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THE BARCLAYS MEDIA DAYJuly 30, 2013Nick WatneyPETER MELE: Just to remind you what 2009 was like. It was a pretty cool event. We had a great finish. We are starting 2013 with a better Media Day than we had in 2009 for sure. Those of you that were here, it was a pretty nasty day. It was raining sideways and it was 55 degrees and not a fun day. I'm Peter Mele, Executive Director here at The Barclays and want to welcome you here for really what is a Chamber of Commerce day here in Jersey City at Liberty National. We are looking forward to be here, and it's exciting to be back on this rotation that we are doing. And can't say enough about the welcome that we have received from the staff here at Liberty, the community in Jersey City, and anybody really involved here is excited to have us back and we are excited to be here. First, I want to thank Barclays for all they do for us as our sponsor. They truly arethe best title sponsor on the PGA Tour; I know I'm biased, but I'm telling you the truth. They are the best. They understand what it means to be a great title sponsor because they care about the entire event, not just what the event does in specific areas. They care about the community. They care about the volunteers, the charities, the spectators, the media obviously and their clients, and they also care about other clients that we bring in. The event is probably twice as big as it was, 50 percent bigger than it was in 2009, so we have seen tremendous growth during what is arguably a challenging economic time. Also like to introduce a couple of people that are here with us today: Vice President of Championship Management, Mr. Brian Goin, and vice president of PGA TOUR design services, who is very involved with a lot of the re‑design work and the work that was done on the golf course that you got to experience today, Steve Winslow. He did a wonderful job of working with Tom Kite and Bob Cupp, along with the Firemans. MAYOR HEALY: For the better part of the last 50 years and with the Fireman's division, partnering with our administration, we have been able to turn this into a world‑class facility and putting Jersey City on the map. When you talk about branding Jersey City, Barclays is a great partner in that, and we are proud to have it here and we look forward to having more events like this. We want to thank Skip for being part of this, and of course the Fireman family and echoing the sentiments of Dan, I just want to say, good luck, Nick, we are pulling for you for two in a row, congratulations. PETER MELE: Truly has to be a partnership like any event like this to work in any community, it has to be a partnership and it starts with the host club, both the Firemans and the members who we inconvenience for about eight weeks, kind of mess with their sandbox a little bit. But it's been fun. We have gotten to know them. They remember us from last time a lot of us, a lot of the members, and it's been fun having them watch the construction that's going on. They get excited; they have got to see the Barclays Pavilion which is new this time which is quite a structure. So we have got a lot of great comments from them as we are out there pounding steel and making those and stuff, and they have been great hosts. Obviously the city, without the city's support and all of the public safety people, it can't work. It has to be a partnership and everybody has to be on the same page. Then of course, there's Barclays, and without a partner like Barclays, events like this don't happen. And it's my pleasure at this point to now introduce Skip McGee, Chief Executive of The Barclays, to say a few words. SKIP McGEE: Thank you, Peter. Dan and Paul, thank you. This is a fantastic location for The Barclays this year. On behalf of our 140,000 employees around the world, probably closer to home, or 11,000 here in the Americas and nearly 10,000 right here in the New York area, we are delighted to be the sponsor once again of The Barclays to be back here at Liberty National. Peter, I do have a bit of an issue with our scheduling here. I'm pretty jealous that everybody got to go out and play this wonderful course today, and somehow this happens on the exact same day that Barclays was releasing its half‑year results. We had a little bit of stuff going on at the office today. So I wasn't able to make it out, so looks like you had fantastic weather, and who can't have a great time out on this course. We are really excited about this year and looking forward to another great tournament and we are excited to partner once again with the PGA TOUR. The Barclays, as you know, is the first step in the FedExCup Playoffs, and we are honored to have that spot and it creates a lot of interest and attention, and we are looking forward to a great event again this year. A lot's happened at Barclays in the last year, and one of the things that we've done is we have had this big value reset in terms of what we stand for, and it's interesting, because the association we have with golf lines up perfectly with the values that we think we stand for in terms of excellence, integrity and stewardship. We are proud and honored to be associated with golf and with this particular event. There's a number of things about this event that we are proud of and are important to us, but one is the history that this tournament has in terms of honoring the military. We do a lot of stuff at Barclays: We have a military network where we have veterans that we mentor, we have a group that goes out and tries to recruit veterans. Some of the things that we are doing here are reflective of that focus on the military in saying thank you. We have a number of events during the tournament; one is Operation Shower, where we have military families who are affecting, during deployment or on dough employment, we have a mass baby shower for those families, and it's a great experience and it's a neat part of the tournament. We have the Patriots Outpost where military families can go for hospitality. So giving back to the military is an important part of the tournament, and that fits well with our partner in golf in the new Open Champion, Phil Mickelson, which when you're the largest bank in the U.K., it's kind of a good thing for your golf program, when your guy wins The Open, and The Scottish Open, by the way. In addition to Phil's success on the course, he's been a real big booster for the military, as well, with his involvement for Birdies For the Brave. On the topic of successful golfers, my real purpose up here is to introduce the next speaker. The last time I saw Nick, I was handing him that big trophy there after he I think sunk a Big Ten footer on 18 to win the tournament last year in very fine fashion. So with that, I'd like to welcome to the podium, our defending champion, Nick Watney. NICK WATNEY: I'd just like to say, we as players, we don't see‑‑ we show up and most of our focus is on golf, so we don't see, we don't come to venues early and get to sit with sponsors and people that make tournaments possible very often. So just like to say thank you for having us. It's an honor to be here. I don't represent Barclays like Phil, but somewhat representing Barclays (chuckling). So we are very excited to‑‑ it's kind of neat that this tournament rotates golf courses around the area and we are really excited to be back. Just want to say thank you to everybody and look forward to teeing it up in about four weeks. Q. You made a humorous reference to Phil Mickelson, who in terms of name recognition to the marginal fan up here‑‑ most people wouldn't know Nick Watney, but do you find being in this tournament, winning in the New York area, considering it's not a major, is it raising your profile in terms of being here in New York? We don't get a lot of tournaments here in New York; that's why I'm pointing that out. NICK WATNEY: Yeah, I think coming here, I was talking with my manager, this is pretty much definitely the epicenter of the United States in terms of media coverage and things that are happening. So winning here was a lot of fun, and the fans are pretty enthusiastic around here. So it was one of the best experiences I've had in golf. Q. Lady Liberty, Ellis Island, first of all, your impressions of all this historic scenery while you're trying to concentrate on making some putts, and is it easy to get distracted when you're in an historic gate way to America? NICK WATNEY: It is, but I think it's a good distraction. I think a lot of times, we, as golfers, definitely myself, I get pretty caught up in how my day is going or year is going for that matter. To be here, like you said, Ellis Island, where everyone patched through, Statue of Liberty and what that stands for, this is a humbling place, just to see the skyline and know what has gone on here. So it is distracting, but I think it's a good thing, and you know, like I said, we always enjoy it. This place is one of the most unique golf courses that we see. Q. It's almost August; when are you going to get your game ready? What can we expect here? NICK WATNEY: Well, I'm in the process of doing that now. Has not quite been the year that I would have liked, but you know, in this game, sometimes the littlest thing, the littlest spark can cause a big fire. So I'm working hard and hopefully something will catch soon. PETER MELE:  I know you have a busy week coming up at Bridgestone World Golf Championships, wish you best of luck there, and then up at Oak Hill, best of luck there, and take a nice week of rest and come back and join us. I just want to close and thank you for coming today, again, thank Chelsea and Stewart and the rest of my staff for their help today. I'm going to ask a favor of you. As you can see, we are getting ready to throw one heck of a party in about three weeks, and with all the noise this market has, your voice can help us get the word out to people and have them join this party. And you, more than anybody, people will come and read you, listen to you, watch you, and they will come out. You'll do more for us than any advertising we can do. It's so easy to get here, whether you drive or come or the light rail or PATH train or coming on the ferry from Manhattan to Liberty National State Park, it's so easy to get here. We are going to have a heck of a party and we don't want to have a party with nobody showing up. You help us, and that's all we can ask you to do, to help get our message out. Thanks very much for coming today and see you in a few weeks, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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