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RICOH WOMEN'S BRITISH OPENJuly 9, 2014Paula CreamerCharley HullShona MalcolmJason O'MalleySOUTHPORT, ENGLAND COLIN CALLANDER: We have Charley Hull, Ricoh Ambassador. Next to Charley is Paula Creamer, Ricoh Ambassador, in the middle of the table we have Simon Sasaki, Corporate Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Ricoh Company Ltd. We have a gentleman called Jason O'Malley. We have Shona Malcolm, CEO of LGU. Can I start by asking Charley to make an announcement, please. CHARLEY HULL: I'm thrilled to announce that the 2016 Ricoh Women's British Open will take place at my home golf course, Woburn on the Marquess Course. And it will be the 10th time Woburn has hosted the Women's British Open. I can't wait for it to be there. It should be an honest honour to play at my home golf course in a major and I'm lucky, I'm really lucky. PAULA CREAMER: I'm really looking forward to it. I have not played but from what I hear it's an incredible golf course, tree‑lined, a little bit different than this week but it's always nice to be able to come to this area and play different types of golf. I know there's a lot of fans in that area and we'll be really looking forward to that. So it will be good and hopefully you can give me some pointers before I get out there. COLIN CALLANDER:  Obviously this championship is very often played on a links course; will it be different for the week do you think? PAULA CREAMER: No, not really. The moment you step off the plane, you know that you're here for Ricoh Women's British Open. It doesn't need to be howling right‑to‑left to know you're playing in a British Open. I think obviously these are golf courses in the last six or seven years have been incredible and this is just going to add to it, we have winners like Sherri Steinhauer and players that have always played well at the British Open. Doesn't matter that it's not quite at a links golf course. COLIN CALLANDER: Jason, you must be delighted. JASON O'MALLEY: Yeah, we are absolutely delighted. We have staged the event nine times previously. It will be the first time that it will come to Woburn as a major championship, and we will have obviously a field assembled that is second to none. From the owner‑‑ through the club itself, the team, the membership, we are absolutely thrilled. COLIN CALLANDER:  You actually hosted The Open Championship qualifying the other day. I was amazed to find there was over three how people watching. CHARLEY HULL: Yeah, just over 2 1/2 thousand. The R&A were expecting between 500 and 750. When we staged The Seniors Tour event in the end of August every year, our crowds are north of 20,000, and the average gate on The Seniors Tour is around 6,000 for the U.K.  As Paula said, we have a lot of fans in the area that want to watch live golf and we are thrilled that we will be at the Marquess in 2016. COLIN CALLANDER:  Could you give us your thoughts for playing the championship at Woburn? SHONA MALCOLM: I'm really looking forward to going to Woburn‑‑ we have so much shared history between the championship and the club, and it's going to be really special to return there in 2016, which is the 40th anniversary of the Ricoh Women's British Open but also the 40th anniversary of the opening of Woburn golf club so quite a nice story there. Championship committee has demonstrated its commitment to taking this championship to the best golf courses, and this is just another one in a really good round that we have had up until now. A return to Woburn does continue this practise. The Marquess Course is a new departure for us, and we expect it to provide really big challenges for the players, and as Jason said, you are taking the championship to the south of England for the first time in quite some time so really looking forward to having the big crowds and working with you. Q. Perhaps the general manager could say why it's such a good area for fans; is it anything to do with Ian Poulter or it pre dates him, doesn't it, really? JASON O'MALLEY: It does pre date him and it pre dates me at Woburn. I understand the last time that we had the Women's British Open there, we had a traffic problem on the M1. The cars were queued that far out of the club. I hope we have the same problems in 2016 and we have huge galleries. The location of our club is perfect for commuting to, so that's going to draw a crowd and I think personally within Britain at the moment‑‑ I think the numbers will be terrific. Q. So what will you do about the M1? JASON O'MALLEY: Someone else can sort the M1. I'll just be looking after the golf course if that's all right. Q. How much did having Charley and Ian at the club, how much of that was an impetus to get the championship back? JASON O'MALLEY: Yeah, I think we are so proud of Charley and our association that we have this, the history; I've been a member for a number of years, obviously our association with Ian is terrific, as well. We have such a great tournament history. We are over 50 professional golf events in 38 years at would he bush. We are really proud of that and we celebrate an awful lot but we are focused on making sure it not just tournament history. We want to make sure we have tournaments in our future and to have something of this size and calibre to stage a major championship at the club is thrilling really. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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