SENIOR PGA CHAMPIONSHIP MEDIA DAY

May 2, 2005

Hale Irwin

Arnold Palmer

Tommy Roy

Tom Usher

Roger Warren

ARNOLD PALMER: Thank you. Well, I don't have a great deal to say except that we are happy to have all of you today and to extend whatever hospitality we can as the Laurel Valley Golf Club to all of you. I think most of you have been here before. You know that we've got as a golf course. We are very pleased and proud of the golf course. Over the last few years since we've had an event here, we have made quite a few changes in the golf course, all of which I think have added greatly to the golf course. An example would be the 11th hole for one. The sand traps and have been all deepened over a period of years. The drainage on the golf course, which this year seems to be a big thing in tournament golf, and we have really increased and improved the drainage on the golf club; and of course the anticipated weather is to be sunny and warm. So we are not going to worry about the rain and the drainage. But the comfort is that we have really improved the drainage. Most of the putting surfaces have remained much the same. We have made some changes in the putting surfaces, but not major. The golf course has constantly been undergoing improvements over the last, oh, well, as long as I can remember almost. In the last ten, 15 years, we have really done a lot to the golf course. And Mark Hollick, our superintendent, has done just a fantastic job in bringing the golf course up to speed. I think that the players that are coming for this championship will be able to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The last major championship we had as the Open, and that was, what, '89? So there will be considerable changes since then, but I think we had a very happy situation for that championship. We expect it to be even more acceptable for this championship. I will entertain any questions you might have. If not, where do I go from here?

TOM USHER: Thanks, Julius. I hope everyone that played today had a great time and enjoyed the course. I think you'll see as you saw today, it's in great shape and by the end of the month it will be pristine. This championship, as you know, will be the 66th Senior PGA Championship. You can get information on this for those that are computer literate, www.seniorpga2005.com. Or you can call 1-800-PGA-GOLF. So you should be table to remember that. The deal here is as good as you can get. The weekly grounds pass, which gets you in for all seven days of the championship, is $90 per person. You have practice rounds Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The crowds aren't going to be quite as heavy on those days. It's a great day to really get close to the players. Cameras are permitted during the practice rounds. Spectators can get autographs from the players and a ticket for any one day of the practice round, which is only $10 in advance and only $15 at gate. The Championship takes place Thursday through Sunday, the 26th of May through the 29th. And again the daily tickets there are $35. But again, I think you've got a tremendous bargain at $90 for the entire week. One of the things I think really makes this kind of special, if you want to bring children, juniors aged 17-and-under are all admitted free. So it's quite a deal. You know, this is a special thing, not only for Laurel Valley, but also for the entire western Pennsylvania area. It's a real chance to show off our community here, and we're hoping that we get real good attendance there. I'm very proud of all of the members and other volunteers who have come together. I think we've got everything very well organized. I think we're going to have a great tournament. We've got a great golf course. We have tremendous players. I just leave you with a thought: It takes a real man to wear pink out here. And in answer to those questions, these are sport coats, they are not suits. (Laughter). Thank you.

TOMMY ROY: It's interesting, when I was traveling here this morning, I got to thinking about all of the golf tours that are around the world right now. And when you think about it, there's literally thousands of golf events that are conducted each year, hundreds of which are televised, and I think with the next rerun of the Big Break Three, that will be over a thousand, as well. But when you think about it, there's only a handful that really matter. So it's a real pleasure to come here and televise a championship that really, really matters. And it's great to be here in Arnold Palmer country. Whenever Arnie's name is associated with an event, it is a big deal. And I can tell you that from experience, because we broadcast Bay Hill every year, have been doing it for over 20 years, and it's terrific. I can tell you that there's a couple of things that happen. No. 1, the players really want to win an event that his name is associated with. And the other thing that happens is that in the galleries, there is a certain electricity and excitement, and you can feel that energy in our broadcast. I know that one other element, Roger Maltbie is going to get after me if I don't arrange some golf over at Latrobe CC sometime early in the week; so Arnie, I'll be talking to you about that. This golf course is a wonderful golf course for television, very photogenic. The pictures that come out of here are going to be just gorgeous. The design and setup is fantastic for TV, as well, because we have holes that are very difficult, but they are also holes that the players can attack; and that creates a lot of movement up-and-down the leaderboard which is good drama for us. And on top of that, this 18th hole, the risk reward there is just fantastic. So I look to see a great finish coming down the stretch, not like the one that Hale won by seven shots; that was a little bit of work for us in the truck to put some drama into that. And the other thing is this course has history. You talk about the '75 Ryder Cup here and what happened with Jack and Brian Barnes was great stuff for us to go back and look at. And then the '65 PGA with Dave Marr. Dave ended his broadcast career working for us, so we have great memories of him and we'll be doing features on both of those bits of history. Our announce team is going to be Johnny Miller and Dan Hicks in the post position at 18. We have Gary Koch and Bob Murphy out in towers out on the golf course. The last few years both of them have played in the event and worked, and this year we have strong-armed them not to play anymore because we need them to help us out on our cable bays and be there for us on the weekend. So they will be working full-time, and of course Roger Maltbie and Mark Rolfing walking the course with the leaders, and Jimmy Roberts conducting his interviews and doing essays. We are looking forward to a Sunday finish this year. If you recall last year, you saw the weather there actually wasn't so much bad weather but a rising river. I will say that on Monday, it was pretty tough conditions with cool weather and strong winds, and Hale was just fantastic coming down the stretch there to win by one over Jay Haas. And the one last thing I want to say is we have enjoyed a good, long relationship with PGA of America. On a personal note my dad was a golf pro and a member of the PGA for 50 years. So I enjoy coming back and working with all of you, and it's good to be here. We look forward to be back here in three weeks.

ROGER WARREN: Thank you, Julius. It is really a pleasure to be here today, and welcome all of you. On behalf of the 28,000 men and women professionals of the PGA of America, we are thrilled to bring the 66th Senior PGA Championship here to Laurel Valley, and certainly our long relationship with Laurel Valley, as Tommy mentioned, the '65 PGA Championship and '75 Ryder Cup, it's obvious we have a strong commitment to this golf course and what it represents in the game of golf. Our coming here also represents our commitment as the PGA of America to take our major championships to some of the finest and traditional golf courses in this country. And Laurel Valley represents that to us, and certainly, our relationship with Mr. Palmer and being the Ryder Cup Captain here in '75, it's a great place for us to be. In 21 days, we will have the 66th Senior PGA Championship. It is the oldest senior championship in golf. Year-in, year-out, it has the strongest field in senior golf. Let me read you some that statistics about the field: We have 97 U.S. players representing 32 states; we have 30 international players representing ten countries; 21 major champions who collectively own 33 major championships; we have 13 U.S. Open Champions, 12 Senior PGA Champions, eight U.S. and European Ryder Cup Captains, eight Masters Champions, seven PGA Champions, and five British Open Champions. So you can see that the quality of this field represents itself very well as a major championship, and the golf course will certainly test them. We are excited, Tommy; thank you for your words about a relationship with PGA. We are excited about that continuing that relationship. It is a negotiation year, so we're looking forward to this. But we are excited that NBC and ESPN will have 14 hours of live coverage. And we are going to have this broadcast go to 72 countries and 71 million households, so people around the world are going to have the opportunity to see Laurel Valley and the great challenge it holds for these great players. NBC always does a great job of presenting that picture and, we are excited about that and looking forward to it. Certainly last year, Valhalla was a challenge. It tested all of the players. It not only tested their game; it tested their fortitude to have to start and stop and watch the water rise and fall. It was a tough week for everybody, but it also produced a great champion. Our champion, it was his fourth Senior PGA Championship. He's second on the all-time list only to the great Sam Snead who won this event six times. Our defending champion lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona. We were talking at lunch, he may be, we think the only former two-time all conference defensive back for a Big 8 team to also win the NCAA Championship in 1967. So he started his stellar career in college, went on to the Tour and won 20 times on the Tour, with three those wins being U.S. Open Championships. Since his time on the Senior PGA Tour, he's won 43 times. As we said, he's won this event four times. I think that Hale Irwin represents what the PGA of America is really all about. Since 1916, our mission has been to grow the game of golf and to raise the standards and performance of our professionals. Our program Play Golf America is currently a program designed to bring adults into the game who haven't played, or adults back in the game who have not played before or haven't played a lot recently. Certainly the performance of Hale Irwin gives all of us past the age of 50 the idea that we can continue to play this game well for a long time. So ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure to introduce the defending PGA Senior Champion, Mr. Hale Irwin.

HALE IRWIN: Thank you, Roger. I have to doubly thank you for that extra victory that I won. I hope it was the Senior PGA in a couple weeks time. 42 is good but you like 43. Last year, I think we saw on the video, the problems that we all encountered, but to me the real victor there, the people that really showed their worth was the Valhalla staff. What a remarkable job. We saw those kids out before breaking the junk out of the rivers and getting the course ready. Unless you were there, it was a mess, and to have the course ready and playable for championship conditions, was incredible. Patience was certainly the catch word that week. I recall a number of times, I'd just go into my car and sit and lay down, take a nap and wait for the next siren or the next time to go out. It was a remarkable week, going in and out, in and out, and to get yourself mentally fresh for the next go-around. Part of the trick was not so well how you played the course but how you played between starts and stops, and some people did better at that than others. But it was a great week for me. I did have a strong finish. We saw Jay Haas has proven his value to golf and his position, having made the Ryder Cup Team last summer was great. Jay is a very good friend and I think we'll see Jay do great things once he gets on the Champions Tour full-time. He's a great guy and a decent one, I guess, more than anything else, isn't he? Last year's win for me was very rewarding, not in monetary terms, but in being very proud of what I was able to accomplish. An issue that week, I had some back problems which have continued to hound me every now and again, but that was one of those weeks that stopping and starting did not help one bit. So to get through that week, I was very proud of the fact that I emerged as a winner. I said this, and I said it to Roger, I said, "Listen, golf is the true winner that week." And then we got to see NBC does a great job in formatting and making it an exciting -- I really like the seven-stroke win. (Laughter). It may be difficult for you, but it's a hell of a lot easier for me. But the drama that unfolds and broadcast into the household TV sets I think is really falls in Tommy's position. I think they do a great job in doing it, and it's really good to hear that those players that you mentioned, especially Gary Koch, are not going to be in the field. It's one less player that could win. But I think we are all looking forward to this upcoming championship. This course, much like Valhalla, is going to be very difficult. I have not seen all of the changes that all of the changes that Arnie has alluded to, but I can only talk about what I've seen in the past, and I thought it was pretty good then. I'm sure it's going to be every bit of what we are hearing it to be. From hearing some of the comments from you guys, it sounds like it's going to be wonderful. I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks taking some time to lick my wounds and get back it at it. These are the kind of championships that I think makes us all -- the reason we play, we play these kind of events. So I'm looking forward to it, and thanks to the PGA for creating a wonderful championship that they have had, as Roger mentioned a number of players that are here; and it is, if not the best, one of the best fields for players 50 and older. Let's not give up on players that are 50 and older. There are an awful lot of very good players out there as we have seen with Craig Stadler and Peter Jacobsen winning on both tours, and seeing what Jay Haas has done, a whole host of players that are capable to win this event. As to who might be the favorite, the guy that keep it is in the fairway and hits these greens, because Arnie can speak to that better than I, but the guy that can keep the ball in play and keep his wits about him will win the championship, but that's what we try to do. I think that on another note, having Arnie I think as the host is terrific. He's a friend for a long time. He was my captain back in '75, and we have great faith in what Arnie has been able to do. As I said before, it's not Arnie the player that strikes a harmonious chord; it's Arnie person. So I want to thank Arnie for his participation in this and what he's been able to do, not only for Laurel Valley, for golf worldwide, it's been terrific. Thank you, and back to you, Julius.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I think they are trying to do that very thing as we speak with some of the rules, new rules that they have put in. We've now eliminated golf carts, which I think is certainly one of the things that will give the players and the galleries more opportunity to relate to each other and what is happening. Of course I think the caliber of play is unbelievable. The way these people are playing, and you can relate to that by looking at the guys that are playing the Champions Tour today, and also playing the regular tour, and their finishes. You're seeing guys like Jay Haas, Stadler, that are threatening, and in some cases winning tournaments on the regular tour, as well as playing the Champions Tour. Peter Jacobsen, and of course, you're going to have someone like Greg Norman coming on, who is going to I think add to the zest of the Champions Tour and the Senior PGA Championship right here and so on. I think the caliber of golf courses, you hear that mentioned from time to time. They are playing really good golf courses, and that's throughout the country. That will enhance the situation very much. I think generally, the conditions and the people playing are helping very much.

HALE IRWIN: As we speak right now, my game sucks. (Laughter). The first four events were fantastic, great start, played beautifully, did everything very nicely, and over the last four tournaments, it's like somebody turned the switch off. I don't have a clue. I'm looking for tips, by the way. Bob, Bob and Bob -- Rob, Bob and Bob, I've got the team. I need some tips later on. I'm not in a panic mode. I guess I've been a little disgusted because to think that I have done well over the first couple of months, I'm not doing nearly as well right now, and I think that is just a lack of concentration and a lack of keeping myself focused on what I'm doing. I've mentioned to Roger earlier talking about, I think, my optics are a little off. For some reason I'm getting over putts now and I'm hitting it right field and I'm aiming left field, so there's a lot of doubt. Over the next several weeks, I'm not playing for two weeks. I'm going to go home and work on that. Other than that, the tee-to-green game seems to be fine. But as we all know, if you don't putt well, it just backs everything up. You start trying to hit the ball too close, start trying to hit the ball too far, start trying to cut those mistake margins a little narrow and it just ends up getting away. As far as the year goes in total, I'm not unhappy with that. Each week I've been a little less happy than I was the week before, but all in all, where I am in the game and where I feel I can be, both are exceeding expectations, I think maybe not in my mind, but maybe in other people's minds.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I don't think that we're going to have to do a great deal. The golf course will take care of itself. I suppose with the cooperation of the PGA, we will allow the rough to grow a little bit, and we will be in the process of speeding up the greens. Other than that, we really do not have to do a great deal to the golf course. It's ready. We can go play tomorrow by merely setting the tee markers and some of the pins and let them go. I think the course will take care of itself.

HALE IRWIN: One of the things that I like about these kind of golf courses is that your target is very well framed, versus an open environment or an Open venue where there's not many trees, or it's more of an open space where you might aim at the church steeple or you might aim at the passing cloud. These kind of courses identify very readily with where you need to hit the ball, particularly here with the second shots. Unless Arnie has planted a lot of trees, I knows there's some tight fairways out there with a lot of trees. But unlike a Medinah, for instance, which every hole was defined by a lot of trees, this one I think is more defined by the greens. The fairways here -- the bunkers define them, but still, there's enough vertical dimension here to give that you idea of where you need to play the ball. That is what I've always enjoyed, I don't care how narrow it is, but it's the fact of where you have to put the ball and your placement. If the placement is 280, it's 280 and if you have to place it at 220, well, it's 220. There are enough opportunities on this course where it's mentioned earlier, you might have going into attack mode, but I found that when it comes to major championships, you'd better bring that attack mode in a little bit. These venues, these kind of golf courses like Laurel Valley are not pushovers. They entice you to do something visually, but boy, you'd better be careful about how you go about doing it. Going four rounds on a course that requires precision like this one will -- will take its toll. So I like the idea of define targets. I like the idea of having to think your way through a round, and not just automatically belt one out there and not worry about the consequences.

DAVID CHARLES: Yes.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I play here quite a lot in the summer with him and some of my other member friends. I would say probably if you looked over the summer, I play one or two times a week. When you -- and what was the other question? When you get to my age, you forget very quickly.

ARNOLD PALMER: My schedule, actually it's pretty heavy. I'm leaving at 5:30 in the morning for Spain and Portugal. I'll be there for a week. I'll come back and I will have somewhat of a reasonable week the next week, and then I'm back out to the West Coast for some business there. And fortunately or unfortunately, I do not arrive back here until Monday night from Pebble Beach where I also have some business there. I will get in here, I will play Tuesday and Wednesday practice rounds, and that's the plan. As far as how much golf total I will play in the next three weeks, well, I'll be playing three, four times a week, or hope to. I'm working on my game, and if I get really good, maybe Hale will let me caddie for him.