home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP


March 13, 2019


Jay Monahan

John Lauck

Barbara Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus


Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

CHRIS REIMER: We'll begin. Good morning, and welcome to the 2019 PLAYERS Championship. We're thrilled to see the culmination of the hard work of many as we have returned to March for the first time since 2006. I'm joined today by PGA TOUR commissioner Jay Monahan, who would like to open today's press conference with some comments before we take questions. Commissioner?

JAY MONAHAN: Thank you, Chris, and good morning, everyone. It is great to be back here at THE PLAYERS and great to be back here at THE PLAYERS in March. We're obviously really excited for the week ahead and really excited to start what we've been talking about as a season of championships, important championships every month for six months culminating in the FedExCup Playoffs in August. I know over the last year or more than year we have been talking a lot about the potential schedule changes, and this is really the first big shift in our schedule being here at THE PLAYERS in March. We will move to the PGA Championship, our great partners PGA of America hosting the PGA Championship at Bethpage in May, and then as we get into the heart of our season, we have two new events in the Midwest and Detroit and Minneapolis, which we're really excited about, and then really excited to get towards the end of our season and to see this new regular season bonus pool, the Wyndham Rewards Top 10, to have players competing for top positioning going into the FedExCup Playoffs and then moving from four to three FedExCup playoff events, obviously, and completing at the TOUR Championship with one trophy, one scoreboard, and one champion.

So really excited about where we are. The season's been off to a great start coming off of a really a monster West Coast Swing with play at a very high level, top players playing exceedingly well. Been much discussion about the schedule and some of the decisions players have had to make, which I think reflects the fact that all of our tournaments are strong and world class in nature and excited to see this week and the rest of the season unfold.

I want to recognize a couple people that really put their heart and soul into this event. We have Jared Rice, who is our executive director. Jared leads 2300 volunteers and a staff that think about this championship every single day, every single hour, and we're exceedingly proud of them. And then Jeff Plotts, who is our world class superintendent, I had an opportunity to go out and visit with Jeff and his entire agronomy team on Sunday. He has 92 volunteers from 19 countries here, putting their heart and soul into every blade of grass out there at TPC Sawgrass.

Obviously when you transition from May to March and you have a 10-month swing, that puts a lot of pressure on Jeff and his team. And you add in that a lot of rain and little sunshine in the months that preceded, I'm really proud of the work that the team has done to prepare us for a great championship this week.

Also want to recognize the fact that we have lost two treasures. We lost Alice Dye recently, and you can't be on this property and not think about Alice. Obviously had 50 Amateur titles to her credit and famously suggested the island green here at No. 17, and as every player looks at the flag, they will see attribute to Alice this week, something that we're very proud of. We'll miss Alice.

And obviously as I look at all of you, the passing of Dan Jenkins, a true legend, a true icon. To read your reflections on Dan and what he meant to you and what he meant to sport and what he meant to this game, and I think that's reflected in his positioning in the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was a great one, and so we proceed with heavy hearts and we thank Dan for his incredible contributions to the game of golf. So with that said, I am going to do my very best to answer every question you have today, and it's great to be with you.

Q. Could you talk about the move; was it a tough sell to convince people to move this back to March and also the PGA to May, and did one of those dominos have to fall first so the other could fall?
JAY MONAHAN: Well, the first domino was trying to get our FedExCup Playoffs and our season to end prior to the start of college football and the NFL. And then obviously to do that, the PGA Championship, which has been in August, we could have played the PGA Championship and gone into a playoff run, but that did not make a lot of sense, and we had been talking and are always talking to the PGA of America and brought this concept forward.

So I think the difficulty or the challenge at that point was equally shared because they had been in their traditional date and we had been playing here in May. And as we started to talk about what it meant for the game and what it meant for our respective championship, we both got comfortable over a period of time. But I think the complicating element to this is you got to make certain that while you feel it's the right thing for the product, when you're moving your schedule, your players understand the thinking and what we're doing to try and use this great set of athletes and schedule we have to put this game and our TOUR in a better competitive position or stronger competitive position.

And so that was a lot of discussion, a lot of dialog, and obviously that's something that we were very comfortable moving forward with. But it's hard to say that one domino was heavier than any other, because it wasn't just those. Then you have a lot of moving parts throughout the course of the rest of the schedule. You had a lot of events that were moving from their traditional dates and were fortunate to have great sponsors and great partners that supported the effort we were undertaking.

Q. What is your definition of this tournament and how it sits with the other significant events in the world of golf, the four majors? What do you want this to be considered? Where do you think it is now? How would you characterize it?
JAY MONAHAN: Well, when you look at THE PLAYERS, we want to focus on what the event is and what it brings forward and what it represents. And to us, you look at the depth of field and just look outside, look at the range, look at the field list, this is as strong as any field as you'll ever see. And stepping back, we're a membership organization, so this is our flagship event. It was created for the players and the people that I mentioned earlier. We're trying to continuously build the best championship. That's going to be reflected in who plays, and it's a remarkable field.

That's going to be reflected in the quality of the golf course, and this is a comprehensive test, and I think that will be on full display the next four days as it has been through the years. This experience that Pete, Alice, Deane created, the stadium experience, is as good as any as you'll find from a spectating standpoint in all of golf, and we have a rich history of champions, great champions, certainly through the years and certainly through the last decade plus.

So that's what the championship is, and as it relates to its other -- its position relative to the major championships, I think we all have to recognize that when you look at the major championships, they're competitors and they're also partners, and the beauty of our game, some people might say, well, you got a lot of different organizations involved in the game of golf. The beauty of the game is we are all trying to build, do the same thing, build the best possible championships. As we compete, I think we're moving the game forward, we're growing, we're improving, and candidly we're watching each other and those championships inspire us and hopefully in some way we inspire them. But in the long run we're hopeful that the game is benefiting.

So that's what the PLAYERS stands for and that's the way that we look at our relationship to the others, and we're going to continue to operate with that spirit in mind.

Q. Martin Kaymer said last week that he's regained his TOUR membership. He's not listed on any of the medical exemptions. Could you just explain how the exemption came to be?
JAY MONAHAN: I actually can't explain how that exemption meant to be, but by the time we're done with this press conference, we'll sit down and walk you through that.

Q. The new Rules of Golf this year have been a topic, and along the lines bifurcation has got brought up. Can you just give us your thoughts on though how you feel about two sets of rules, one for the professionals, one for the amateurs?
JAY MONAHAN: Well, I -- there has been a lot of discussion about the rules, and I would like to use this moment to kind of step back and talk about what's happened over the last six years. We the PGA TOUR, along with every other golf organization, had really been really encouraging a review of the rules and really encouraging a modernization, a simplification. And the USGA and the R&A responded, and they responded with great zeal.

And there was a process that we went through. We identified a number of rules that we felt got us there, got the game there. And that was the approach that we were taking. We got back the initial draft, we had an opportunity to reflect on that and share our opinions there. And then we turned the clock into this new year. We were fully supportive of the new rules because we were a participant in creating them. We had equal share, just alongside the other organizations.

And then when we got together in Hawaii, I said that, you know, when you go through a period where you haven't had a lot of change, and then you roll out 50 changes, there are going to be some things that work really well and some things that might create debate. Lost in some of the discussion is all the things that are working really well, and the list is long, and I think it's right that we're two and a half months in and there's some rules, some existing rules that are causing debate and discussion. Again, exactly where we thought we would be.

So I spent two hours this morning with members of the R&A, the USGA, the LPGA, the European Tour, the PGA of America, Augusta National. We're doing what we should be doing as leaders of this industry, which is talking about, one, where we are in the current state of rules. And again, everybody agrees where we thought where we would be.

But more importantly, I think what's happened here the last few weeks has just exposed a weakness in our working relationship, which happens when you got a lot of different organizations. So we're going to tighten that up, and we're going to move forward in a way that is going to be good for the game and certainly is going to get us to the right place over time with these new rules, and I think we're in a really good place right now.

Q. Number one, do you anticipate that the move to March is going to give you a decent bump in TV ratings because certainly up in the Northeast the weather is much more iffy at that time of the year? And secondly do you see this move to March as something permanent, meaning that we're going to look up and in 2050 and beyond and see that the PLAYERS Championship is still in March?
JAY MONAHAN: Well, the media landscape has changed, so when you look at what you want the outcomes to be, television ratings are certainly one of the things that you're going to look at. Television ratings in the United States, and given the fact that we have got 88 players from 25 countries playing on our TOUR, how are we performing in the international markets and then how are we performing across all of our social platforms. But the reason that we're in March is because when you look at the global competitive sports calendar, we felt this was a very strong position and an opportunity for more fans to follow and engage the players and the PGA TOUR earlier in the season, which is good for the event and for the TOUR, and it also showcases our players and hopefully is good for the game, creating a bigger championship earlier in the season.

So we'll look at, as we do every week, a long list of outputs, but ultimately it comes down to what happens inside the ropes. Just because we moved it here doesn't mean that we're going to have an incredible dramatic competition. There's some things that can happen, many of which or all of which are outside of our control, but we feel like we put the product in the right place to grow and, yes, I do expect that in 2050, which is a long ways off, that we'll be here in March. And I know you're going to ask the follow-up question. We'll be playing THE PLAYERS in March.

Q. If I could follow-up on the rules question. Over the past several weeks, probably borne out of frustration, several players or a few players at least have wondered why does the TOUR not make its own rules like other sports leagues might. Just curious if that has ever seriously been considered, and if not, have you had that discussion with players and explained to them your side of that and maybe why that wouldn't have happened or isn't a serious consideration.
JAY MONAHAN: We have two fantastic professional governing bodies of the game. We have always played by their rules and we will continue to play by their rules. And we are not going to be playing by our own rules. We think that the game is best served with everybody playing by the same rules and the same standards. We think it's a source of inspiration for the game. So as I was saying earlier, I just think this spot that we're in, that we haven't been in before, has caused a lot of conversation, and I think it's fair that these kind of subjects are brought up. We're going to make certain that our players understand where, how we're working with our industry partners, what our thinking is that we're sharing with our industry partners, and this game will continue to be well served by having, again, two great professional governing bodies.

Q. Can you update the status of the new headquarters project, about whether it's on schedule and whether anything has changed?
JAY MONAHAN: I'm always reluctant to say anything's on schedule. But we are -- the project, we have broken ground, we're going vertical. All you need to do is to walk into or to drive into the general parking lot and you can see that. And it's, we're well underway.

So November of 2020 we expect to be in the building, and for those of you that aren't familiar with our thinking there, we, the PGA TOUR, has 17 different locations for our employees around the town of Ponte Vedra, and we are now moving to a common headquarters on the back of the property, something that we're very excited to do, and we have had great community support in doing so. So thank you.

Q. Do you think it's important that THE PLAYERS Championship have the highest purse of all tournaments? And doubled on that, considering that four organizations that run majors can negotiate their own TV contracts using members of this organization, if you will, are you surprised that their prize money isn't higher?
JAY MONAHAN: I think that we do -- we invest in the purse because it's what the market will bear. The tournament is performing exceedingly well. It's growing, and we think that as our flagship event continuing to grow is important, the specific number, I haven't talked about what our purse is --

Q. 12.5.
JAY MONAHAN: Okay. Thank you for that.

But, listen, I think growth at a time when you're actually growing, particularly with this championship, is an important statement, and we're going to continue to push ourselves to try and grow our purse, not only at THE PLAYERS, but across our TOUR.

And again, we're partners with those organizations. We're also competitors. I can't answer that question because I'm not sure. They may be thinking about changing, but that's their decision.

But they're also growing and they're in a very strong position, and I think that's a positive.

Q. You mentioned some things you wanted to sort of button up with the other organizations. Can you give an example of something where you feel like the relationships have been strained and need fixing, and is some of that related to your view on distance versus what they're kind of building to with their distance study?
JAY MONAHAN: I think -- so the way I'll characterize that is that if you look at -- let's talk about slow play, my favorite subject. There's a lot of discussion about slow play. And when you have six or seven different organizations that have different policies and different perspectives and we're not each fully aware of what those are, that may not be serving the best interests of the game. So how do we learn from each other on a subject like that? How do we diagnostically look at something that is getting a lot of discussion and ultimately can we improve? So that would be one.

Driving distance is another. How do we fully understand each other's perspectives, and then how do we have good debate and discussion about what the solutions, what the opportunities or where we go from here. But I just think that -- and I want to be clear that this is on us, too. We just need to be more transparent, more forthcoming about our thinking across the board, and I think that's going to get us to a good place.

And that's the way -- that's the spirit of those relationships. I just think it got away from us a little bit here.

Q. One sort of rules question. Have you played golf at all this year yourself, and have you had to take a drop, and did you take a drop from knee height or did you forget? Or did anybody in your group take a drop from the new knee height?
JAY MONAHAN: I have played. I try and play regularly, I don't play well, so as a result I put myself in compromising positions. And, yes, I have played with the flagstick in and I've taken the drop and I've applied -- and I've -- I'll be honest with you, the flagstick was one where when we came out with it I was uncomfortable as I was watching our broadcast the first couple weeks, and I was kind of wearing our guys out, and then I just started to get very comfortable with it, particularly on the West Coast when we were trying to complete play and late in the day and I think it actually -- it helped, and I love seeing, I love having that perspective now of longer putts as I'm watching. I have a better -- it just feels like I can better follow what's actually happening.

But getting back to your question, I have not had any issues, although I did have to call in a rules official out at Pebble Beach when I was playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but that had nothing to do with the new rules.

Q. Do you putt better with the flagstick in?
JAY MONAHAN: I putt in a perfectly average way with it in and with it out. But I have made putts with the flagstick in, yes.

Q. What about quicker?
JAY MONAHAN: Quicker?

Q. That's the point, isn't it?
JAY MONAHAN: That's one of the points, yeah. Yes, I would say in some of the instances where that's happened, particularly when I'm playing with one or two people on a weekend and we're moving around in that regard, yeah, I think it's led to quicker play.

Q. To follow-up, when you announced the format change of the TOUR Championship, you said the awarding of World Ranking points is still kind of ongoing. Is there any update on how that might happen?
JAY MONAHAN: The update is I'm looking forward to the day when I can give you an update. We're going to be meeting with the World Golf Ranking board here in the nearNear future, but I don't have an update at this point.

Q. There was a news on a PGA TOUR developing some kind of format welcoming elite college players. Do you have any update on that, or if not, any sort of plan of that information?
JAY MONAHAN: Yeah, I think it's a little early to provide an update on that. As you can imagine, there are a number -- when you look at the business and you look at ways for players to either play on our development tours, PGA TOUR China, PGA TOUR Latin America, PGA TOUR Canada and ultimately the WEB.COM TOUR, and seeing more and more young players coming out and playing, thinking about ways to build a strong bridge at the college and university level to the PGA TOUR is something that we're exploring. But I want to stress, we're exploring it. It doesn't mean that we're going to get to a place where there's going to be a system. We just feel like it's the right thing to really think through thoroughly.

Q. To follow-up on that, the idea of that, is it borne out of seeing any trend maybe in other sports or in our sport where you feel like players who have played college golf are better prepared for the PGA TOUR life, and is that something that is motivating the discussion on that possible program?
JAY MONAHAN: I think, yeah, I think that's part of -- you certainly are looking at other sports and you're seeing the same trend we're seeing, which is younger players entering the professional ranks and entering, most importantly, prepared and ready to play. So recognizing that the average age continues to come down, you either go about it -- you really go about it one of two ways: How do you build an industry partnership and a connection at the college university level so that we're helping in the preparedness, or is there some kind of formal structure that better enables that and is inspiring to players as they think about matriculating from high school to college and ultimately the professional game.

So it probably got out publicly well before we thought it should. These are the kind of things we think about, but there's some excitement and logic to making some progress there.

CHRIS REIMER: Thank you, Commissioner. That wraps up the State of the TOUR portion for this morning, but at this time it's our pleasure to invite Jack and Barbara Nicklaus and John Lauck, president and CEO of Children's Miracle Hospitals, to join the commissioner on stage for a special announcement. To share today's news I'll turn it back other to Commissioner Monahan.

JAY MONAHAN: Thanks everyone. First, as always, it's a pleasure to be joined by Jack, of course, the only three-time winner of the PLAYERS Championship, and his lovely wife Barbara. Our first family of the PGA TOUR here today. It's a great honor for us to have you back here home. It really is. And I also want to thank John Lauck of Children's Miracle Network. We thank you for being with us here today. You see a lot of yellow up here. We're very excited to share with you the reasons why.

For many years the Nicklaus family has supported Children's Hospitals in their home states of Ohio and Florida, today the PGA TOUR is excited to join them and Children's Miracle Network Hospitals to engage the entire golf world in impacting even more lives with the unique new initiative.

With that, it is my pleasure to turn things over to the great Jack Nicklaus.

JACK NICKLAUS: Thank you, Jay. As I said, as you said, helping children has been something near and dear to Barbara's and my hearts for many years. The Nationwide's Children's Hospital in Columbus and the Children's Hospitals here in Florida have changed our lives and so many others in so many ways. Today with the assistance of the PGA TOUR and the excitement of John, I'm sure, of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, I'm thrilled to announce officially Play Yellow for Children's Hospitals campaign. Play Yellow for Children's Hospitals which from ^ joy's point will engage the entire world of golf. It's a five-year campaign to help Children's Miracle Network raise a hundred million dollars.

More than 10 million children visit Children's Miracle Network hospital each year, and every year with Play Yellow, together we can help save and improve the lives of so many more children.

CHRIS REIMER: Mr. Nicklaus, Commissioner Monahan, thank you. John, of course exciting news surrounding this initiative. In your words, how did the Play Yellow for Children's Hospitals campaign come together, and what does the support of having Mr. Nicklaus and Barbara Nicklaus mean to you?

JOHN LAUCK: Well, first and foremost, we wouldn't be here today without the great support of Jack and Barbara Nicklaus and of course the PGA TOUR. I remember fondly a meeting about a year ago in Jack and Barbara's kitchen, Barbara made homemade cookies and we had a great first meeting and talked about how could we get the whole golf ecosystem involved in doing something that would really make a difference in the world of pediatric healthcare, something that can impact over 10 million children a year, something that would really make a difference. And both Jack and Barbara, the Nicklaus family and the PGA TOUR really have a legacy of giving and local impact.

I was so impressed to learn that the PGA TOUR has contributed over $3 billion in its history. And to me that really speaks to I think not only the charitable giving of the PGA TOUR in tandem with what Jack and Barbara have done for so many kids over the years, but what we could do if we could get the whole golf industry to really work together, get the word out about why our children need help and to get the support going. And so that's really how it came about. And that's why we're doing the Play Yellow campaign.

We have got some terrific partners, and I would be remiss if I didn't recognize those that have joined and jumped on early to be a part of the campaign. We're so excited to have the PGA TOUR, of course, THE PLAYERS, the Memorial Tournament, Topgolf, Callaway, Srixon, the TPC Network, PGA TOUR Superstores, Marriott Golf, Titleist, Footjoy and Golf Digest that have all come on board and are a part of this and are going to find ways either through giving a portion of their proceeds, asking their customer base or giving a portion of their viewing audience to be able to help us to move this campaign forward.

We're also honored today to have a nine-year-old golfer. We call him miracle kid from Jacksonville. His name is AJ, so I hope you get a chance to meet him. But he has a rare childhood hip disorder, and he is so symbolic of these 10 million kids who are impacted by the funds that are raised and that make such a big difference in the community. And AJ is also joined with us today with Michael Aubin, the president of Wolfson Children's. We also have Greg Miller, who is the chief operating officer of UF Health Jacksonville. They are representative of the 170 wonderful member children's hospitals and hospitals treating children that make a difference day-to-day.

So again, I just want to say thank you, Commissioner, thank you so much, Jack and Barbara, for all that you've done for the kids, and I know all that we're going to be able to do together with this Play Yellow campaign.

CHRIS REIMER: Saving the best for last, Barbara, with your passion and your hands-on efforts as the chair of the Nicklaus Children's Healthcare Foundation being no secret, no one can better understand stories like AJ's as you can.

One of the stories, of course, is Craig Smith's. What can you tell us about Craig and the significance of the color yellow, not just in the Play Yellow campaign but for you and Jack as well?

BARBARA NICKLAUS: Well, Craig Smith was the son of our minister in Columbus, Ohio, and at age 11 Craig was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, and his mother called me one day and said, Barbara, would Jack ever consider calling Craig. He said, Craig is a huge fan of Jack's and would just love to hear from him.

So of course Jack called him and they immediately struck up an unbelievable relationship, and I think Jack called him at least once a week for the two years he lived. He died at age 8, in 1971.

But one of those phone calls I remember, Jack had called him on a Sunday night after a tournament and Craig sort of said, Jack, do you know why you won today? And Jack said, well, are you thinking? And Craig said, Jack, you won because I had on my lucky yellow shirt. So Jack said, okay, Craig, if you can wear a lucky shirt for me, I'll wear my yellow shirt for you next Sunday. So probably until Craig died and then probably long afterwards, Jack wore a yellow shirt every Sunday. No one really knew because we never told anyone the relationship. And then 15 years later we're in Augusta, Georgia, Sunday morning of the last round of the Masters, and Jack's kind of rummaging around in his suitcase looking for a shirt to wear, and he picks up a yellow shirt and he just holds it and he looks at me and I just look at him and I said, that's it. That's perfect. I said you have to wear that shirt today for Craig in his honor and in his memory.

So of course you know the end of the story, Jack did win and that really was the first time that the yellow shirt story had become public. And so, yeah, I guess you can understand why this is such a personal campaign and Jack and I are so passionate about the Play Yellow campaign. So we can't thank the TOUR and children's Miracle Network enough for partnering for such a meaningful and well just sensational campaign for us, so thank you all.

CHRIS REIMER: Thank you, Barbara, beautifully told. Jack and Barbara, Commissioner Monahan and John, thank you for all your comments. With that we'll open it for continued questions.

Q. Usually when I hear the phrase play yellow, it's with some friend of mine I've left a putt six feet short.
JACK NICKLAUS: I understand that too.

Q. But in this context can you explain a little bit or expand a little bit more on the play yellow beyond the connection to Craig? Are you encouraging people to wear more yellow shirts when they play golf, is there anything else that kind of relates to this?
JOHN LAUCK: Yeah, we, this is about raising funds because those funds are really the key and the tool to be able to help these children. So many of our hospitals are in need of what we would call you know restricted funding to be able to help take care of the kids, whether it's equipment, whether it's research, whether it's uninsured care, or were it's some of the softer things like child life or schooling in the hospital. These things are essential to the healing of our kids, and so what we're asking is that everybody come together and find their own unique way to help raise money. So it might be playing at your local course and making a donation during that round as we put together and we will be working with everything from local courses, we'll be sponsoring golf tournaments, obviously through manufacturers retailers there will be retail application where there's an opportunity to ask for a donation on the customer base or for manufacturers to make a donation, but it's really about helping us raise these funds, and again, our goal is a hundred million dollars over the next five years, because that will represent a significant difference in the impact of these kids.

Q. Whether you wear yellow or those -- the Memorial Tournament we had it the last few years and we've had yellow shirts for people that came into the golf tournament that made a donation. They got a yellow shirt and got a little badge about playing, wearing a yellow shirt. Yellow Shirt Campaign we called it. Well, we have just expanded upon that and that's what we're doing right here. So whether you wear yellow or not, to think yellow, that's what we're doing. And not on short putts.
BARBARA NICKLAUS: I can kind of give you a little girly answer to that too, I think to me the yellow shirt pulls at hearts strings and I think that's a big help in major fundraising campaigns.

Q. What's the TOUR's contribution or involvement or role in this?
JAY MONAHAN: Well, it started out with that fateful breakfast, and our contribution as an organizational commitment over the next five years to do everything we can to help get to the hundred million dollars. So we have reached out to all of our tournaments, we'll have several tournaments that will be activating around the Play Yellow campaign. We have talked to a lot of manufacturers, John mentioned some of them, that are activating around the campaign. We have talked to our media partners about how do we tell this story inside of our broadcasts and inside of our platforms. There really is, when we make an organizational commitment you're going to apply all your resources to make certain that we get to the goal and the beautiful thing is, it's, when you look at our model and approaching three build at the end of the year, these are the kind of things that we do that aren't in that number that are in the spirit of the game and just are what makes this game so special. So I'm up here, we're going to get to a hundred million dollars or we're going to do everything we can to support these great partners.

Q. I was curious if any of you can answer this question. How did you decide where the money gets ear marked? Let's say you raise a hundred million which I'm sure you probably will, does like a certain portion go to Columbus, does a portion go to Fort Lauderdale, where, how is that decided and lastly, if you reach a hundred million let's say in three years, will you keep going and trying to get more and/or will you, is it sort of stop after you get to a hundred million?
JOHN LAUCK: To answer the first question, the money stays where it's raised. So one of the models that we have stood for in our 36 year history is all the money is raised local and stays local. So if it's raised here in Jacksonville, it would go to Wolfson, if it's raised in Orlando it would go to Arnold Palmer Children's and so on and so forth. So that's a feature that we quite like about the model that it does stay local.

Q. Will you continue, if you get a hundred million after three years will you keep going?
JOHN LAUCK: I sure hope so.

JACK NICKLAUS: You don't kill a successful thing.

JOHN LAUCK: The reality of this is there will probably never be enough money for pediatric health care and I think one of the misnomers is somehow that Medicaid pays for it or insurance pays for it or hospitals pay for all of it and the reality of it is pediatric health care there's a gap and there's a need and the need is there because it's not cheap but it is miraculous in terms of the things that are happening in terms of the number of kids that are being saved. You can -- just looking at NICU babies, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. You go back 10, 15 years ago, and the mortality rates for a 16-ouncer were around 90 percent. Today nearly all of them are saved. And that's because to a great extent the advances that are made in medicine the great caregivers and certainly to some extent the donations that have been made to help the research, the funding and so there's a great need, it's probably one of the lease understood facts in at least in our country.

CHRIS REIMER: Mr. Nicklaus, it sounded like you had some comments in addition to what Jay had said about the PGA TOUR's contributions.

JACK NICKLAUS: I was going to say exactly what John just said. Before -- it was coming out of my mouth as the question was asked.

JAY MONAHAN: The beautiful thing is we have 47 tournaments on the PGA TOUR, 40 of which are in the U.S., you start to map out tournament -- and that's just the PGA TOUR -- PGA TOUR Champions, WEB.COM TOUR, you start mapping out locations relative to the campaign and the opportunity, and every single one of those tournaments will certainly be approached and it's really hard to not be involved when the Nicklaus family is behind it.

Q. Jack, I assume you're kind of an expert on trophies since you got quite a collection. What do you think of the redesigned trophy in front of you and compared to the PLAYERS champion trophies that you have at home?
JACK NICKLAUS: Well, what I have at home are I think three Joe Dye trophies. And they're plaques that were up on the wall. To me a trophy is just symbolic of what goes on and what happens. I think this is a beautiful trophy, but it's going to, in time, be symbolic of the PLAYERS Championship and what you win. So that's great. As I understand it, it's a mixture of composition of a lot of the players of the swings and so forth.

JAY MONAHAN: You got the highest percentage of any player.

JACK NICKLAUS: What's that? The no hair? I'm getting there.

(Laughter.)

CHRIS REIMER: Commissioner, Mr. Nick, Barbara, Mr. Lauck, thank you for your time and congratulations on launching of what should be a very successful campaign. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP sports

tech 129
About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297