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CONSTELLATION ENERGY SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAYJune 18, 2007Rick GeorgeBobby WadkinsRICK GEORGE: Before I get started, I want to introduce Mike Stevens. Mike is our chief operating officer of the Champions Tour and senior vice president, and then Miller Brader is our director of tournament business affairs and Miller serves as the liaison with Constellation, Steve and the tournament here on site. So you'll see a lot of Miller. I think this is my fifth or sixth time here. Kind of feels like home and what a great club this is and what at great community that we're going to host our fifth major championship in this year. And it's very appropriate that we're here after the midway point of our season to kind of get started, and so what I thought I would do was really take you through some of the things that we're doing on the Champions Tour, and then at the end bring Bobby up and let him see a few things and have Q&A. The reason we're here is to celebrate the fact that we're bringing our fifth major championship here at the end of the year. We think it's going to be a tremendous event for our players, but also for this community. As you know, all major championships award double points for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and this will be the last event it gives double points, and it will be a shootout from start to finish. And you'll see, as a lot of the country has seen in the first 14 events of the year, that this tour has a lot of names on this tour. We've got a lot joining us. It's a really exciting time for the Champions Tour. So I thought I would give you a few highlights of where we're at to date. Our competition is probably as keen as it's ever been. We've got 12 different winners in 14 events, only one multiple winner, and that's Jay Haas who has won three times already this year. He's our leader in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. He was our Player of the Year this past year and he's off to a tremendous start so far this year. We had three multiple winners by this time last year, Loren Roberts, Bart Bryant and your own Bobby Wadkins, your defending champion, won two events last year and this year we've only had one. Jay is off to a terrific start and as you know, Bobby won earlier this year at the ACE Group Classic. Rookies that have come out: Mark O'Meara and Nick Price, the support they have give then tour. I think one of the questions we got on this tour, all of these great names coming out, are they going to play, and the answer is yes they are. Both of them have played eight times in the first 14 events, and they were not eligible for the first two. They are playing about 80 percent of the events, even though they have not committed to this event to date, we anticipate that they will commit later in the year. Both of them are in the Top-30 on our Money List currently. Bobby, as you probably don't know is 13th on our Money List currently and is 16th on the Charles Schwab Cup list and he's off to a great start, as well. Seve Ballesteros, probably one that a lot of people are looking forward to having out on the Champions Tour. He played in Birmingham at the Regions Charity Classic, and we anticipate that we will see him later in the year. And he is eligible for this event; being a major championship winner, he gets in through that even if he doesn't have enough points that he's garnered by that time. World Golf Hall of Famer that we anticipate that you will see and has already committed to the event is Bernhard Langer. August 27 he turns 50, and that's why, you know, Steve mentioned earlier about your field; you will have here at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship the best field this year because you will get Bernhard Langer and Jeff Sluman that I'll mention in a minute that will be eligible to play and hopefully. Seve is back in the States at that time and he's indicated he'll play in and around the majors and that he will be back here which is going to make for a great field. They are not eligible for the Senior PGA, the tradition, the U.S. Senior Open or the Senior British. But Bernhard is off to a great start. I think his best finish was tied for second at Colonial. He's also had four Top 10's in 12 events, and he's made over a million dollars on the PGA TOUR. But he's indicated his willingness to play and he's indicated the whole back half of the year including this event; so he's going to be a force. Six-time PGA TOUR winner and also PGA Championship winner Jeff Sluman on 9/11 turns 50, and he'll be eligible to compete. And he's going to be great for this tour because he understands what we do, the interaction that we have with the fans and the sponsors and he's real excited to be out here -- his only desire was the day he turned 50, or the year they turned 50 and our regulations currently don't allow that,. We also have a great influx of other players, Wayne Grady, he's going to play at the Senior British, he'll be here and Baltimore as well, being a major championship winner. This will be a tremendous field from top to bottom, and as you know you have to qualify by earning points from last year's Senior Players Championship to this year's and then those who have won a major when they come out their 50th year are eligible. In the few next year you'll see Ian Woosnam, Sandy Lyle, Bob Tway, and 2009, you'll see Tom Lehman and Fred Couples. I think Fred couples is another one kind of like a Seve who is going to come out and draw a lot of people to the Champions Tour. And I can tell you that if you look at the Champions Tour and compare it to all of the other tours in golf, the Champions Tour by far has the most name recognition of players than they have on any tour. We've got 15 world Golf Hall of Famers that are playing out here on this tour. You're going to see a lot of them this fall. We've got, you know, Tom Kite, Tom Watson, Craig Stadler, Bob Wadkins, Lanny who you have not seen who has gone through back surgery, Peter Jacobsen and Jerry Pate. It just goes on and on the quality of players and we'll have an exciting event. We have two tournaments who have started their first year, the Allianz Championship down in Boca Raton and the Ginn Championship in Palm Coast, and we had a very successful Principal Charity Classic in Des Moines. We had record crowds there and it's really built on the momentum this tour has generated throughout the course this year. The Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship is having a debut of its own here in Baltimore. We couldn't be happier to be at Baltimore Country Club, the membership, the leadership, Michael, Scott and Tim and Craig and the rest of them have been phenomenal already in our partnership without hosting our first event; the partnership we have developed has been outstanding. We have a great tradition here in this area. This championship is going to kind of cap off our majors, which in our opinion are the strongest host sites that we've ever had on the Champions Tour. We started out in Kiawah. We play at Whistling Straits for the U.S. Senior Open. We are playing at Muirfield in the Senior British, and playing at Sun River Golf Club in Cross Water -- in Bend, Oregon, and we end here at the storied Baltimore Country Club. So we are excited about our five majors and they are all going to be on network for the first time, so that's exciting for us. We've got a lot of other positive things that have happened on this tour to date, and a couple of them I want to share with you. Our overall attendance for this tour is up 35 percent to date with our average increase per event up 40 percent. Charitable proceeds, and the recipients here are up 27 percent on the year. Our GOLF CHANNEL ratings are up 20 percent. Our household deliveries on the GOLF CHANNEL are up 42 percent. And that's significant because the GOLF CHANNEL was in 69 million homes last year, where it's 78 million homes today; and to be up 42 percent in our household deliveries is significant given that the GOLF CHANNEL's growth has only been about 14 to 15 percent. So people are watching the Champions Tour. We're being covered by media outlets more than we ever have. As you know the Thursday and Friday of this event will be on the GOLF CHANNEL. Saturday and Sunday will have air times from 2:00 to 4:00 on NBC on HD and will finish just in time for the Raiders/49ers game that starts at 4:00 PM. So we could not provide a better Sunday for you. You could probably stay there, I'm sure Steve has a big-screen TV that you can sit in your hospitality chalets and enjoy that part. Also heard there's some other event in D.C. I guess later this summer, some guy by the name of Tiger is hosting. I will tell you that we have saved the best for last, and that's being here at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, and I think you'll find it's going to be a great event. Here is what's ahead for us. We anticipate releasing our schedule a week from today in Boston at our national media conference. Our schedule will have a minimum of 29 events. This tour has never been in stronger shape in the last ten to 15 years in the standpoint of the sponsorship base that we have and the fan support, all of our indicators, everything we are doing -- and I didn't even mention the players participation rates. It's so important to our business that we track what our players do and we average 25.9 players who attend our draw parties. Our overall player participation with all of the fan, media and sponsor interactive activities were up 45 percent on the year from last year. So our players are the not only playing great golf and very competitively, but they are also entertaining the fans and the sponsors. And in my opinion, we do it better than everybody. We are the best business-to-business marketing opportunity in the country. All right, I think I spoke too much. We're enthusiastic about where we are with tour and, we have good reason to be because we have great players who are good people. And the charitable dollars generated in the local economy are significant. And we are excited about where we are today and we couldn't be more excited about your defending champion, Bobby Wadkins. He joined the Champions Tour in 2001 and was the youngest member of the Champions Tour in his first event, the Lightpath Long Island Classic. He's won three other times most recently as I mentioned at the ACE Group Classic in Naples this past February. He's currently 16th on the Charles Schwab Cup points list, and 13th on the Money List in 14 events. He's one two of sets of brothers that are currently playing on the Champions Tour. His brother, Lanny, will be back soon, and when Bobby is not playing championship golf, he's helping out his 17-year-old son who is a baseball star in his own right. When they are both out hunting and fishing they like to do that. Ladies and gentlemen, your defending champion, Bobby Wadkins. BOBBY WADKINS: Everything he just said, I was going to say. (Laughter) I worked on this all night. I'm not big on public speaking, but my wife and I watched the golf tournament and I made all kind of notes. And Rick said everything I was going to say. (Laughter) So glad to be here. (Laughter). STEVE DAVIS: Talking about the Open, I guess you wish you were 20 years younger dealing with those greens. BOBBY WADKINS: I'm glad I'm 55 and looking forward to this week here and that I had nothing to do with yesterday. STEVE DAVIS: Just tell everyone what you thought about the Open yesterday and Cabrera. BOBBY WADKINS: I think the guy who won played the best. I think he probably outplayed the rest of them. The mistake I saw yesterday, I think Furyk made a mistake yesterday hitting driver on 17. He didn't know at the time he was tied for the lead, so I think that was a mental mistake. So the guy who played the best won. STEVE DAVIS: Do you find yourself watching as a fan or player, or critic, as well? BOBBY WADKINS: It's kind of neat on a golf course I had played -- I had played the Open there when Larry Nelson won. So I knew the golf course and what the USGA likes to do to the golf course. So I'm kind of a fan, and also I'm very proud to be an American. I was also pulling for Furyk and Tiger. I was hoping that one of our guys was going to come through. STEVE DAVIS: You're going to have an opportunity to defend your Senior Players Championship, which is a major on the Champions Tour. Can you talk about what it's like to win a major on I guess any of the tours really? BOBBY WADKINS: We have five major championships out here, and they are five very, very big tournaments. There are four major golf tournaments in the world and they are the ones that -- and we just watched one of them yesterday. But on the Champions Tour, we are lucky enough to have five great big tournaments, and the Constellation is going to be our last major like Rick said. Any time you get a chance to defend, it's pretty neat. But to win a major, you know, to get all of the perks, a car went with it last year; my 17-year-old son can't drive a stick, so I can't worry about that. Any time you get to play in a major championship and get lucky enough to win, then that is something -- something besides your name that wasn't there before. And with Lanny having won a major on the regular tour, now we are both tied, I was telling him this is a major because he has one and I have one. It's really big. STEVE DAVIS: Well, it counts as a major. BOBBY WADKINS: I think it does. Hell, yeah. STEVE DAVIS: When you come out to defend a title, will you think any differently when you're out on the course? BOBBY WADKINS: Not really. I just did this a couple of weeks ago. I was defending champion at the Boeing Championship, that being a three-day tournament, and I got off to a pretty good start and I had visions of trying to defend and I played well. I think I finished in the top 20, but I was trying to do a little bit better than that. But you try not to get caught up in what you did last year, and it might be easier this year since we changed golf courses coming from Detroit, coming here and being from Richmond three hours down the road, hopefully I'll have some friends up here yelling for me and stuff. So it should be fun. STEVE DAVIS: For you this is an opportunity, it was your first major victory, on the regular tour you had some success in the majors but you never won a major. When you won the Senior Players Championship last year, did it click; "I got my major?" BOBBY WADKINS: Yes and no. I just wanted to play golf. I love to practice. I think that's why I've been able to be as competitive so far as I have. I just love to play golf. I love to win any golf tournament. If we're going to go play downtown and go play in the City Juniors I'm going to go try and win that, too. I just want to win and love to play hard. STEVE DAVIS: I don't think you're eligible for the City Juniors, but we can try. For you Bobby, you went your entire career on the PGA TOUR, close to victory and never got victory. You get to the Champions Tour and you become the youngest winner ever; ten days after you turned 50 you win. What went through your mind when you finally won, because obviously it had been a while since you won, imagine since you played junior golf. BOBBY WADKINS: That was big. I came out in -- for the people who kind of know what's going on, the all-time Money List on the regular Tour gets you exempt on the Champions Tour. So when I turned 50, I was right on the borderline of exempt for the whole year and stuff. I was that couple of tournaments, and then had to play well to stay exempt and by winning the very first tournament, it got me over the hump and I have played well since then. And basically I can play golf the rest of my life out here if I would like to. But winning my first one was very special. I did a lot of preparation to get ready. Talked to Lanny about what was going on out here, how the guys were playing, what I had to do to get better, and I worked very hard. Real quick, what Rick said about Bernhard Langer coming out here. He beat me right after he won the Masters in '85, he beat me in a playoff in Hilton Head, so he doesn't have to rush out here. (Laughter) STEVE DAVIS: You've won four times on the Champions Tour. So again, it's been a long time since you had tasted victory, was it easier once you won? BOBBY WADKINS: I don't know if it becomes easier but I do think winning breeds winning. I was lucky enough to win the two biggest tournaments in Japan in '79 in '86 with Nicklaus and Watson playing with them and beat them over there at the European Open, but there was so much time between our victories. I've been lucky enough out here to get it going and keep it going, but I do believe winning makes you want to win again. STEVE DAVIS: Watching the Open yesterday and Johnny Miller talking about how nervous Cabrera was and all of these guys, even as long as you've been playing, do you still get nervous? If you're in the final group and you're down by one or up by one and you're going to 17, do you get butterflies? BOBBY WADKINS: Nervous is talking in front of people. Playing golf is not. It's fun. You work all day long to get there. And you should be telling yourself: "This is exactly I didn't hit balls for five hours every day because I want to get in this position." So if you treat it like you're supposed to, but not everybody always reacts the same way and you react different in different situations. But you get pumped up. Most of the time when you control your golf swing, that's a lot of fun. STEVE DAVIS: Competitive juices, people look and see the Champions Tour and think these guys have been playing golf for a while; it's just fun for them. Are you as competitive now as you were 25 years ago? BOBBY WADKINS: I think probably more so. And growing up in a family who beat the hell out of me as a kid and now having a 17-year-old who all he wants to do is drive it past me, I'm still very competitive. STEVE DAVIS: Talk about your game. You won earlier in Naples. You're 6th in the points and 13th on Money List; how is your game? BOBBY WADKINS: It's not too bad. We have a big stretch, we play Boston, and then we go to New York and then we have the Senior U.S. Open three weeks from now up at Whistling Straits, and then we come back to another brand new tournament on the Champions Tour, Dick's Sporting Goods. We have a little stretch that can really help my year by playing got next four weeks. I have been playing pretty solid all year and just like every golfer need to make more putts. STEVE DAVIS: What's up with the golfing shirt? BOBBY WADKINS: I was close to the Redskins and tough but -- he puts my son through school -- (laughter). STEVE DAVIS: Growing up in Richmond, are you a Redskins fan? BOBBY WADKINS: No. STEVE DAVIS: Even if you were, say no. BOBBY WADKINS: I'm not a Redskins football -- STEVE DAVIS: Are you a big NASCAR guy? BOBBY WADKINS: I'm a redneck. I love the racetrack. STEVE DAVIS: What do you think about the Car of Tomorrow -- (laughter) -- what about Earnhardt switching teams? BOBBY WADKINS: He made a good move. STEVE DAVIS: Do you record the races and go back since you're playing on Sundays and go back and watch them? BOBBY WADKINS: Sometimes. But if not, I have just got over the hump I -- new radio so I can listen to it on XM. (Laughter). STEVE DAVIS: What about this course? Now you and I were talking before, looks familiar, but you don't remember playing it. BOBBY WADKINS: I did a Pro-Am maybe 15, 20 years ago. I saw somebody -- I know there's a barn out there somewhere that you can drive it over the top of it and they -- and I thought I would remember. STEVE DAVIS: How do you get ready? You hear a lot obviously on the regular tour, you hear guys who will go a couple of weeks in advance and go out to the Open and start prepping. Now, you guys are not familiar with the course; the last, what, 15 years it's been at Dearborn. So getting ready for this, will players come in early to get ready? BOBBY WADKINS: Since it's a major, maybe some guys might come in. I have a place in the middle of July where I'll hopefully come up one afternoon and play the golf course and then play it again the next morning and go back to Richmond. We have the week off before we come here. So I'll make sure I get in here Sunday night or Monday and play three rounds before the tournament. So I'll have at least five rounds on the golf course before we play the tournament. STEVE DAVIS: How important is that to play a course that you have NOT seen? BOBBY WADKINS: It's kind of straightforward, everything is in front of you. Your caddie is going to have the perfect yardage and stuff. You have to know where to drive it. I understand these greens are a very fair test. So the key is to get up there and putt the greens a couple of days and take it from there. STEVE DAVIS: How did you all feel when they announced they were leaving the course out at Dearborn to come here? BOBBY WADKINS: Well, I think you hate to leave any place, but obviously me being from the East Coast and being right down the road, I was very pleased with it. And you're always pleased to get a new sponsor with Constellation Energy. They stepped up to the plate and we are so proud to have them. Now it's up to us to put on a good show for the people. STEVE DAVIS: When you go out and play, you know so many of these players for so long; do you have certain guys you really enjoy playing with? BOBBY WADKINS: With the Champions Tour, we don't have a lot of practice rounds, because we have two Pro-Ams. I do play a lot of golf with Bill Roger who won the British. Crenshaw and I play a lot of golf together; Bruce Lietzke; and Lanny, when his back let's him play. STEVE DAVIS: Are there any guys you wish would play more, like Greg Norman a lot of people would like to see? BOBBY WADKINS: I think all of us would love to have Greg play. He was a great player for a long time, and Seve would be fantastic for our tour. And all of us would love to see Johnny Miller to come out and play. He talks so good, we would love to see if he could play that good. But we all think he talks better than his game now. STEVE DAVIS: Would anybody stand next to him in the locker room? BOBBY WADKINS: Probably not. STEVE DAVIS: You've already won half a million dollars, did you ever think when you were playing golf 30 years ago that you would be sitting here it in your 50s and making this kind of money in your game? BOBBY WADKINS: No. When you first started you really thought once you played the regular Tour, you were done. They started at that time a seniors tour and turned it into the Champions Tour. Once it kind of got growing and money started getting bigger, then I started keeping an eye on it. STEVE DAVIS: A lot of guys always hear about the back issues, the backs, necks and all that. How are you, and how do and your fellow players manage those conditions when you get in your 50s? BOBBY WADKINS: It's different for everybody. But I have the guy at home in the wintertime I see four or five times a week, and he'll be working on my back and we do some weight training and stuff. I found out that I cannot take off two months and go hunting. I have to keep playing golf most of the year round now. STEVE DAVIS: Now I read -- Lee's (ph) sponsoring you? BOBBY WADKINS: No, but I figured I would mention it. We're taping this live so we can get this off to them. STEVE DAVIS: You grew up in Richmond, and I read in your favorite athletes growing up, Arnold Palmer not a big surprise; how about Mickey Mantle? BOBBY WADKINS: Well, when we were kids, we had the Richmond Blazers (ph) the AAA team for the Atlanta Braves. But when we were kids, the Richmond Bees were the AA team for the Yankees. So they would take the train and stop to play their farm team on the way to New York, and my father would take Lanny and I to the games. I mean, there's nobody better that be No. 7. STEVE DAVIS: Did you ever like the Orioles? BOBBY WADKINS: I'm a big Cal Ripken fan, yeah. In Richmond we get Comcast 24, we get to watch all their games. STEVE DAVIS: Any other sponsors we should mention that could potentially help your son's education? (Laughter) BOBBY WADKINS: Thank you. See everybody in October. Q. I haven't heard the name Fred Funk mentioned here this morning. Is he expected to play? STEVE SCHOENFELD: We are very hopeful Fred will be here. Obviously with his ties to the state we expect that he will. We don't have his commitment as of yet but as soon as we do, though, you'll hear about it. RICK GEORGE: Just one thing before Steve closes up, we would not be here today if it was not for Mayo Shattuck and Constellation Energy. It was his vision and his dream to host a major championship in his community and in Constellations's community. So I want to say thank you to Mayo, and all of the folks at Constellation Energy for allowing us to be here. This is going to be a tremendous site and a tremendous championship, and we'll be the last network golf event on TV. It will end with the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship, and we would not be here if it was not for Mayo's vision and the people at Constellation Energy. So I want to thank them for their gracious sponsorship of the Champions Tour. As Bobby has said they have been a great sponsor for the last four years and looking forward to the next five. For the members of Baltimore Country Club, your crew, Jack Palmer and the rest have been just tremendous, and we are looking forward to coming back here in October and having a great championship. Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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