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THE PRESIDENTS CUP MEDIA DAY
October 8, 2008
STEVE SANDS: I'd like to introduce, Executive Director, Tom Clark; the Commissioner of the PGA TOUR, Tim Finchem; 2009 Presidents Cup General Chairman, Howard Lester; the International Team Captain, Greg Norman; Chris Evert Norman; United States Team Captain Fred Couples; and the Mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, and a special welcome to representatives of Citi.
I want to thank the media for being here to support the event and also being here at today's luncheon. Thank you very much for your continued support of this fantastic event and the great competition we'll have next year in San Francisco with 24 of the best golfers in the world and it should be exciting. The GOLF CHANNEL is very excited to be a first-time participant in the Presidents Cup. We will have exclusive cable coverage on Thursday and Friday of the 2009 Presidents Cup, and once again, NBC will be the broadcast partner.
Now for a couple of words, please welcome the Commissioner of the PGA TOUR, Tim Finchem.
COMMISSIONER FINCHEM: Thank you, good afternoon, everyone and thanks for joining us.
Let me just first say generally that as I said last year when we announced that we would come to Harding Park, that we've had a long and growing relationship with the City of San Francisco and the Bay Area going back to the early 90s when we played our TOUR Championship here and growing later with the joint venture to rebuild Harding Park, and now we have TPC San Francisco Bay at Stonebrae, which will host a Nationwide Tour event. And there are various elements of this relationship that have been added, including the creation of a First Tee Program here, the conduct of the World Golf Championships AMEX in 2005, and, of course, The Presidents Cup coming next year.
It's a terrific relationship and it's one that's built on a relationship with the business community and a great fan base that's here that we saw in 2005. The City of San Francisco, the Mayor and his team over the last number of years now have been a great partner in the building of the golf course, the preparation of the golf course in 2005, and then getting ready for The Presidents Cup here and I could not be more delighted.
I want to thank everyone serving on our host committee; Howard Lester, and all of the representatives of the community that are part of this preparation and what we think is going to be a great set of matches.
In addition to that, I would like to announce that a first global relationship on the corporate side for The Presidents Cup with Citi. Lisa Daloney is here with us and I would like to stand up, representing Citi here today.
This is great news on a couple of front. One is that to have a marketing relationship with a company on a global scale and the quality of the brand that city is allows us to have a partner that not only support the tournament here in the United States, but will carry the branding and the messaging of The Presidents Cup around the world.
And the other good news, at least when I did the interview this morning with the business section of the Chronicle here and had to answer questions about the economy, I got to talk about the announcement with Citi and it was very, very positive in spite of the economic times we are facing.
Let me just lastly say that about The Presidents Cup, the Mayor and I have spoke between this a number of times. The Presidents Cup has gotten better every two years since its inception in 1994. We had an absolutely astounding success in Montréal a year ago, and we anticipate the record continuing on as we come to San Francisco next year.
We have two great captains, really there is electricity here on the stage here with Greg Norman and Fred Couples, and for the first time, a captain that has played in the Presidents Cup; Greg played in three Cups, Freddie in four. Freddie had the deciding putt in the first two Presidents Cups and made the deciding putt in the first two Presidents Cups, and Greg led his team to victory in Melbourne in 1998 at Royal Melbourne. These are the two guys that really in the era leading up to Tiger Woods, carried the PGA TOUR. Greg Norman, No. 1 player in the world, over 300 weeks, second only to Tiger Woods in the history of the World Rankings. And Fred Couples being Fred Couples, I don't have to tell anybody in California about what that means. Just his excitement on the golf course, inside and outside the ropes, as well, and we are looking forward to their leadership coming into the Cup next year.
Again, I can't overemphasize the thanks that we feel, the hospitality that San Francisco has provided us in years past and the excitement that we have going into next year, so thank you very much.
STEVE SANDS: Thank you, Commissioner.
Along those same lines, an event of this magnitude could never be successful without the support of the local community leaders and for that we'll bring in the Mayor of San Francisco now, Gavin Newsom.
MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM: Thank you, all of you, for being here.
Tim, thank you for those words, and we, too, share the enthusiasm and the excitement for next year's event. I want to just say a few words about someone else that is in this room, Sandy Tatum. This is a dream come true. There was a vision a number of years ago at Harding Park. The course was not in the shape or even close to the shape it is today, and he had the faith and devotion and love of this sport and this city to organize a public/private partnership that allowed us to be here today and allowed us to be here a few years ago in 2005 at the AMEX; and to have that go as it did, an extraordinary week here in San Francisco, and now The Presidents Cup, this is now a whole other level. I want to just acknowledge Sandy and his incredible contribution to our city. Thank you. (Applause).
To our Citi family and members of the Recreation and Parks Commission and the host committee and Howard and his team, I thank you for organizing this opportunity and again, Tim, thank you for your willingness to partner with the City and County of San Francisco by providing us this opportunity to showcase the world's best. And when I say the world's best, I mean, literally, the world's best, in this unique championship.
It is unique also, not for the obvious reasons and the nature of the way that it is played, but for the incredible contribution that it provides, not just those that love golf; but to the charitable organizations that are supported. I think it deserves an enormous amount of attention, what the PGA TOUR does to raise the bar for all of their civic contributions and in terms of what they do for their foundation every year, and what they do to inspire, more importantly, Tim, the contributions of the individual leaders within the sport.
It's one thing for the PGA TOUR as entity to contribute. It's another to truly encourage the contribution of the individual players within the sport, and as you're doing something for The Presidents Cup all the time, we've talked here about The First Tee being a beneficiary, absolutely. But there are other beneficiaries that will also benefit greatly because of this Presidents Cup next year, and for that, I also thank you and tip my hat to the PGA TOUR.
We are a world-class city and we are proud and we can claim that 18 out of 19 years in a row, we are top tourist destination in the United States of America, second; tragically to a city called Sydney, Australia. I don't know what it is about Sydney.
GREG NORMAN: Boy, it's starting already.
MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM: We were third to Florence, eat your heart out, Florence, we are No. 2 and we'll get there. I'm sure we're going to get there next year, Greg, you'll be all right. But they are our sister city, as well, and we have always prided ourselves on getting inspiration of looking outwards. Last year we had a record number of visitors and people spent more money than any time in history, and next year I have great confidence and expectations, and it's because of things like that.
I guess that's a long-winded introduction that why as a Mayor, I'm particularly proud. You have to provide a differentiator and offer something that's unique and defining. I think it is unique what we have done out here at Harding Park. It is unique our partnership that it is a municipal partnership, as much as anything else between the PGA TOUR, and it's just beginning to take shape with a lot to look forward to in the future: 200 cities around the world will showcase this event, and we'll have more hours of air time than even the AMEX, which knocked our socks off, and you have all kinds of other events.
You guys and Greg, should know this. This is the time and this is where the sun does shine on the western part of San Francisco. Today is not an anomaly. It is also Fleet Week, which we'll enjoy next week at this time with the Blue Angels celebrating contributions to the men and women in uniform. We have the Bluegrass Festival, which is the envy of cities around the nation that also is taking place at Golden Gate Park. It's an exciting time, October 6-11 each and every year, and I think it's an appropriate time to celebrate the bookends happening around you and the opportunities that will happen around us next year in this event.
Thank you, all, and congratulations.
GREG NORMAN: I've got to say, makes you want to move to San Francisco, doesn't it.
FRED COUPLES: Incredible.
STEVE SANDS: As for the two captains, Greg Norman and Fred Couples. Fred, 15 PGA TOUR victories including the 1992 Masters, also a pair of PLAYERS Championships, and you also played on four Presidents Cups. Greg, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, you've won 20 times on the PGA TOUR, including two British Open titles and also a 1994 PLAYERS Championship title and also 69 career international victories. Let's take a look at a short video.
(Video played).
GREG NORMAN: Thank you, Steve, and Commissioner, and Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen.
Freddie and I sitting up here, obviously you heard on the short video clip there, the true meaning of what comes from inside of us. We are very, very excited about the opportunity of sitting up here, and not just as the captains of our respective teams but what we can do for the game of golf.
I know from my perspective, I've been extremely proud of where the international game of golf has gone over the last 25 years since I've been involved with it. And to be able to go up against Fred Couples in the number of years that we have played against each other, he's a gentleman that I respect tremendously on and off the golf course. He's a competitor with the heart that sometimes people get fooled and by looking and thinking that he's not really into it. But let me tell you, Fred Couples has been more into it than what anybody could ever, ever think about.
The respect I have for him is basically second to none. He's a guy that was there for me when I first came over here on the international scene into America, and was there supporting me all the time, just welcoming me. And we had a lot of practice rounds together, and even though we haven't spent a lot of time off the golf course and guests of respective house, we spent lot of time knowing to each other that we are there for each other.
The captaincy of the International Team, the responsibility is something that I don't take too lightly, because the responsibility goes beyond these 12 members that we have here. The responsibility as far as I'm concerned is expanding the game of golf on a global basis, and that's true for each one of my team members. If I can instill something that really has intrinsic value into each one of these players about what The Presidents Cup is all about, they are going to take that back to their respective countries back around the world and promote the game of golf and to me that's what means a lot to me.
The Presidents Cup has the opportunity of reaching borders and boundaries that never had that opportunity before. We've seen United States play Europe in the Ryder Cup, but that's United States playing Europe. This is the International Team playing the Presidents Cup and it has many different countries and opportunities in many different countries as we go forward.
As we look down 20 years, 30 years into the future, I see The Presidents Cup getting to the stature equivalent to where the Ryder Cup is. Time is on our side in that regard. With regard to the Ryder Cup, I know Freddie will probably touch on this, I think what happened this year in the Ryder Cup was great for the game of golf. It was great for the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, and more important it was important for the game of golf. And that really puts a lot of emphasis on the International Team wanting to beat the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, because the International Team could never go up and challenge the European Ryder Cup Team, because we never play them.
So as I look forward to 2009, Mr. Mayor, I want to thank you about your comments, and I know Sydney and San Francisco are sister cities. I have a lot of great affinity here in the San Francisco area to some degree because of Napa Valley and the wine business. I built a golf course right there in Livermore, California that I'm extremely proud of.
And to all involved behind the scenes, from your office, Mr. Mayor, to the corporations and the volunteers who get behind this, thank you. Freddie and I, we have our names on there as captains, but there's a lot of people behind the scenes who do a tremendous job and we really do appreciate that.
FRED COUPLES: Thank you, Greg. Beautiful.
Well, Commissioner Finchem, thanks for giving me the chance to lead our team; Tom Clark and Howard Lester for all they are going to do for The Presidents Cup, and Sandy Tatum back here for making Harding Park what it is.
I played here four years ago and every player that played, absolutely loved it. You did a great job, and all your work for The First Tee, supporting all of these kids is phenomenal.
And now to the Mayor, are you a golfer? Well, are you good enough to be my first pick for The Presidents Cup next year, because you could get our guys going. Even if you don't win a point, you could get our guys going. (Laughter).
But for the Mayor helping out, it's phenomenal. But for me to be part of The Presidents Cup team as a captain, it's been in my mind before, but as a player and being on teams as short as three or four years ago and playing for Jack Nicklaus was an amazing time, but it's a different atmosphere when you're the captain.
To take care of these 12 guys, and I guess 10 will make it; Jay Haas and myself, who was my assistant captain, and Frank Nobilo is Greg's assistant captain, and we will have two picks, and it's a wonderful time and a great thing.
But to be part of it in such a great place, San Francisco; I grew up in Seattle, they are very close. I'm sure a lot of people from Seattle will come down. And Greg's been talking about all of the Kiwis in Australia (sic) will be here, but I'm just a public golf kid myself. This is a public golf course, and it's a great feeling. But I can't tell you enough that when Tim asked me to be leading this team, what an honor that was, just for everyone sitting here. You all know me as a golfer, but by far, I'd rather be a captain, there's no doubt.
Q. (Can you address, you had mentioned Michael Jordan and Robin Williams possibly being assistant captains).
FRED COUPLES: I comments about it earlier, the question was about Michael Jordan. He is assistant-assistant. He's been to every Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup that I've played in. He's extremely passionate about the game of golf.
There are a lot of people passionate about the game of golf, but I believe in my mind that he brings something to our team. He's won six NBA championships and been an MVP in his league forever. He's dealt with teammates that were phenomenal players and maybe teammates that could not play for another team. When you get 12 guys playing, I think he may be able to instill quite a bit to our team.
The Robin Williams part would be something that I've been on, again, nine teams, and a lot of times, not the most exciting time at night and I think Robin would come and loosen us up. And if he does come, the International Team will be right there and maybe he could give us 15 or 20 minutes of his comedic routine, which I think he's the funniest guy around. So that's where I bring that in. It's not mentioned loosely. It's not mentioned to be smart alecy. It's something that if he did show up, and I have no idea, I would think it would be the funnest time ever, because once you get up in the morning, it's all day long.
And at night, you eat quickly, Greg and I have things to do, the players want to relax and he's just one of my all-time favorites. So that's how those two got in. Michael Jordan is in. We just haven't gotten Robin Williams to come make a commitment yet.
Q. Two things, one, I'd like to hear a little bit about, I think it was Jefferson Park where you grew up; is that right? And the other is, there's a rumor floating around that Tiger texted you during the Ryder Cup?
FRED COUPLES: Well, I did grow up in Jefferson Park in Seattle. It's a public course. It put me in a spot to play like I do today and for 28 years or longer but it's nothing like this course.
This is basically a country club in a public setting, which everyone is able to come play. I think it's a phenomenal course, as we said a couple of times. Greg has not played, it but when he sees it, this would be a course in a years ago he would excel on. It's a phenomenal driving course. You have to play every shot; you have to cut the ball, draw the ball, and length helps everybody but maybe not here, and it's not as long as some of the courses we play; although weather can make it longer.
As far as part two of your question, I can't remember what exactly it was? Oh, Tiger. I texted Tiger before he hurt himself, after he hurt himself, all the time, and I texted him during the Ryder Cup just to see what he thought, probably six, seven times. I don't want to harass him. But if there was a shot I would text and say, "Did you see that?"
And he would text back, "Of course I saw that. I'm watching."
He's a great guy and just fun to hear through his texts what he think is going on.
Q. What did he say?
FRED COUPLES: He loved the way Anthony Kim was playing; partly the way he was managing his game against Sergio in the singles. And then just liked what he saw, basically.
Q. Congratulations on your play in the British Open. Because you have been away from the TOUR for a while now, what efforts have you made to bring yourself up-to-date and current with the current players?
GREG NORMAN: Frank Nobilo. (Laughter).
Even though I've been away from the game, I do still stay connected to it in a lot of ways. I do read a lot about it. I do turn on the GOLF CHANNEL to catch up on what's going on. Occasionally on the weekend when I'm around, I like to watch what's happening towards the end of a tournament. I'm not really interested to see what's happening at the start of a tournament.
But I'm serious, Frank's connection with his knowledge of where the game of golf is right now is going to be paramount to a lot of our success. He has the ability on a week-to-week basis, day-to-day basis to actually go down to the driving range and walk around there and have a chat with the guys and have a chat with the caddies, which is just as important as far as I'm concerned as talking to the players, and get insight of what really is going on.
My schedule will be increased just a little bit coming into the 2009 season, specifically, because I'm playing in a couple of events and importantly, I need to get out there, too, and talk to a couple of these players and get engage with them.
Our moment starts today. Our biggest decision to date was finding who would be our assistant captains. I'm sure Freddie felt the same way, because there are a lot of just good individuals out there, not just good golfers out there, but good people we could have chosen for that task. Now that that's been put aside, we can focus on our next big step is making sure the 12 members of the team are in a very good, cohesive mind-set going into this time next year.
So just because I've been away from it and not on the golf course doesn't mean anything. The British Open this year, I called a meeting together, and I think we had about 22 or 27 players turned up, something like that, very successful turnout of players that I would like to see engaged. And we just had an open discussion about where they thought the past Presidents Cup was positive and where they thought it was negative; for the younger players who wanted to get on the team or were hoping to get on the team, what was their ambition and how they were going to attack it.
You really have to keep the communication lines open, just like Freddie is doing with Tiger and all of the other players and making sure that the Presidents Cup is a priority.
Q. Talking about the golf course as a venue, how different is it in your opinion from the rest of the golf courses where The Presidents Cups have been contested?
FRED COUPLES: Well, great question. We played at RTJ in Washington, at Greg's in Melbourne, I was not many Montréal but great venues. Basically with a city like San Francisco, you are going to get a lot of people to support the event; they are everywhere, everywhere we go. The PGA TOUR and the international players, Greg's team -- to answer this in a roundabout way, I am playing next year, so he's got Frank to lean on, but they all look up to Greg.
He will see them and they will play a little bit and that's enough. They will all find him. But for me, I will see them all next year. You know, the golf course is important. I don't know how many guys when they make it will have played here, I'm sure at least five or six. It will take really one practice round to get to like it and know it. It's very straightforward. What I mean by that is if you're going to hit a driver on the first tee the first round, you're going to do it on the fourth round, or in the fourth match.
So it's all great. But the City of San Francisco brings a lot to the table. We are going to stay downtown and have a good time. The atmosphere will be electric, and just for Greg and I, we've been talking about this the whole day, we just need to let this thing go, and a year from now, we'll be here, and we'll have two great teams, and we'll be having a good time playing a wonderful course.
Q. One of the complaints by the American players is that they have to play internationally every year, either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, and where the international players or the Ryder Cup players, have that year off. Do you find that's a disadvantage, and I just wonder, Greg, looking from afar, would you rather guys played every year, or do you like that year gap?
GREG NORMAN: From a player's perspective, I think that's great. When I look at the difference between the U.S. players and the international players, the international players are used to traveling anyway. You've got guys from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Fiji, all over God's recreation and I think it's good because we understand what it's like to travel.
So that's why it's not, in my mind, it shouldn't be such a big deal. If you tried to promote the game of golf and want to see the game grow and expand on all levels, playing an extra event like The Presidents Cup, which has a huge meaning to the benefactors, like the Mayor was saying; the charitable contributions that are made that come directly off the back of the performance of the players, to me means a lot.
Yes, it's great to get out there and play for millions of dollars every week and put in a bank account but every now and then, there's a little bit of give back and that little bit of giving back means that you might have to sacrifice.
But when you're the leader of the free world, America has had to give up a lot, okay, and playing one extra golf tournament a year because you're the leader of the golfing world shouldn't be too much. And I think the end result is you'll see the game of golf expand to the level that it is and I would hope that the players would feel like the extra week isn't a burden. I can understand the schedule, like with the FedExCup series going into a Ryder Cup, but I think the PGA TOUR has been cognizant of that and is trying to make it easier for the players to have flexibility to have downtime.
So the players are being thought of, No. 1, and being shown that they are not being ramrodded and getting on a plane to leave X and go to Y in another part of the world. I think it is being laid out very, very nicely for them.
Freddie, I don't know how you feel as captain?
FRED COUPLES: I think you're right on and once again, I'll be on this TOUR most of next year and if you just tell these guys how great they are, they will do anything. That's my goal. (Laughter).
Ending with that, I'll probably start January at the Bob Hope, and I'll just corral them aside and certainly won't tell them they have to be there, but they will be there. Tim and the PGA, our TOUR, The Presidents Cup is a treat to play in. The Ryder Cup is a treat to play in, too. There's no comparing the two. I've been on all these teams, but I said, and Greg is probably tired of hearing about it, but if you make The Presidents Cup team, you're playing a lot of golf and they are giving money to you to give to charities and they are making you look good, feel good about where you give your money.
It's a win-win thing and very relaxed. I can promise you, except for one night, my team will be in jeans and t-shirts every minute of the day they are not here at Harding Park. Not because that's like I am; that's because the last four teams I've been on, that's exactly how it is. Not letting you think that the Ryder Cup is different, but even I struggled sometimes when you've got to be at a photo shoot -- when you're worried about your golf game.
So that's where the complaints are; for the people out there in the media, they all know, but a few other people, we come to Harding Park to play at our best. And when we are told one week to be here at 7:30 to take pictures, and at quarter to 8:00 you have to shake a few hands, and at 8:30 you're on the range and at 9:00 you're playing, sometimes there are days where you just say, wow, I just want to go home and I want to practice nine holes and hit a few balls and call it a day.
One week of the year, you get over that, and you handle whatever your captain says and I'm the captain and they are going to do what I tell them. (Laughter) Correct? You're in the same boat?
GREG NORMAN: Absolutely. (Laughter) whatever you say, Captain. (Laughter).
FRED COUPLES: We're in this together so far today. So I want him to tell Ernie Els to be here a day early if he wants him there.
Q. You talked about texting with Tiger, and I realize you were not at Valhalla, but how different will the personality of the U.S. Team will be with him, I think he's such a larger-than-life presence in this game obviously, and you've been on teams with him before. How does that sort of change the dynamic when he's in the room?
FRED COUPLES: Well, America has got a ton of great players, so if you could have given anybody the Ryder Cup team and said, are you sure you want Tiger Woods on it and somebody in that group said no, then I would have been shocked. So for him not to play with was tough on Azinger. I'm sure he had several nights where he didn't sleep. But we went out and we played extremely well and the most important thing probably you were all there, that we got ahead. And that was a big concern, and I'm sure Paul needed that to happen.
I have texted Tiger a lot. I texted Hunter Mahan a lot and told him how great he was playing; and Ben Curtis a little bit and of course; Stewart Cink who is a very good friend, just how great they looked and the way that they played and that's the way it was.
The European Team I didn't see do anything incorrectly. It's just that we did a lot of things correctly and that's why we won. So for Tiger, if he's ready to play at whatever time of year next year, he'll be ready to play in the Presidents Cup. And he's not one just to show up at any event just to get out of the house. He'll be ready and he'll lead our team. He's a great leader.
A little bit of misinformation where all of a sudden, maybe the Europeans weren't as close as we all thought they were for the last six years when they won every year and maybe they didn't have that many years together I guess, I'm not really sure, but we came out and played better golf. I think Greg will tell you, that that's really how it works. He's going to put 12 unbelievable players here next year.
And when you look at it from top to bottom, our team will have to play extremely well. We have won this more times than we have lost. It's not shocking to our players because they all go out and they are competitors, but it's surprising to some just because we keep winning. But we don't do it just because we are together or we're not. We do it because once we get here, we play extremely good golf.
GREG NORMAN: We can out-drink their team, I can tell you that. (Laughter) I'll put Ernie Els up against anybody. (Laughter).
Going back to answer a little bit about the Tiger question, I'm not involved with the Ryder Cup, but I'm a very observant observer, and what I've seen is, and this is what I've mentioned before, is it's so good for the game of golf. If I was a young kid on that Ryder Cup Team or if I'm a Camilo Villegas or a Sergio GarcÃÂa or Aaron Baddeley or anybody in that age group going against Tiger and got their rear end handed to them week-in and week-out, by winning the Ryder Cup, they are showing these young kids, and it's going to give them the confidence to say, okay, Tiger is the guy we've got to beat. But now they have time to get little bit of confidence.
Just look at what Camilo has done for the FedExCup series, two back-to-back victories. Now that should give him a lot of energy to take into 2009. If I'm Tiger sitting there, I'm going, wow, now these kids are going to be more enthusiastic and more confidence, and the game of golf is going to be the great benefactor here because now you've probably got another five, six players that can step up to the plate, and not just the Phil Mickelsons and Ernie Els and the guys who you are always really leaning on but now you've got a lot of young players out there now who are really ready, willing and able to pick up their confidence and really go for it.
So next year, it will be interesting to see what happens for the first six months, because I know Tiger is going to be chomping at bit to go back out there, and I know these kids now have a lot of confidence and are probably looking more forward to competing with Tiger.
Q. There was discussion about the Ryder Cup that maybe one of the byproducts of Tiger not being there was that these young guys on the American side didn't wait around for Tiger to do his thing, but rather decided to take it upon themselves to play as best they could. Can you talk about for you guys, was there a feeling in the past or situation where Tiger seems to dominate and seems to make other people follow him rather than just taking it upon himself?
FRED COUPLES: Well, once again, I played on the same team with him and had him as my partner. I will say that as a partner, it's harder. Greg Norman was No. 1 in the world forever. He would be for me easier to play with, because we were a little bit closer because we played together more often.
Tiger is a lot younger. Not that Tiger is hard to play with. It's just you have to play with him a lot. So a lot of these guys, the Hunter Mahan or Boo Weekley or Ben Curtis, they have never been in the last group with Tiger. It's okay to play with a guy like that Thursday and Friday. But when you're trying to beat him, it's a whole different thing.
And so again, when he's on your team, he's a leader. He has fun with the next guy in line or the 12th guy in line or the captain or the wives. When you go play here next year, for instance, at Harding Park, obviously the foursome I have playing with Tiger, there will be more groups following his group than the other three groups the Americans have out there, is that's a given. He's not looking for that attention. As a matter of fact, he's looking to hang with the boys. If he was there, would we have won? I certainly can't answer that. I think we would have. But the fact of the matter is, he's a team player and he's fun to be around and he's the best player in the world and I can't wait to have him on our team.
STEVE SANDS: Greg Norman, Fred Couples, thank you.
End of FastScripts
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