PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2001

Jim Awtrey

Chip Beck

Jack Connelly

JACK CONNELLY: Thank you, Julius. Good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure as president of the PGA to welcome you to this, the 83rd PGA Championship. This is the PGA of America's most notable annual event, and Jim and I look forward to sharing some time with you to tell you a little bit about what the PGA of America is doing. I'd like to reiterate that the Atlanta Athletic Club has been a fantastic host to this Championship, which includes the strongest field of the year in all of professional golf. Speaking of the field, our defending champion, Tiger Woods, the first player to win back-to-back championships since Denny Shute in 1936 and 1937, begins another historic chase tomorrow. Tiger will be the first player to attempt to win three PGA Championships in a row, with Walter Hagen winning four in a row from 1924 to 1927. One thing that I'm extremely proud of is to congratulate the 25 PGA Club Professionals who have qualified for this year's championship. Similar to the two other majors who have qualifying, the PGA of America uses our PGA Club Professional Championship as a means of identifying the 25 top PGA players who are then invited to the season's final major. These 25 PGA professionals spend most of their time at their clubs working with their members and growing the game of golf through various programs. In addition, they have maintained a high level of playing skills in order to compete at this level. The PGA is extremely proud of our members and we wish them well this week. One of the ways that the PGA continues to grow interest in the game is through scholarship programs, which recognize deserving young people who are connected with the game of golf. Since 1994, the PGA of America has been involved with the Evans Scholarship Program, which was made possible by one of the all-time great rounds in professional golf, the record-tying score of 59 by Mr. Chip Beck up here at the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational. Chip is here once again with John Hanna, and I would invite Chip to come up and say a couple words. (Applause.)

CHIP BECK: Thanks Jack and Chip. It is a pleasure and privilege to be here. We have quite a joint venture going here with the PGA of America, and I must say that it's been the proudest part of my life and the best part of my life being involved. We have a success story today, starting in the inner city of Chicago of a young man that his mother was a fourth grade school teacher. And these children, a lot of times, have to be walked to school, so they won't get beat up by the gangs and what have you. We are talking about areas in our society that need help and need golf. The PGA of America is reaching these young children and we have John Hofleck here from the Daniel Murphy Foundation, which will help Brandon, the recipient this year of the scholarship. What happens is they take these men like Brandon, they would board him, feed him, he would be involved in caddying and being around golf; so he would see the grass roots of golf and how golf really is and how golf can really help your life. Well, Brandon if you will take a stand, we have an award for you. This young man is a 4.0 student, and we have a plaque to offer him today and he is going to receive a scholarship. Brandon is truly a success story for PGA of America and I think that's what golf is all about, because we all know that golf can make life better for each and every one of us, as it has for me. So it is with great honor -- and, Brandon, I must say that I would wish I could make 4.0 and go to Marquette University, because that is quite a privilege. You deserve this. And Brandon is going to be a very successful young man. He's already brought up from the toughest upbringing that you can have. He had a wonderful mother, and we are expecting great things from you. You know we are going to help you any way we can and congratulations. You can say a few words if you want. (Applause).

BRANDON HORTON: I just wanted to say thank you to the members of the PGA and the committeemen of the PGA, and to Mr. Chip Beck for giving me this award. I would like to thank my mother and Mr. John Hanna and everyone at the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation who have helped me throughout the years to achieve my many accomplishments. Thank you. (Applause).

JACK CONNELLY: Thank you, Chip, and congratulations, Brandon. Thanks to the staff and volunteers of the Evans Scholarship Program, one of the country's most successful initiatives. As I mentioned earlier, the PGA of America and its members are involved in many different ways of growing the game of golf. Through our PGA Foundation, we provide a number of scholarship programs, including our annual program with the Golf Writer's Association of America, the National Minority Golf Scholarship Program headed by Bill Dickey, a Distinguished Service Award Winner of the PGA of America a couple of years ago, and grants to four universities participating in the Golf Management Diversity Scholarship Programs which encourage minority students to become involved in this program. We are also involved with college students on a different level through our Golf for Business and Life Program. This is a four-year college curriculum which teaches juniors and seniors the basics of golf. Our goal is to equip the students with the fundamental golf skills, knowledge of rules, and etiquette so they can enter the workplace feeling comfortable about participating in the first company golf outing. The PGA of America is very pleased with the first-year results of this program. You may recall that the Golf for Business and Life was in part funded by the 1999 Ryder Cup Captain, Ben Crenshaw, and his team members through grants to their alma maters. In a few moments, you are going to hear Jim speak about a local initiative which we are very proud of, as well. We are also providing grants to more than 30 local charities chosen by the captain and the players of the 1999 Ryder Cup, and we are pleased to announce today that we will be doing so again on behalf of the 2001 Ryder Cup Team. The real life stories about how programs as this positively affecting the lives of people throughout the country was an inspiration for a book project. The book, entitled "A Spirit of Golf," are stories of those who love the game. The book features PGA golf professionals, golf writers such as yourselves, celebrities, and a few everyday golfers who submitted stories about different experiences they have had with golf that have either touched their funny bone or their heart. We'd like to thank those of you who helped contribute to this book, which we think will promote the game and the role PGA professionals play in making it such a special part of our lives. PGA professionals do make a difference in the lives of people. To help tell the story who PGA professionals are and what they do to grow the game, we will be introducing new public service announcements campaigns during this year's Championship. I would like to, at this point, show you four television spots which will be airing during TNT's and CBS's coverage of this Championship over the next four days, so please pay attention to the television monitors. (Video played).

JIM AWTREY: Thank you. Also, good morning to everyone. I'm going to be brief, but I'm going to be talking about some things that are very important to us, and I want to highlight some things with these gentlemen down in front. But first I would like to talk a little bit about the golf course. Something unique happened at this Championship. You know, we are striving to make the PGA Championship the very best we can. We've been trying to grow the Championship, the quality of the event, and you have said nice things about it. I think this year's event will be the strongest field ever. But one thing this club has done to enhance the Championship is they made the decision on their own to close the golf course one month ahead of the tournament. So for one month, they just prepared the golf course. No one played it until the players came in starting in the last two weeks. It's an extraordinary commitment on behalf of a club in support of the PGA Championship, and I know the players this week have commented on the quality of the golf course. And personally on behalf of the PGA, we'd like to thank you for that effort to make the event more special. I'm going to talk about some other things the club is doing in a moment. I would like to talk about the philosophy of this golf course. It is an outstanding golf course that will test the player's, I believe, entire game. The focus was trying to make sure we put the driver in the hands of the players. So often on some of the old courses, and depending if you get it perfect, the fairways are fast, the ball runs. The players today, what are they averaging is 280, hitting the ball up to 340, 350, things that we never dreamed about. This course was adjusted to put the driver in the hands of the players. A few changes. No. 8 was lengthened about 40 yards to bring the lake into play, and put the driver in the hands of the players. Hole No. 12, a new tee was added with 20 yards, making it 280 to 300 to position it past the big tree on the left so the players could go at the green with a risk/reward. The lake sits right on the edge of the green giving you a chance for birdie or eagle, but if you don't hit the shot, you're going to be looking at a penalty. 14th hole, we added a tee that is 30 yards back. Again, just to encourage the players to hit a driver. 16, 40 yards was added to the hole. Again, to put the driver in the hands. Seven of the holes have water in play. There's 88 sand bunkers on the golf course. Basically, we recognize that the players today are doing extraordinary things. They are longer than we ever dreamed about, and all we are trying to do here is take a golf course and let them drive the ball. And, it's interesting, we are hearing things like "I'm hitting a long iron." And sometimes people talk about a fairway wood. I'm not sure we have heard that in a long time, especially what player today is hitting a long iron. Many of us remember, 15 years ago when it was customary to hit a 4-iron or 2-iron into a par 4. Chip remembers; that wasn't uncommon at all. Today a long hole is a 5- or 6-iron. Now the 5- or 6-iron may be going 200 to 215, but that's really what the golf course is about. And as consistent with the PGA of America, if we err, we will err on the side of the player. We will try to create a fair test, to test their driving, their putting and we grow rough just like anybody else, but the sole purpose is to say that we have got 95 of the top 100 players in the world of golf. And when you take the top 95 players, you put them on the golf course, 10 or 15 of those players are going to play extraordinarily well, and I believe this golf course will bring the best players in the world to the top. I have no idea what they will shoot, and it really doesn't make any difference, if it will test their ability. Today I think we focus too much attention on score, how many red numbers there are; par 5s become par 4s. In the end, I think we have to recognize the extraordinary skill of the players. So, again, thank you to the Board of Directors at Atlanta Athletic Club for their commitment. I think we have an outstanding golf course. You have already heard from the players. A part of what we have been doing for the last few years is reaching out in the communities. When you bring a major championship to a community, you not only bring visibility from around the world, but we have started to focus on the local community. Bringing people in the community, and in particular, in the not-for-profit side of the minority community out to the golf course, bringing people that have never seen a major championship, bringing kids. It started on Sunday with the Georgia section of the PGA. They brought kids out and let them hit balls on the range. We had 60 adults with the kids, 135 kids. They hit balls. They had never been to a major championship, much less stand on the same tee that the great players in the world were, and hit shots. Over the last couple of days of practice rounds, there's 2,000 minority kids who have been to the golf course. You have seen them out here. They have been watching the tournament. They were participating in the Champion's Clinic, and they have come from all over: Atlanta, Duluth, even from Alabama, and they are coming in to see what a tournament is all about and what golf is. Which brings me to comment on what Jack highlighted about Golf For Business and Life. We believe golf today is a business tool. We know that people in the business world play golf, and if we want to bring people into the business of golf of color, we have to introduce the game. So not only did we do that with our scholarship and other institutions, but programs locally. Midnight Golf, some wonderful stories. In Kentucky, working with the Urban League. Here in, cooperation with the club, we have joined together with them to make a commitment to bring Golf For Business and Life to four historic black colleges in Atlanta under the Atlanta University Center for: Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta. Between the Atlanta Athletic Club and the PGA, we are putting up $200,000 plus, to bring that program to these colleges, and we expect that to be introduced in the fall of 2002. The program is designed to bring PGA members to those colleges, work with the students, introduce them to the game with the idea that if juniors and seniors in college will learn to play golf, then go out and take jobs that they continue, and they have the opportunities that we believe are associated with golf. So the Board of Directors seated up front of Atlanta Athletic Club, they have made a commitment of $100,000 to work with the PGA; and we, likewise, are doing that, to create a program that will stay in this community and go on for the next few years, with the idea of introducing golf to more in the minority community. It's a commitment of Jim Davis. He chairs the Community Relations Committee. He works with Ernie Ellison. I would encourage you to go get with them after this and talk about what they are doing. It is a real touching commitment from the club. The goal would be to have these students get interested in golf and get them interested in the business of golf and integrate into playing the game, working in the business and getting involved in golf. I'm sure it will provide the opportunity for interns and relationships to build, that will help grow the game and bring more people of color into our business as well. So Jim, to you, the Atlanta Athletic Club, we thank you, and I would encourage you to talk to them about the program, because it's something special.

JIM AWTREY: I think what it is in response to is what we have all realized: Pace of play is very difficult. We have not found a way -- we, meaning golf -- to really reduce the pace of play to what we think it should be. The tournaments have grown in size, people, the movement. And when you are going off 1 tee and your last tee time is at 3:30 in the afternoon -- yes, if you have any inclement weather, it's happened at the Open, it's happened to us. We made the decision that it is not changing the golf course by the players rotating between Thursday and Friday. They are playing the same golf course. We lost 28 minutes of daylight, moving from Kentucky to here. So if you had any problem with either the pace of play or weather, you were not going to finish. And when you don't finish on Thursday, you begin the process of a rolling shotgun that goes all the way through Friday, the cut, Saturday, impacts Sunday. In the end, we think this decision provides better experience for the players. It does not alter the golf course, and it really lets everybody associated with the tournament do their job better. We believe that this will be well received when it is all over and we're pleased to have made that decision. I have to tell you, though, that many of us who are traditionalists -- and I'm one of those who was not in favor of caddies wearing shorts, so I am really a traditionalist . It was not easy to say: Let's go with a two-tee start, but I think it was the right thing to do, given it is a modern major, the quality of the players and size of the field.

JIM AWTREY: No. I just expect that they are going to have to drive the ball in the fairway. I don't think the pace of play is going to be altered by hitting a driver. I really believe that it will remain the same. I think what it will do, though, is it will bring the driver into play at the Championship. People are going to have to drive the ball. When they are hitting 10 drivers on the golf course, they are going to have to drive the ball straight. So I don't think it will have any impact on the pace of play, but I think it will certainly have an impact on performance.

JIM AWTREY: Well, we consider everything. We look at whether you can reduce it by a foursome or two. Yes, we considered all of that. But we believe that the two-tee start provides the opportunity that to ensure that we can finish in normal daylight. Allows us to have the same field. You have to remember, our target is to try to get as many players in the Top-100 in the world. Now, I think if you look at this tournament, you'll see that we have got 95 percent of the Top-100 players in the world into one event, and at the same time you have the players that are playing well on the Tour. So it creates a large field. Obviously, we have got the club professionals, the best of what we have. We feel that the quality of the field and the way we have structured this tournament is better served by the two-tee start rather than reducing.

JIM AWTREY: Absolutely. Our Rules Committee will do their job. We have representatives from all associations in golf. They will clock the players. The players will be expected to maintain the pace of play. Nothing will change in that regard.

JIM AWTREY: No, I think there is a challenge when you look down the road strategically. A few years ago we laughed and said the PGA has a strategic plan and somebody we had, "Well, do you know what that is?" We are looking way out at golf courses. I think the goal is to play great, traditional golf courses, but when you play some of the old courses, given where the drive zone is, they are not hitting drivers anymore. Does that make one of those golf courses not a great course? No. We'll continue to go there. But if you begin to look, technology and quality of players -- the players are athletes today. They are much different. That's not to say they were not always athletes, but I think you know, today we are attracting bigger, stronger players who are working on fitness, and as they hit the ball further, with equipment, technology grows. We are looking at courses that provide the opportunity to extend the tee, but that is by no means the only courses that we will be going to. I think that today what I see impacting the game is par 5s. I think if you eliminated par 5s, you've got most of the great courses reduced scoring down close to par. But when you add in par 5s, and a player today that's averaging 280 off the tee and might hit a 4-iron 220, total that up. So a driver and a 4-iron is a 500-yard hole. I think that's causing us to look at what is traditionally a long par 4. Today, to be able to hit a 2-iron to a hole, the only time that happens, I believe, is on a par 5. So we'll be looking at that and that is a part of that future, but it by no means restricts it to long courses.

CHIP BECK: That was my intent, as well. I was just going to make a comment. Since the superintendents -- I'd like to add the comment that I thought you did a very good job here in adding features to where if you are hitting a 225-yard iron into the 17th hole, for instance, you have a green where you can make a 30-footer. And I think the features that affect the long drive -- as well as , you know, 300 yards affects the guy at 265 yards, as well. The features were really well placed this week and I think that's the way it should be done in the future.

JIM AWTREY: Thank you, Chip, and Kerry Haigh, who sets up the golf courses for the PGA. 18, where you are going to have a long shot, you have heard the players refer to shorter rough in those areas. Knowing that you are going to be hitting a shot over 200 yards, taking steps to say you can hit the shot, but it's a demanding shot.