Q. There seem to be some forecast yesterday for some rain later this afternoon at some point; what were your people telling you in terms of what time it was going to come through?
MARTY PARKES: I don't know exactly the answer to that as far as what our exact forecast was. I think as most of you know here, we do have a meteorologist on site that we bring in who watches the weather and advises us on the forecast.
Q. Is that meteorologist in charge of the buses? Sorry, couldn't help it. (Laughter.)
Q. Is it possible for us, No. 1, to get a NBC person in here to also explain why they wanted this thing to end so obviously in prime time and why this could not have been averted?
MARTY PARKES: Right now I can't get anybody in here, because we're hoping to get right back at this. But I'll find out more information. Obviously I didn't have a lot of time from the time play was suspended to right now to get you all those answers.
Q. I was going to ask about the weather forecast, since it was so obvious all week, but it's been asked. If we have to come back tomorrow and it ends in a tie tomorrow, what about the 18-hole playoff; when would that start?
MARTY PARKES: Well, I'm sure what we would do is resume play very early in the morning so we could get the fourth round complete so we could get the playoff in tomorrow.
Q. The decision to start at 3:30, when was that made, a month ago, six months ago?
MARTY PARKES: Late yesterday afternoon.
Q. Just yesterday?
MARTY PARKES: It had been slotted for that time slot, but those times can be adjusted, but the final decision was made yesterday afternoon, for the leaders to go at 3:30.
Q. In your discussions with NBC, what reasons did they give the USGA as to why they wanted the start time this late?
MARTY PARKES: That I only don't know, I'm going to have to find that out for you. I don't want to sound like I'm passing the buck, here, I don't handle broadcasting for the USGA, I don't have responsibility for that particular area.
Q. What is the meteorologist's name that you have on site?
MARTY PARKES: First name is Megan. I'm going to have to get the last name for you.
Q. Who has the upper hand, the USGA or NBC, as far as determining the times; can you overrule them to say we have a weather warning, let's get the guys out early?
MARTY PARKES: The final decision for everything on this championship are the USGA, they obviously conduct the championship. We have a lot of discussions with NBC, and obviously today when the decision was made, we felt we could get the round in according to the schedule.
Q. Wouldn't it have been more prudent to get them out earlier just so you didn't have to chance this?
MARTY PARKES: I guess the way the weather has turned out, that's the case, but we didn't know that at the time.
Q. What is the procedure for determining whether in the future we can avoid this situation since it's so obviously going to come up for the rest of our lives and sooner or later this is going to happen again and again?
MARTY PARKES: Just like everything else at the end of the year, every aspect of how we conduct this championship is looked at. Obviously this procedure will be examined, as well.
Q. At what time did the Open end last year on Sunday, do you know?
MARTY PARKES: I believe it was about 7 p.m.
Q. If we're to assume that we know why NBC wants it to end in prime time, can you tell us what the USGA's reasons are that they would agree to have it end that late?
MARTY PARKES: I think our reason for agreeing was what I've said several times, and that is we felt given what the weather forecasts were and the other factors, and what we had built into the schedule, we would speed up those tee times half an hour, than what they had originally been slotted at, we felt we could complete the round.
Q. You said you were going to start at 4 p.m. to go off?
MARTY PARKES: We could with the schedule, because 3:54 was what was estimated for two-somes, that was the estimated pace of play.
Q. We talked about the concern regarding players, but nobody actually ever thought about the respect that we have 40 thousand people out there, and if the round would have been finished by now, these people could have gone safely home, now they are also fearing thunder storms, lightning and stuff like that?
MARTY PARKES: The weather warnings went up a little bit before 5:30. I don't have the exact time on that. So there was about a 35-minute warning period between the time the signs were posted and we tried to start clearing people out using the marshals, state police and other security personnel to the time we suspended play.
Q. Given the pace of play yesterday, which was much more than three hours and 54 minutes, would you have taken that into consideration in making a decision today? Did you expect them just to speed up, because it was Sunday?
MARTY PARKES: I think that was part of the decision to go to 3:30, too, it left us a cushion, both the pace of play and the weather.
Q. (Inaudible.)
MARTY PARKES: It has varied widely. We have played in a lot of different time zones, last year Tulsa; we've been on the West Coast and the east coast. So I don't know that there's a typical time for that.
Q. (Inaudible.)
MARTY PARKES: It normally has been in the east, it normally has been earlier than what we were slated to finish today.
Q. (Inaudible.)
MARTY PARKES: For the leaders going off? Normally my recollection, most of the Opens we've had in the east have ended about 7:00. That's been the target time.
Q. Financial considerations are justifiable for any organization, but can you put even a rough dollar amount on the difference between a contract with a TV network in which they hold the upper hand or feel they can influence your decisions, or one you're independent and take your spectators into consideration first. Can you put a rough number on it?
MARTY PARKES: In my 11 years with this association, I've never heard any decision about this championship decided by dollars.
Q. No offense to you, but where is David Fay, and will he come in?
MARTY PARKES: I'll try to get him in later. He's in the TV booth still, as he always is during the broadcast.
Q. Why?
MARTY PARKES: Because he explains rulings as they come about on the air.
Q. They don't need rulings now?
MARTY PARKES: They're still on the air, and we hope to resume in a few minutes. I called David and talked to him before I came in here. We'll try to get him in.
Q. Took the last group about two and a half hours to play ten holes. What's your understanding of the late as you can go as far as darkness, what time would you have to stop, do you think, given sunset and all that stuff?
MARTY PARKES: Probably a window of about 8:30, perhaps quarter of 9; depends on cloud cover and things like that.
Q. Under your procedures, how long will they be out there in advance, and at what point will they have time to warm up, because normally when they're out there in advance they don't have that time?
MARTY PARKES: I can't give you an absolute hard answer on that. Basically it's going to depend on the duration, how long we feel the dangerous weather is in the area. At some point they may be brought in. If they're brought in, there's warm-up time given to the players before they go back out. If it's a short resumption of play, normally there won't be.
Q. Is the meteorologist involved in that and if so, can we talk to her at some point?
MARTY PARKES: I don't know the answer to the second part of that. The first part of that is yes, she's very involved with our officials in making the determination on whether to put up the weather warnings, whether to suspend play, they're normally right in there looking at that information, so they can make an informed decision.
End of FastScripts....
