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BUICK OPEN MEDIA DAYMay 19, 2008Brian BatemanBilly CasperLarry PeckAL ABRAMS: It's my pleasure and privilege to introduce Buick Golf marketing manager and tournament chairman of the Buick Open, Larry Peck. (Applause.) LARRY PECK: Thank you very much. It's great to be here today. It's going to be a beautiful day for golf. But we have a very special media day planned today for our 50th anniversary of the very first Buick Open, and we've all been looking very much forward to this day. Before I begin, I'd like to introduce to you our new tournament director. He's been involved with the tournament for several years as our operations director, and we're really putting him to the test this year with his very first tournament as tournament director being the 50th anniversary of the Buick Open, Mr. Rob Grainger. (Applause.) LARRY PECK: The 2008 season started out with a bang for the Buick Golf marketing program with our good friend Tiger Woods winning the Buick Invitational in La Jolla, California, in January. It was his fourth straight Buick Invitational, his fifth in six years, so that was a lot of fun. Shortly thereafter we introduced a really exciting new promotion that we called Tee Off With Tiger, and throughout this PGA TOUR season, golf fans can go online to www.teeoffwithTiger.com and predict Tiger's score in every tournament that he plays in. One person each tournament with the most accurate prediction wins Tiger's tournament vehicle from that week, so that will happen here at the Buick Open, as well. But the real excitement takes place at the end of that promotion with a really unique grand prize if you haven't heard about it. One lucky person will be chosen from the Top 10 each week who predicted the score the most accurately and win a grand prize to play golf with Tiger, but not with Tiger golfing, Tiger will be their caddie, so kind of a fun twist on it, something you really can't buy. Since the Buick Invitational we've been busy planning a very special 50th anniversary of the Buick Open here at Warwick Hills. It's a significant milestone for the tournament and we look forward to celebrating with a week full of some really cool activities. The tournament is just a little bit more than a month away right now. It'll be held the week of June 23rd through June 29th. For starters, in just a couple weeks here, we'll be holding a special 50th anniversary Buick Open gala at the Renaissance Center in Detroit on Saturday night, June 7th. On Tuesday of tournament week, June 24th, I'm excited to announce a very special event that will take place from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. down in Detroit. At that time Tiger Woods is scheduled to be in town to conduct a very unique clinic at Comerica Park. That's right, in a baseball stadium, the first time that Tiger has ever done a clinic in a ballpark. The public is welcome to attend and a limited number of tickets for the Tiger clinic at Comerica will be available. One of two ticket packages will be offered that not only provide access to the Tiger Woods clinic but also to the Buick Open, as well. The first option is a $50 package that includes one ticket for the Tiger Woods clinic and any one-day pass for the Buick Open here at Warwick, or for $150 you can get a Tiger clinic pass at Comerica Park and a week-long badge that's good every day here at Warwick Hills for the tournament. To get tickets for the Buick Open, Tiger Woods clinic and the Buick open, you can go to www.Tigers.com, or call 866-66-TIGER, or go to the Comerica Park box office. So really excited about that. And to add to that excitement today, we're thrilled to announce that Tiger does, in fact, intend to play in the 2008 Buick Open. This will be Tiger's ninth appearance here at Warwick Hills, where he's had seven Top 10 finishes and two victories in eight events. Tiger's presence at Warwick Hills always creates a tremendous amount of excitement for us and the fans, and it really helps us achieve our ultimate goal of raising money for southeast Michigan charities. Earlier this year we announced in this very room that we have now raised over $9.4 million for southeast Michigan charities as a result of this tournament, and since someone began keeping track back in 1982, that number is $40 million in our tournament cities that we've been involved in nationwide. Another very special 50th anniversary activity will take place right here at Warwick Hills on Wednesday, June 25th, of tournament week. To commemorate the tournament's golden anniversary, we're planning a 50th anniversary opening ceremony at the First Tee. Past champions Billy Casper and Brian Bateman will be on hand, as well as several VIPs will be part of the ceremony that will take place at 11:30 on Wednesday. It's going to be a very special ceremony and one of our highlights of the week. Other events scheduled for the 50th anniversary week here at Warwick Hills include the Monday, June 23rd, Buick dealer Pro-Am. It's a great opportunity to see a lot of the up-and-coming players play with some amateurs that aren't so great (laughter). Tuesday offers a great opportunity to see the players practice. That afternoon at the driving range we'll be holding the Buick family golf clinic that this year is sponsored by Pinnacle. The whole family can enjoy this one. It's five-time world long drive champion Jason Zuback will be putting on an amazing display for the kids. Also on Tuesday as I mentioned, we'll be holding the Tiger Woods clinic at Comerica Park, but also on that day, for the second year in a row, we have a special activity for the PGA TOUR players, and it's available only to them. It's down at the Waterford Hills Racetrack, where we'll have some of the hottest GM products with professional race car drivers and the players can go down there and actually test them out, so that will be a fun day for them. Wednesday is the much-anticipated On-Star Pro-Am. It's a great opportunity to see the PGA TOUR's top players and the last day for fans to take pictures with their own cameras for the week. There's one more very special announcement to make today. For the first time the Buick Open is proud to offer free access to active military each day of this year's tournament. The offer is dedicated to all active members of the U.S. armed forces, including Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, reserves and National Guard divisions. It includes a free ticket and one for their guest, as well. To further show our appreciation for everything that the military does, we have a new program at General Motors that provides special discounts to military personnel, as well, on GM vehicles. At this point I'd like to thank our Buick Open sponsors, especially On-Star, the title sponsor of our Wednesday Pro-Am. We really appreciate their continued involvement and support. Now a little bit more about the tournament. We're pleased to announce that among the early commitments are eight former Buick Open Champions. In addition to our defending champion, Brian Bateman, also scheduled to play are Jim Furyk, Justin Leonard, Woody Austin, Kenny Perry, Rocco Mediate, Tom Pernice and Scott Verplank. Other early commitments are from Chris DiMarco, Fred Funk, J.B. Holmes, Boo Weekley, and they're coming in daily. We'll keep you posted as that list continues to grow, but this tournament will be no exception, I'm sure, in providing one of the better fields in terms of strength of field on the PGA TOUR. This year's tournament features a record $5 million in total purse. The champion will walk away with $900,000 and the keys to a brand new Buick Enclave, which by the way is built right here in Lansing, Michigan. For Buick Open tickets, fans can call 1-800-878-OPEN or go to our new website, www.BuickOpen.com. It has all our tournament information, sponsorship packages and anything you'd want to know about the tournament. In addition to tickets, we still have some great hospitality opportunities and a few precious Pro-Am spots left available for purchase. Now it's my honor to introduce one of the all-time greats in the game of golf. During his professional career, he won national titles on three continents and is credited with more than 60 professional tournaments, 51 of which were on the PGA TOUR, six on the PGA TOUR's all-time list. Among the many titles he's won are the U.S. Open in 1959 and 1966, the Masters in 1970, and the Canadian Open in 1967. In addition, he was elected PGA Player of the Year in 1966 and 1970. He was selected eight times as a member of the United States Ryder Cup team, chosen as U.S. Ryder Cup team captain in 1979. He was also a five-time Vardon Trophy winner, an honor awarded each year to the professional golfer with the lowest scoring average on the PGA TOUR. It's an impressive stature. I feel like I'm introducing Tiger Woods. In recognize of his illustrious playing career he was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1978. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Billy Casper, the winner of the 1958 Buick Open. (Applause.) BILLY CASPER: You make an old guy feel good (laughter). Thank you very much for that lovely introduction. I was here six years ago. I was asked by Buick to hit the first ball off in the Pro-Am on Wednesday morning, and Tiger was in the first group, so I got a Titleist golf ball and I marked it all up. I made a swing and I hit it about 230 yards off the tee out into the sunlight, and I walked over to Tiger, and I said, "That ball is all marked up; I don't want you to get it mixed up with your drive." He hit it about 330 (laughter). Then he came back, and at that time he had won 38 tournaments. I don't follow him too close, as you'll find out. He had won 38 tournaments, and I put my arm around him, and I said, "Hurry up, get up to 50," because there's not many players that have won 50 tournaments or more. And I felt that he of all the players that was playing at that particular time would arrive at 50. Well, it wasn't but a few years later he won his 50th tournament. The next week he won his 51st to tie my record, and the next week he won his 52nd to tie Byron Nelson, and the next week he won his 53rd. Now he's won 64. You see, I don't follow him (laughter); I don't know much about him. I don't follow him much. He's now won 64. He's tied with Hogan. It's just a matter of time before he wins more tournaments than any other player has ever won on the TOUR. 1958 was such a wonderful year for me. You all don't know it, but that was the last year of my contract with my financial backers, and the $9,000 I won in the tournament here helped to pay them back all that I had to give them back. Buick has been such an intricate part of professional golf. Fellows like Waldo McNaught and those that were in charge of the Buick Company back in '58 had great foresight to get involved in professional golf, to bring the professionals into different areas of the country now to participate in tournaments that are sponsored by Buick. I can truthfully say they changed my life, and I think they've changed a lot of people's lives, not only with the product which they have given to the people, which is a superb product, but the entertainment that they've brought to a lot of people through these golf tournaments. I can remember the first year here, Waldo McNaught was circulating tickets in supermarkets, every place the public was buying things. The tickets were worth a dollar; you could come to the Buick Open for a dollar. We had enormous galleries, enormous galleries. There probably wasn't a better value that was created by a company than that $1 ticket that was given to the public. Here we are 50 years later, and I would say there are probably a number of people in this area that received those dollar tickets, maybe some here today, that received those dollar tickets 50 years ago. Not many, but a few of us are still around. It's gratifying to have the opportunity to be in your presence, humbling experience to be greeted like I have been greeted in the short time that I've been here, a place that -- Warwick Hills is a golf course and a place that has a very special place in my heart and in my memory. Just down the road here about three or four miles there's a nice lake. There's a fellow by the name of Lou Jennings that invited a number of us players to come down and fish in his lake. I traveled a lot with Don Witt in those days, who went on to win several tournaments. We were in the Navy together and we fished that lake, and we caught bass and pike. And it was interesting, Don always wanted to catch a pike, and he finally hooked a pike and got it in the boat, and he saw those teeth and he started beating it with an oar (laughter). We had a lovely dinner last night, and one of the gentlemen ordered a Labatt beer, and I nearly fell off the chair, because about 52 years ago my first win on the PGA TOUR was the Labatt Open, and what memories that brought back to me. I have great feelings for Buick and what it's brought into my life. But I think Buick made a wonderful, wonderful decision when they decided to have Tiger Woods become involved. I have a lot of admiration for Tiger, and I think he's probably the best equipped player that I have ever seen that has played professional golf. Often I'm asked to compare Tiger and Jack Nicklaus, and I say they both are just unbelievable players. But Tiger has two ingredients which Jack Nicklaus didn't have. One, Tiger has such a superior short game. Jack's short game other than putting was just a little above average, and Tiger's imagination to play shots that nobody else has played, try to play those shots and then brings them off is just amazing. Jack didn't have that imagination. A lot of us maybe try to play those shots, and once in a while we bring them off. But it's fun to watch Tiger accomplish these shots that -- they just amaze everybody. You mentioned San Diego a few minutes ago. It was interesting, Tiger -- again, I don't follow him too closely (laughter). In the final round he hit it over the green, his third shot, caught a flier or something, and the ball was sitting in the muck and the grass, and one of the commentators said, "Well, he'll be lucky to hit the green." The other one said, "If he gets it within 30 feet it'll be a miracle." Well, Tiger hit the shot and he put it about a foot from the hole. He just is an incredible individual. He has great feelings for the game, but he has great feelings for his fellow competitors. I was sitting with him during the Masters, and Zach Johnson came in, and he says, "Zachary, how you doing? How's everything?" Zach said, "Well, who are you playing with today, Tiger?" He says, "I'm playing with 'Kitchen.'" Kitchen? "Cink." He was playing with Kitchen Cink (laughter). Such a great guy. What he has brought to his fellow man is unbelievable. What he has brought to the PGA TOUR is unbelievable. What he has brought to Buick is unbelievable. What he has brought to the fitness of players is unbelievable. What he has brought to youth is unbelievable. And what's so unbelievable is what Buick has brought to us all. Thank you very much. (Applause.) LARRY PECK: Billy, and thank you for everything that you've done for the PGA TOUR. You've truly changed the game. You were a leader in your day, as well. Now let's hear from a man who earned his very first PGA TOUR win last year here at Warwick Hills in a very exciting finish, a rising young player on the PGA TOUR who surpassed the $1 million mark in earnings for the first time in 2007. He was an academic all-American at LSU in 1995 and won the Louisiana State Amateur in 1992. But most importantly, he's the Buick Open defending champion, and we're very proud and honored to have him back with us here today. Brian, do you want to come up and say a few words? Brian Bateman. (Applause.) BRIAN BATEMAN: I'm glad to be back. It's been eight months, I guess -- well, it's almost been a year, I guess, since I was here last. I'm only 50 behind you, Billy, so I've been practicing hard. But it's a thrill to be here. Obviously it was my first win last year. It was a life-changing moment for me. I'm sure a lot of you had never heard of me before I showed up here last year. But like I said, last year, it's always hard to win your first event. I've heard that from a numerous number of players. I'm glad Tiger is coming back this year so I don't have an asterisk next to my name if I happen to do it again. I will say this about the event, that this field speaks for itself, year in, year out. I think that says a lot about Buick, the way that the tournament is run, the golf course, and the history and tradition of this event. With Mr. Casper here, I think it speaks volumes of the list of champions that you guys have. It says a lot about the event. I don't think you ever have to worry about a quality field here because of the venue, the golf course and the people. So I'm thrilled to be the defending champion. I'm looking forward to being back here in a couple weeks. Thank you. LARRY PECK: Thank you, Brian. We'll have opportunities to speak with Mr. Casper and Mr. Bateman here in a little bit. But with that, I just wanted to say thank you for coming today. There's a special presentation that Al is going to tell you about here in a minute. Enjoy your day, and we'll see you at the Buick Open. AL ABRAMS: Thank you, Larry. We have something very special that we're going to do for everyone right now, and we're going to ask your patience while Mr. Casper and Mr. Bateman leave the room for a minute. If you could just hang in here for a couple minutes, we're going to do a special photo op. We've never done this before, outside. It's only going to take a few minutes, and then we'll be back in for anybody that wants to do one-on-ones with Billy, Brian or Larry. Just hang in there for a couple minutes, and then I'll lead you all outside. This is going to be a pretty amazing spectacle that you're going to see. Anybody that wants to join us outside in a few minutes is welcome. We'd love to have you all out there if you want. And then we'll be back in here for some one-on-ones. Thanks a lot, and we'll see you back in here in a few minutes. End of FastScripts |
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