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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 15, 2017

Orlando, Florida

SAM SAUNDERS: Good morning. Thank you all for a being here today. I want to welcome everyone here. This is obviously a very special week and I am personally honored to be up here amongst this group here. I'm so happy that everyone is included, that's what my grandfather would have liked, and it's very humbling to be up here on this stage right now with this distinguished group. I don't quite know why I'm here, but I'm glad to be up here and hope I can help us get through this and have a good day and kick off a great week here.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational is so near and dear to, obviously, my family and me and I have to thank my mother, Amy Saunders, who has been working so hard to make all of this come together and it's going to be a special week for our family and this week everyone feels like family. And I know my grandfather is proud of the remarks, the tributes, the dedications that everyone is making on his behalf and it's been a wonderful start to the week and it's only going to get better.

I think my grandfather's legacy speaks for itself. He made a mark on this game that will probably never be equalled. And we're all here in a way because of him and it's such a special week and the players are all here to pay tribute to that. I've been so personally touched by everyone that has come here. It is a selfless thing to come and play in this event this week and guys are really making an effort to not make it about them, they're here from their heart. They're playing because they know that my grandfather was able to give them a career, give them an opportunity to play golf for a living, and to give the media a chance to cover what we do. So we all, I really want to thank the players that are here and umbrellas on the bags, umbrellas on the hats, it's so special to see all of the things that each and every one of them are doing. This week the PGA TOUR has done something very special in giving the Arnold Palmer Invitational elevated status. And that's something that, as a player, it's pretty special. We have increased the purse this year from 6.3 million last year to 8.7 million dollars. That is unbelievable. And alongside that it carries a three-year exemption with a victory here at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. And as a guy that plays on TOUR that is so incredibly huge and important. Not to mention the money that we're playing for is one thing, but a three-year exemption, and that elevated status, is remarkable. And that is something that we hope to continue and then I really want to thank Mr. Jay Monahan here for giving us that elevated status and hopefully that will continue for a long time and mean a lot to the players and it means a lot to the event. So, thank you to the PGA TOUR for that.

The golf course this week, it's remarkable. It's such a nice thing that I don't have to be up here and tell you how good it is, because this week on television you're going to see a golf course that represents itself so incredibly well and I could not be more proud of Chris Flynn and our entire staff to prepare this golf course the way it is. It looks fantastic, and that's always nice, but as a player, to get out there and see the course play exactly as it should and they're going to be able to give us a true championship test of golf this week. It really feels like a Major Championship. So, hats off to them. And I know, I thought a lot about that, if my grandfather were here this week, he would really want to talk about the golf course, and he would be so proud of how good it is and what a wonderful representation it's going to be for the event this week. So, really excited about that. So happy and excited to have Annika Sorenstam here and our tournament host this week, Peter Jacobsen, Curtis Strange, Graeme McDowell, Governor Tom Ridge, and their support and help this week. We really could not do it without them. That was such a wonderful thing for them to all step up and volunteer their time and efforts to help us try to fill the shoes of my grandfather, which we all know is impossible and I'm certainly not here to do that, so I want to thank them for giving their time and efforts and they're doing such a wonderful job and will help make this a special week. On that note, I would like to introduce Annika Sorenstam and let her give you some remarks.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Thank you, Sam. Good morning, everybody. I'm delighted to be here and it's such a thrill to see the continuing of the tournament, the API and as one of the few hosts of this event, it's very humbling. Like Sam said, we're not here to fill the shoes of Mr. Palmer, but more than just continue to carry the torch that he has started and that he has been carrying for a long time. I certainly burn for the game of golf and the desire to continue to grow the game amongst everybody, really. And I guess I represent the female aspect up here, with Marci, but I've been very lucky and very fortunate to cross paths with Mr. Palmer throughout the years and towards the end it was more on a personal level. Of course it was through the Arnold Palmer and Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, where both our children were born, where we spent a lot of time, and we feel like we're very fortunate to have been able to get the care that our son needed, our son, Will, since he was born prematurely at 27 weeks. So, we're very, very lucky and very fortunate, as you know, a lot of the proceeds from this event goes to that particular charity. So it's very close to our hearts. So, when Amy called me and said, hey, would you like to be part of the event, I didn't hesitate, I was more than thrilled to be able to get that chance again to continue the torch. And it's so wonderful to see that this week is more of a celebration, to celebrate what Mr. Palmer has done and I know you walk down there to the first tee you see the statute and of course a lot of memories comes to our minds, maybe a few tears, hopefully a lot of laughter, because I know that that's what he was all about. So, anyway, I'm very thankful, I'm very honored to be here today and certainly during the tournament, to just have a little part of it and to continue the legacy that he has built and we're going to continue to do this bigger and better, because I know that that's what Arnie would have done. Thank you.

SAM SAUNDERS: Thank you, Annika. So thankful for you being here this week and what an honor it is to sit up here next to a legend, absolutely. I would like to introduce Marci Doyle at this point. She is our tournament director and she has just done a wonderful job this year and we are so excited to have her on the team, doing what she's been doing and I personally want to thank Marci, because we have had many phone calls. I think one time I called you at I was in the Bahamas and I thought it was a Friday and I called you at like 6:30 in the morning and I thought, oh, my goodness, what am I doing. But Marci has been wonderful and we have had so much good conversation and I'm going to let her make some remarks, but thank you, Marci.

MARCI DOYLE: Thank you, Sam. And so appreciate a lot of the input that Sam has provided. Not only as a family member, but also as a player. We have the benefit of having a player out there to be able to not only speak about our tournament, but to be able to provide us feedback and I think that makes us unique to any other PGA TOUR event on TOUR. You guys were mentioning about we have a number of tribute elements that we're going to be doing this week. I think Annika mentioned the statute. That was unveiled on Saturday at our volunteer appreciation. Tonight we're going to be lighting it. We're going to have a special lighting ceremony with our friends at Mastercard, Michael and crew. We're very thankful to them, because they over, they basically did the underwriting of that statute and so there will be a special service with our pro-am guests and our friends at Mastercard tonight. We're going to have the umbrella logo, you guys may have seen and Sam mentioned it, we sent that out to all of the players and their agents and their clothing manufacturers as well as the caddies, for them to be able to pay tribute this week. And certainly it wasn't a requirement, it was just a, hey, if you would like to tip your hat to Mr. Palmer, in a little bit classier way, they were able to embroider that on their clothing and on their items. And as you'll see, so many of them out there this week will be wearing that umbrella and we're very appreciative of that. We also have an, in fact, immediately following this, this press conference, we'll be doing an opening ceremony that will be happening on the driving range and the PGA TOUR players are all invited to participate. But we'll have some special events going on there. Thank you, Sam, he'll be a part of that as well. Rich Lerner will be out there and it will be life on the Golf Channel and again it's an opportunity for the players to pay tribute, as well as it's a service and ceremony for the general public to be able to be a part of and serve as a kickoff to this tournament. Because clearly this week I think serves as a attribute for the central Florida community as well, for them to be able to come out and pay homage and celebrate. And Annika made that comment, it's very important to us that this is a celebration, because that is what Mr. Palmer would have wanted. And it's not just about this year, clearly this is a very important tribute year, but we are here to make it bigger and better every year, because that's, that was Mr. Palmer's mantra. About the hospitals and about everything that he did, which was, we can do better. We can make it better. So, that is our plan moving forward year after year. Just to make things bigger and betterment and a couple of examples of that, we actually will have general public seating now on seven greens out on the golf course. Because it's about the fans and they should be having a front row, first class experience during the tournament as well. There are a number of things that we have done around the course to take it to a new level. We have moved the Mastercard Palmer Patio that used to be on the down along number 18 tee, we have moved that to number 14 and made that an incredible experience. Because they have the best views of golf from that venue. We're going to get some incredible feedback on that, I think. We have made it an all-glass venue they can literally see five shots of golf from that. So again it's about the fan being able to have a great experience here year after year as well. There are going to be a few other elements on-site that you'll see and it will start with the opening ceremony. There will be a, Mr. Palmer's bag that's going to be on the driving range all week and there will be a spot just for him. As well we'll have a golf cart on No. 16, it will be Mr. Palmer's cart, that was always his spot where he would sit and watch golf during the tournament and he would watch the guys come through. So, it's going to sit at 16 and it overlooks 18 and it has the big scoreboard in the background. We have a lot of great pictures of him sitting in that golf cart, so that cart will be there every day, so that the players know that Mr. Palmer's still right here watching over. So, we're very thankful actually that cart is going to be provided to Golf Channel that they will be, they will have that long-term in their office. So, we're excited about that as well. I think I covered it all. Just making sure. Oh, there is one other thing. Again, talking about the long-term, the longevity of the tournament, and I do love when not only media but even partners, sponsors, and a number of folks go, what's going to happen to the tournament now that he's gone. And I love that question, because we're like, it's going to get bigger and better. It's going to do nothing but get more special and we're going to continue to elevate it. So, a couple of things that we have been able to do is we have some partners that have said the same thing, they're going to step up with us and take this into the long-term. We have had Hertz as one of our partners for over 35 years as an associate. And they have, they're going to be announcing this week that they are on board for another four years. So, starting in 2018 we now have them back for four more years.

We have Orlando Health, which is actually the umbrella system that both the Arnold Palmer and Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies fall under. They have now stepped up for the first time this year as an associate sponsor and they have signed on for four years. And then we love our partners at Mastercard and you might hear a little more about them later on, but we have these partners, long-term partners that have said, we're right there with you, we're locking arms and this is a long-term thing for us as well. So, we're very appreciative of that.

SAM SAUNDERS: Very good. That you, Marci. Really appreciate all your remarks. And I would now like to bring up Arnie's Army and going to segue and introducing Kevin Bingham over here, but Arnie's Army is the future of the Arnold Palmer Invitational as much as anything. And it is the legacy that my grandfather has left behind. It is the new charity that has been, that has been formed and is what the majority of the proceeds are going to be working towards. And it's really going to leave the long-lasting mark that my grandfather left in the game. And I had the pleasure to meet Kevin Bingham a few months ago and I don't think there could be anyone better to lead the charge and we are really excited to have him as our CEO of Arnie's Army Charitable Foundation and I will now turn it over to you. Kevin.

MICHAEL ROBICHAUD: Of the seven of us, I'm probably the one most likely to drop the mic, and I'm the one that has to hold one, so if you hear a loud thud, I'll just talk louder.

Golf knew know better ambassador than Arnold Palmer. And what he brought to the game and what he has brought to the philanthropy and giving back has been unsurpassed. And back in 2015 Mr. Palmer and the family and Alastair and me, the people that are responsible for making the Palmer name the way it is, decided to start a charity, so we could take the name of Arnold Palmer and doing well and doing good by others nationwide. So in 2015 Arnie's Army Charitable Foundation was formed and they began the process of moving the organization forward to where we are today. Today the Arnold Palmer Invitational is now a function of Arnie's Army Charitable Foundation, a little bit of the longevity that Marci was talking about. This is something that's very important to us, but it's even more important because now it's part of a charity, Arnie's Army Charitable Foundation is something that we're going to make sure continues to promote Arnold Palmer's legacy moving forward. So we move fast forward to today where we sit in front of you and we're celebrating a life well played by Arnold Palmer. And the focus of the foundation are to help children thrive, to help them become better citizens, to help them through what we do with the hospitals and what we do with other programs that will be designed to teach children how to be more Palmeresque. We're going to work with communities to put the word "community" back into their communities and so people could have a sense of community moving forward and know, know how to be part of something larger than themselves. And lastly, but surely most importantly, we want to teach people what Mr. Palmer was all about, which was giving back. And we're going to give back big time and we're going to support charities that want to do good by young people and want to do good by their communities. But we want to teach other people, Tour players and other citizens, to give back. So that's very important. And the spirit of that, we're launching this week and have already began talking about how we move forward as a foundation. And we had the volunteer breakfast, as many of you may know, Saturday, and at that breakfast I got to speak with them for a few minutes and at that point in time we called Arnie's Army back into service and we are calling all of Arnie's Army to come back and we're recruiting new people to become part of Arnie's Army to help us move forward and to do more and do better by young people. We're doing that through a Legacy Campaign, which we're moving forward with, which will be to continue to sustain the foundation, to sustain the Arnold Palmer Invitational, to work with the many partners who want to work with us, to make sure we can forward the legacy and the name of Arnold Palmer in a very meaningful way. And we have been able to did that quietly. Already we have three sponsors that have already stepped up and said, we want to be Legacy partners. So today we want to recognize three very key organizations that have already stepped forward. Mastercard, our friends, Michael, thank you guys so much in stepping forward as a legacy partner. Marci already mentioned Hertz, they're stepping forward. And then we also have had a great partner step in in Golf Channel, NBC sports has also stepped in. So we have a really good start, you'll hear more about this as we roll it out, but we're excited about the opportunity to take the Legacy Campaign forward and give everybody in Arnie's Army the opportunity to engage in all the great things we're going to do across the country and days and weeks to come.

One other thing I would like to talk with you about is tomorrow morning at 10:30, there will be a press conference in which we'll be announcing the teams for the upcoming Arnold Palmer Cup. If you don't know what the Arnold Palmer Cup is, we're going to have the 20th anniversary of that event. It is college golfers from around the U.S. and college golfers from Europe, that they have to play college golf and be attending university to be picked and it's a college version of the Ryder Cup. And it's the United States versus Europe. And it's 10 players on each team. This year will be the last year of this format that we have in the 20th anniversary and it will be in Atlanta Athletic Club June 9th through 11. And we're going to celebrate that 20th anniversary there, but we're excited about 2018. Because in 2018 we go Evian in France and we're going to have men and women playing in the Arnold Palmer Cup. We're going to have 24 players on each team and it's going to be the United States versus the world. So it's going to be a great opportunity for us to take golf into a stratosphere that it's never been. And the unique thing about the Arnold Palmer Cup as it has been designed is that the United States young people, young men and young women will be playing on the same team, they will be playing alternate shot together, hitting from the same tees, doing everything together. Us against the world. So it's a great opportunity to take golf into a place that we haven't necessarily been before to give us a platform to speak from, to grow the game as we know Mr. Palmer would want us to grow it. So, Sam, thank you for the time.

SAM SAUNDERS: Thank you, Kevin. Annika, I bet you think that's pretty special as the first lady to go up there and tee it up against the guys I think you inspired some of that.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, no, I think it's terrific. Congratulations. And just to be able to put the women on the same stage as the men, obviously I'm very familiar with Evian, first class event, so, yeah, I look forward to watching it.

SAM SAUNDERS: Wonderful. It's going to be great. Kevin, I think we all feel great that the foundation and the future of Arnie's Army is in great hands with you. So thank you. At this point I would like to introduce Alastair Johnston. He is the CEO and chairman of Arnold Palmer Enterprises and has been around for quite a few years now with our family and has been a good friend and obviously was my grandfather's right hand man in many ways. So going to let him get to it now. Alastair, thank you.

ALASTAIR JOHNSTON: Thanks, Sam. Before I start here, there is a gentleman here who is also from Latrobe, who can't be with us today, but for better reasons than our friend Arnold. And that is a guy that sat on occasions like this for 40 years beside Arnold as his media coordinator, as his assistant, as his guy that really communicated with the media and candidly helped build a lot of the aura of Arnold Palmer's profile in the 1960's and '70s.

Doc Giffin is somebody that has been highly respected in the media world for a long time, and to that extent, and he's hearing this for the first time, that from now until infinity and beyond, the facility in which you, we are now sitting will be forever known as the Doc Giffin Media Center.

(Applause.)

Thanks, Doc, I know that's a surprise, but we'll talk later.

Arnold Palmer, above everything else, behind all the adulation, was a professional golfer. Sometimes it's hard to remember that, given all the amazing things he's done and the profile he's had in so many other areas of philanthropy, aviation, etcetera. But as a professional golfer, he understands the fact that the mind, the body, the spirit, and the energy of players have to be directed and have to be basically fulfilled by that individual. In terms of where they play, when they play, and how they do it. In terms of preparation for what they do for the rest of the year, any one event is part of a bigger picture, which he got and he understood. Even more so, back in the 1960's, he and Jack Nicklaus formed the modern day PGA TOUR and one of the reasons that they segregated from the commendable organization of PGA professionals was to provide the touring players the Tour players, the opportunity to be Masters of their own destiny. For those that basically wanted to hold out the very strong ideal that Arnold and Jack encouraged them to do, which is to be independent contractors. That is the essence of the PGA TOUR today and the essence of the activation of that is players entitlement to basically establish their own schedules based on their own values and ambitions.

It is absolutely not in any way do we regard or would Arnold regard any player that is not here today as being disrespectful. Every player out there on the PGA TOUR has at one time or other or will respect Arnold and pay tribute to him in many different ways. I'll give you an example of that, which I don't think many of you would know. Last year, we had a guy here that has won eight Arnold Palmer Invitationals, Tiger Woods. Last year he couldn't come when he planned on coming. And he left a voice mail for Arnold Palmer that we still have on record that wasn't just an explanation of why he couldn't be here, but he took it upon himself to talk about Arnold Palmer, to Arnold Palmer, in this voice mail. It was one of the most meaningful monologues I've ever heard from anybody, but it represented Tiger's view on Arnold Palmer and what he has done for him, for the game of golf, and for a universe at large. That was something that I can tell you that Arnold listened to and listened to again and again. And by the way, it was a long message, and I can tell you this, that what Tiger said to Arnold at that point in time in paying tribute to him, was probably more meaningful to Arnold than the eight victories he won here. So, from the standpoint of, from the standpoint of players' schedules, etcetera, Arnold would be up here appreciate continuing the players that have come here, and would look forward to sharing this event with many of his peers and colleagues in the future. And before I go, I just want to actually acknowledge a release this morning, that the R & A issued, with respect to the tribute that they're going to be paying to Arnold Palmer in conjunction with The Open Championship this year. The Open Championship this year is at Royal Birkdale, which is where Arnold won his first Open Championship in 1961 and I'm here to tell Arnold, because he probably hasn't heard this, that the R & A, amongst other things, is actually minting a special players badge for him for The Open Championship this year, which will allow him to come back there and enter The Open Championship, if he cares to do it. Thank you.

SAM SAUNDERS: Thank you, Alastair. Really appreciate your remarks and I think that's wonderful to recognize the wonderful field that we have this week and there's no negative light on anyone not here. We just are excited that anyone who is here can be and the years to come we welcome everyone. And at this point I would like to introduce Jay Monahan, our commissioner of the PGA TOUR. And I've been lucky enough to play on the PGA TOUR for three years now and I got to know Mr. Tim Finchem and I think every player on TOUR appreciates what he was able to do for us and it is a difficult job and we have the utmost respect for Mr. Finchem and how much he did for us and at this point now we are so excited to have Mr. Jay Monahan as our new commissioner and really excited to see what we can do together and thank you for being here.

JAY MONAHAN: Sam, thank you. And thank you to your family. I see Amy, Roy, and Kelly in the back. Thank you for making us all feel so welcome this week. It's an honor for me to be up here on staying with this incredible and passionate group of people. I think you all know this and Alastair said it well, Mr. Palmer is one of our patriarchs and we love him. And it's just wonderful to be here today and this week in this happy environment to celebrate and perpetuate his incredible legacy. I've done an awful lot of reading just like all of you and many that from you on Mr. Palmer and his life and there's a quote that I use a lot and that really has stuck with me. And that is, "How I prefer to be thought of in terms of my legacy is as a caretaker of the game. A caretaker, just the way my father was before me." As we sit here on Wednesday of the Arnold Palmer Invitational Mastercard the foundation for the future of this event is incredibly solid. We're very excited to take these programs and grow this legacy in the day, months, and years ahead and we're entirely committed to that as an organization. I think you heard me say that our goal for the year is to make Mr. Palmer proud, certainly our goal for this week is to make Mr. Palmer proud, and we're off to a great start. When you talk about foundation, Mastercard has been a partner of the PGA TOUR since 1995. They have been a great partner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational since 2004 and I'm going to ask Michael Robichaud, Senior Vice President for Mastercard, to talk a little bit more about that foundation and the future. Michael.

MICHAEL ROBICHAUD: Thanks, Jay. And first of all appreciate you being here and we did have a phenomenal long-term partnership with the TOUR and really, if you think about it, it's the game of golf. And we just value the principles and what golf means to all of us that play and watch and attend that it truly is the best sport, it's the best game out there, and what it means in the integrity and how we all play it and compete and the fun you have, but it's, at the end of the day, it's a great competition and we're just really proud to have had this long-standing partnership and continue to grow it and evolve it. It's not something that just sits still, we think of ourselves in the role of the fan and all those fans out there that are watching and playing and struggling and fighting through the rough, that we're out there trying to do it every day. And as we think of the fans and how what their experience is at events, it clearly comes down to here, and as we think of this, and it's great going last, you can play off what everyone else says, and really I was thinking at the core of what Mr. Palmer meant to many of us at the core he was a competitor and he was a player and that's how everything else came off of that. So as we think of our support and excitement to renew our partnership into the future, and add on to the years we have been here. We think of this as this great competition that it is. And the place has never looked better, the team has never worked harder, we have had such a great partnership with the family and everyone involved and we thank those that have helped us come on to this idea of a Host Committee and working with so many great folks and kind evolved that as time goes on, because we're really asking for help, we can't do this alone. Big shoes to fill here and it's a big responsibility. We have players, we have fans, we have an event, we have most importantly these charities that need to, need our support and our benefit. So we want to work this together as a team. Really celebrate what a great week this is, because it is truly one of the most special weeks on the TOUR. And so as we have looked forward as to how we want to both honor the past, but join in this celebration today and really look forward to the future, we came around to this idea of, what would Arnie do. And I certainly know if he were he would ask me to renew, which we did. And he certainly asked us to work hard, which we think we're going to do. So, we're trying to lead by example and we are working hard, we have got a phenomenal team down here and so excited to partner with us, but we have really put out this idea and I hope you're enjoying it and we appreciate everyone spreading it, but it's this whole idea of, what would Arnie do and what do you think of in your daily life and what do you think, how has he lived, what kind of example has he led. I want to make sure I at least get one other thing out there, the volunteers have been so phenomenal, every step of the way, when you walk around here and just see everything that's done and knowing Ken, who is out there 39 years, listening to him talk about what he's been doing here so long, just the true army that's out there working on it. So, we're grateful, we're happy to be part of that, we're happy to celebrate it, and I want to thank our friends that participated. And for those that haven't seen, we thought we would show you our tribute and our challenge for all of us going forward at how are we going to follow this example and live off this legacy that's been created. So with that, if you would take a look here.

(Video played.)

SAM SAUNDERS: That you, Michael, that is a beautiful commercial, that is wonderful. And thank you, Mastercard, for your continued dedication to my grandfather's legacy and to the Arnold Palmer Invitational. It means the world to us. So thank you. At this point we're going to open up the floor to some questions, but remember, we have a ceremony to get to at about 11 o'clock and I want to thank everyone for being here today, I really want to thank all the volunteers this week, the fans, and I want to thank the media, too. You guys do a wonderful job of portraying this event and my grandfather's legacy in such a positive light, it is amazing to see. So thank you all and any questions, we're happy to take them at this point.

Q. I think I would of this for Alastair. In recent years as time was getting short, I'm curious if Arnold had any thoughts or any input on what he wanted to see of the tournament when he was no longer here.
ALASTAIR JOHNSTON: I think what you're actually seeing is the first step in it. I think the navigation of the transition from him being the personal host into this event having a future in its own right, with the support of the all the different facets of the tournament or people representing different facets of the tournament, that's exactly what he wanted. I think that as Kevin was saying, I think the perpetuation of his legacy of giving, if he was being boastful about it, which he wouldn't be, would be very important to him. I think as can he have been mentioned, Arnie's Army Foundation was something that we spent a lot of time preparing for as part of his ongoing -- Arnie's Army will continue to march way beyond when the general was leading them. And I have to say in passing that this event was built around in many ways the philanthropy associated with the Arnold Palmer Children's Hospitals here and in no way is anything we're going to be doing with respect to Arnie's Army is that going to in any way dilute or compromise our continued commitment to the hospital and that would have been important to him.

Q. Sam, what do you hope players and fans most get out of this week?
SAM SAUNDERS: Well, I think just remember, I think. I hope the players and fans remember and can still feel my grandfather's presence here this week. I know I do. I think all of us do. I hope the fans appreciate the fact that all these players are here because of my grandfather and they, they're doing it from the goodness of their heart. Obviously, they want to play in a PGA TOUR event, they want to put on a good show for all of them and we want to have a great tournament, but they're doing it because they truly care. They care about this game and we are here to put on a good show and I know it's going to be a special week. I just hope everyone can remember, we are here for a golf tournament, but we are here for a greater good. You see it on all the signs out there and it's about having a good event, but it's about doing things for the greater good of the community and for the world, like my grandfather did so well.

Q. For Jay, you talked about the strong foundation in the event. Is there a concern or a solution that you see to you know the stops and starts of the Florida swing this year and kind of the squeeze put on by the World Golf Championships?
JAY MONAHAN: Well I think if you use the word concern, I mean we have four of the top-5 in the world here this year. 20 of the Top-30 from the current FedExCup. Last year I think at this point we had 13 of the Top-30 from the official World Golf Ranking ranking, this year we have 18. And I think for all the reasons that we're talking about, this is a new day, and to elevate the event to the purse level it's at, to have the three-year exemption, to have the formal establishment of Arnie's Army Charitable Foundation, for players to come in and to experience this happy environment, to be inspired by it, I think the foundation is set for us to continue to grow. As it relates to schedule, I think that's something that -- and we have talked about it -- that's something we'll continue to look at. We want to put this tournament in the best possible position to succeed. And you can debate whether or not the schedule this year created issues, I would like to focus on the facts and the facts are that we're really pleased with the field we have this year.

Q. For Marci, one place we always saw Arnold was on 18 with the tournament being decided. What are the plans for this year? The plans for 18 this year?
MARCI DOYLE: For the ceremony? Well, there's a number of different things we're looking to do. Certainly we all can agree that no one could replace Mr. Palmer on 18, and when the champion wins he would typically go up the hill and shake hands. We're instead going to make it all about the winner, the champion, and applauding them and not try to replace him. But there are going to be some special things that happen on 18. One of them being the a red sweater that's going to be presented to the champion, which will replace the jacket that we have always presented, because that's something that Mr. Palmer made famous, certainly with his fashion and such. So, they will instead -- and again it personalizes it much more that the champion's now going to be wearing a red cardigan alpaca sweater, similar to Mr. Palmer.

Q. For Alastair and Annika. Do you remember the very first time you met Mr. Palmer and what do you feel, what was the circumstance, how did you feel, how did he make you feel?
ALASTAIR JOHNSTON: Well, I met Arnold before he remembers meeting me. I grew up in Scotland and I remember going to watch him in the Open Championships and I saw this sun tanned, really cool dude and I thought, I want to come to America.

ANNIKA SORENSTAM: Well, the first time I saw Mr. Palmer was literally just on TV growing up in Sweden. He was a legend over there. He was the king over there. And I wanted to play golf. I mean, I played tennis and all kinds of other sports. But it wasn't until I came to the U.S. that I met him for the first time. And he made you feel special. He made you feel like you were the only one in the room, even though there was hundreds of people there. He looked you in the eye and I think my heart fluttered a little bit extra, yeah.

Q. Sam, question for you, I know the circumstances around having to do this tournament the tributes is because Mr. Palmer's no longer here with us, but planning for this, has that been a way for you and your family to maybe come closer together and remember him as you've been planning this?
SAM SAUNDERS: Did you say planning?

Q. Yes, I was the different tributes and things.
SAM SAUNDERS: Absolutely. And really, I've been honored to be a part of it in any way and just try to offer any help I can, but, yes, it's been nice to positively reflect on all of the great things that we got to see my grandfather do and been working with my mother, Amy, in trying to do the best that we can do to make this year special. Through all the tributes and I think we're doing, I hope we're making my grandfather proud and if anything, yes, like you said, maybe it's bringing us closer together. So as hard as it is to lose him and not see him this year, I would like to think that, yes, it's bringing our family closer together, and you find strength in each other and that's why we're able to move forward and try to carry on what we're doing. Okay. At this point we'll go start heading out to the Opening ceremony and hope to see you all there. Thank you.

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