the doggedness with which he plays the game. He is known as one of hardest workers in the game and his play is represented by his patience to work toward to getting to the point where can win. He never lost his head in that process and demonstrates why he was won the PGA Championship. He has won it twice and has won three majors. He has won championships in over 15 countries around the world. He's had 27 PGA TOUR victories and 22 around the world. Last year he was leading money winner with almost $11 million after winning nine titles. It's clear that he is, even though he is now the No. 2 player in the world, as he told me, even though I kept telling him it was fun getting beat bit No. 1 player in the world today, we are very proud to have Vijay Singh with us here today as our defending champion for the 87th PGA Championship. Ladies and gentlemen, Vijay Singh. (Applause).

VIJAY SINGH: Thanks, Roger. It's been really fun being the PGA Champion. I think I've managed myself pretty well hopefully, and it was great winning there. It was my second win as a PGA Champion and my first major was the PGA. So I have great feelings for the PGA and in my heart, and it goes a long ways back. Today I had a great time, and the golf course sets up pretty well. It's going to be pretty long, the way I played it today, a lot of 5-irons and 4-irons and 3-irons, and if you're Corey Pavin, you need a lot of woods I guess. It's going to play really long, but it sets up really well for a great event. I think the way the rough is growing in, I think we're in for a great tournament. And I'm already up, by the way. I made 60 bucks. It's all legal. I'm looking forward to this 87th PGA Championship, and hopefully I can be sitting here, sitting like this somewhere again next year and doing the same thing.

VIJAY SINGH: Yeah, I missed a driver left. Hit my 5-wood over the green. I only had like 190 -- it was 99 yards, so round it off to 200 from the middle. So if I was in the fairway, I probably would have hit something like 6-iron, made. Next hole I took a driver. My caddie really didn't tell me where to go, so I hit in the cross-bunker. I only had 90 to the flag. The third hole is a long one, I hit a really good drive way down there, and this is possible going to be one of the tougher holes on the whole tournament. I hit a very good 5-iron to the green, so actually two good shots to the green and made par. Fourth hole, I hit another 5-iron, so hit to the middle of the green. The pin was back to probably a 4-iron to the pin par and 2-putted. Fifth hole --

JOHN HUNEKE: You had driver, 8-iron.

VIJAY SINGH: The fifth hole.

VIJAY SINGH: Yeah, exactly. I remember now I guess. (Laughter) I hit a good drive. And my caddie again did not tell me there was a false front. So you had to carry over that. So I hit it way up there, and actually hit a pretty good shot and the ball spun all the way off. Chipped up and missed the putt. But I was winning, so it didn't really matter what. I kind of felt sorry, he (Roger) was already 4-down after four. (Laughter). Sixth hole, I hit a really good drive. This is another hole that's probably going to be a lot of trouble to the players. The fairway is crowned in the middle and if you just hit it off-line you're going to miss the fairway. I hit an 8-iron close about six or eight feet and missed that one. But Julius gave me the putt if I hit it. The seventh hole, another long hole, depending on which tee you play. I think we played the right tee and I hit a driver, 5-iron to the green there and 2-putted. The eighth hole, what was the eighth hole?

JOHN HUNEKE: The par 4.

ROGER WARREN: Down the left side.

VIJAY SINGH: I hit a good drive there, sand wedge or L-wedge just past the pin. Ninth hole, I hit another 5-iron, right to the middle of the green, actually pin-high and 2-putted again. Roger was in the left bushes and chopping woods. 10th hole I hit another good drive. That's another really tough driving hole because the fairway narrows up. I hit a 6-iron to the green and 2-putted again there. 11, I don't think I'll be doing that in the tournament.

JOHN HUNEKE: I was going to ask you about that.

VIJAY SINGH: I hit a really, really good drive and then kind of overdid it there. Put a little too much energy into the shot, but I only had 9-iron or wedge. I hit a wedge into that hole -- no. I think I hit a sand wedge. It came up short, yeah. But it was on the green but just short. So it plays 440, but if you cut the corner, it becomes a lot shorter.

JOHN HUNEKE: But you're not going to do that in the tournament.

VIJAY SINGH: Probably not. It's too risky, I think, to play short of the bunkers and hit a 7-iron. The par 3, that's a long one, I hit a 3-iron there and came up almost pin-high. No big deal of a hole, it's pretty wide open in front of it. 13th hole, that's the hazard. I hit it in the hazard there. But I dropped out, it flew all the way there.

ROGER WARREN: And I made birdie.

VIJAY SINGH: And he made birdie. That was the first birdie anyone made in the group, (laughter) but then again, you're actually able to hit a driver or 3-wood. It really does not matter; it's a short hole. 14th hole, that's a good driving hole. It's around the corner to the left side. I hit a driver, 7-iron pretty close there. I missed the putt but I won the hole. 15th hole, again, another good driving hole. All of these holes are very long. If you don't hit the driver -- you've got to hit driver and you've got to hit in the fairway. The roughs are not that high, but if you miss the fairway it's going to be difficult getting up on the greens. All of the greens are elevated and very undulating. I hit driver, 8-iron pretty close and missed the putt there. Again, I won the hole.

ROGER WARREN: Yeah, you're still 1-down.

VIJAY SINGH: 16th hole I hit a 3-iron. I had to really hit a good 3-iron because through the flag. The caddie said it was like 240, and the pin was pretty much back. This is a hole that's going to give a lot of trouble to the players I think if it gets firm. I hit a 3-iron and just went to the back edge, chipped up and made the putt. 17, I hit probably my best driver of the day and then I hit best 3-wood of the day and was still 70 yards from the green. Chipped up to about eight feet and holed that one for my first birdie of the day, and won the hole. And 18, I hit a very good drive down the middle. Hit a 3-iron just came off just hit the right side of the green, chipped up and made the putt. See, I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens. If I can do this in the tournament, I think I'm going to be okay, Julius.

VIJAY SINGH: Well, you need some downwind help I think. Is it the same length?

JOHN HUNEKE: No.

VIJAY SINGH: Why did you have to make it longer? One guy hit it, that's why. (Laughter). I tell you, I hit my best drive there, and the caddie came up to me, says "You've only got 375 to the middle of the green." I said, "Okay, that's fine."

JOHN HUNEKE: Uphill.

VIJAY SINGH: Uphill, too. No, it does help. If the ground gets firm and it's downwind, you would probably be able to. You can fly it 300 low, 350 yards, you have a chance to get up there, but it's very unlikely.

VIJAY SINGH: You can, but you're going to have a lot of long irons in. Most of the holes, if you look at it, the first is 478 and then it's, you know, 503, 482, 505. You can't be hitting 3-woods. It just makes the golf course so much harder, and if it's hard and firm, maybe. But if it's what it was today -- and it's pretty generous out there. It's not really tight. So if you're hitting a driver good, you know, why not take it out. There are a few short holes where you don't need it, but mostly you're going to hit probably eight to ten drivers a round.

VIJAY SINGH: Probably even par, if they gave me that little putt I missed.

VIJAY SINGH: It's 1-under if they gave me that little one I missed, but I think it was even.

VIJAY SINGH: Well, it's very similar to the U.S. Open but it's a little bit more fair. You know, the rough -- the fairways will maybe be five yards more wider, and it's not as severe as the U.S. Open. The bunkers are playable. For some reason the USGA come in and do something to the bunkers where you can't get any spin out of it or something like that. The greens, come Sunday, the greens play the same as they do on a Thursday or a Friday. They still stop, they receive balls the same way. The USGA, for some reason I think they put dryers on Friday night. Come Saturday morning, you just don't know what happened to the greens; they just changed colors and Sunday is the same way. That's the big difference. The golf course doesn't change from Thursday to Sunday that much, and that's the big difference in the conditions.

VIJAY SINGH: Well, I don't know. I mean, I think the longer hitters are going to have an advantage. But then again longer hitters are going to hit more times into the rough; so the shorter hitter, depending how short he is, I mean, if he's very short then he's probably going to have no chance. But if he's medium, if he's in the middle of the pack, then he has to hit a lot of fairways to have chances to attack the greens and the pins. So I would say there's advantages to longer hitters, but you still have to hit it straighter. And it depends how thick the rough gets. You have bluegrass here; that can get pretty nasty. If it's playable, then obviously if you can hit out of the rough enough times, you'll be okay.

VIJAY SINGH: Well, 17 really, you can't really say it's a reachable or birdie opportunity. I mean, it really -- you have to lay-up, and if you miss the fairway off the tee then it's a really difficult par 5 then. But 18 is very playable and very reachable. I got up there with a 3-iron today. Most of the guys will be able to get up, and it gives you a chance. I think 18 gives you a chance if you're one back or two back to actually recover and have a chance to catch the leaders if you're playing behind them. It just makes it more exciting I think for the crowd. It makes it for exciting for TV. So in that way, I think it will be an exciting finish.

VIJAY SINGH: Yeah, it was ten yards in front of me 3-iron. (Laughter). Kidding. No, I actually didn't see it. I did not notice it, sorry. But I will when I play next time.

ROGER WARREN: Well, the decision to come here was, obviously we're very excited to be able to bring a PGA Championship to a championship-caliber course like Baltusrol. With the history, the strong history they have had with the U.S. Open and major championships here, we were very, very pleased that we could come to an agreement to bring our championship here. Because of the commitment of the PGA of America to take our championship to the great, old, traditional golf courses of this country, and then also to take them to the newer great golf courses like Whistling Straits, this fits our mission in terms of what we want to do this with event. So we are very happy that we had the opportunity to make an agreement with Baltusrol to come here. I think that the championship this year will show that this golf course is still a great championship golf course.

JOHN HUNEKE: Baltusrol has always been a pretty long golf course. We haven't done a lot of lengthening. There's two holes where we have added yardage. Specifically, and that would be the third hole, which is now playing at 503. We've added about 35 yards, or so, to that hole from 1993. And we also added 25 yards, 20 yards actually, to the 17th. The feeling, I mean when it was originally designed by Tillinghast, the purpose of the whole design was to make -- to give the player the opportunity to hit driver, and it has always been a long golf course. What we've tried to do in our changes over time is to keep the course playing the way Tillinghast would have wanted it to be played, hitting the same kind of shots to greens, particularly for second shots. On 3, for instance, it goes downhill, and people were getting so long, players were so long that they were able to catch that hill. And instead of having mid-.iron which it was designed for, they would be hitting 9-irons. I think Vijay just said that he hit a 5-iron; that's back to the way Tillinghast wanted it to be played. That's the way he designed the hole. With respect to 17, 17 has always been known as one of the great three-shot par 5s in the world. We really wanted it to continue to be a three-shot par 5, and if you don't hit the fairway on the first shot, it brings the cross-bunkers on that hole into play. Without that extra yardage, the cross-bunkers really were no longer in play for the professional golfer, unless had he hit a really bad shot. So if you're in the rough; but that's all we've really done. The rest of it has been tweaking.

VIJAY SINGH: 16.

JOHN HUNEKE: 16, you have to help me here, Mark, when did they take 16 back? It didn't play that long for the Open, did it?

MARK KUHNS: No, about three years ago.

JOHN HUNEKE: Three years ago we took that back, also. It's all been a long par 3 and downhill.

VIJAY SINGH: You moved the creek on 13.

JOHN HUNEKE: That wasn't lengthening. Another major design change, this was the hole that's probably been changed the most was hole No. 13 where Vijay hit in a creek. But what we did was we extended it. It was always the same basic design, it's been lengthened probably 20 yards, but we did move the creek out closer to the fairway because the original design, again, was for that creek, which angles away from you in play. Over time the creek got so long that the creek really wasn't in play, so we moved it toward the fairway and we extended the bunkers on the left-hand side. So now visually it's a tougher shot and if people -- if you lose the shot to the right, your chances of going in that creek are pretty high. If you pull it left, then you're going to be in some fairly deep bunkers or rough. So you have to be fairly precise with the driver on that hole. That's probably been the major change, the hole that's changed the most.

VIJAY SINGH: That's a no. (Laughter).

VIJAY SINGH: I don't think so. I did not go into many roughs.

JOHN HUNEKE: You were not even in the rough.

VIJAY SINGH: I drove the ball really well today. Even if I did go in the rough, I don't think it's deep enough right now at this point. But come August, I think it's going to be a lot more of a factor. With the shorter holes, every hole that is 430 or less, probably you can hit a driver down there and dig something out with a 9-iron or eight iron. But the longer holes, I think we need to hit the fairways otherwise we're going to have problems.

JOHN HUNEKE: Well, we've had major championships about every 12 or 13 years. I would not say that we're angling to do anything in particular. We have a good relationship with the USGA today. There were reasons why they chose to go to Winged Foot, and they had -- their last Open had been in '84 or something like that. Ours was in '93. I think the USGA has changed their philosophy in the courses they are using. They are going to Pinehurst; they are going to Bethpage; they are going to Pebble Beach. So there's less room for other courses to be selected to be an Open site. We still have a wonderful relationship with the USGA, and I think the jury is still out in terms of what will ever happen there. We are delighted to be working with the PGA on this championship. As I said earlier, we're proud that they are now going to be a part of our history and tradition and I certainly hope that they feel that way as well after this championship is completed and that we will continue to have the wonderful relationship that we're developing with the PGA going forward. I just don't -- I guess that's the answer to the question.

ROGER WARREN: I think the history of the PGA, you look at the relationships we have with the golf courses that host the PGA Championship, we have a consistent history of turning to great sites. I would say that at this point we are scheduled for the PGA Championship out to 2012, and we have I think '13 and '14 are available. We will just continue to look at our partners, the great partners we have with this championship and hopefully within those. Certainly, we look forward to this championship with Baltusrol to establish another milestone in great championships. And we think that Baltusrol is going to do that.

VIJAY SINGH: Pretty much the drive. The tee box has gone way back, and it's very tight up there, as well. The fairway kind of doglegs to the left, and I thought I hit a fairly, fairly good drive there. And going down there, I saw the sort of width of the fairway, and I did mention that this is one hole that they could have made a little wider, but that's me. (Laughter). You know, I'm not the guy that sets a golf course up. I just comment on them. You know, if you miss the drive, I think there's a creek in front of it. So with the creek in front of the green, it's pretty impossible to get up, unless you get very lucky with a lie. 505, that's a par-5 length, so that's why it's going to play long. If you miss the fairway, you have to lay-up, and it's tree-lined, as well. So you have to hit a fairly straight drive to keep it in the middle of the fairway.

VIJAY SINGH: Well, my caddie never told me that creek came up. That's why he's not on my bag. (Laughter). No, he's totally out. It was the same caddie for John, as well.