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BAY HILL INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 17, 2005

Mark Russell

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Mark, for joining us for a few minutes. We have tournament director PGA TOUR rules official Mark Russell here with us in the media center. Why don't we just begin with some questions.

Q. How much rain did the course take?

MARK RUSSELL: Well, I haven't got an exact amount but in the vicinity of two inches, an inch and a half, two inches.

Q. Why did you guys decide to play it down today?

MARK RUSSELL: We looked very closely. We got a half-inch overnight and the golf course was in excellent condition.

You know, we looked at it very closely. We thought we could play the ball down and we talked to our weather people and they thought that we wouldn't get anymore than a half-inch of rain. We knew the golf course could handle that, no problem, and we're coming into a good forecast tomorrow and the next two days. So we wanted to play some real golf and play the ball down; that's what we did. We got an inch and a half, two inches of rain, and that last three quarters of an inch we got stayed on top of the ground because there's no place for it to go.

Q. If you had decided to play it up, you started this morning, is it possible you could have been out there playing this afternoon?

MARK RUSSELL: No, I don't think so. You know, we made a major effort to try to play, and John Anderson and his staff did a great job. I mean, we had to try. We have some pumps out there and pumped some areas out. But once the committee looked closely at the golf course in a lot of places, we just couldn't play golf under the rules. We had some very deep puddles and no place to take relief, and even if we were lifting the ball, I don't think we could have played golf properly under the rules.

Q. So we're looking at finishing the second round Saturday, make the cut and then 1 and 10 and threesomes?

MARK RUSSELL: That's right.

Q. You don't see it --

MARK RUSSELL: If everything cooperates, we've got a good weather forecast. We should be able to finish 6:00 off two tees Sunday night on national television.

Q. Forecast is good the rest of the week?

MARK RUSSELL: Forecast is good the rest of the week.

Q. Does that concern you?

MARK RUSSELL: Semi. (Laughter).

Q. When do you expect to be back on schedule, to be back by Saturday to get three rounds in?

MARK RUSSELL: Well, we are not really going to be back on, per se, schedule. Being back on schedule is playing off one tee Saturday and Sunday. We're going to have to play off two tees both times.

We're probably going to make the cut around 1:00 or so Saturday, and then turn them right around and go back out and play as much golf as we possibly can; and then come back Sunday morning, finish the third round; and then turn it around and play off two tees and try to set it for a 6:00 finish on television.

Q. Will there be a good draw for the last round?

MARK RUSSELL: I think so.

Q. It's obviously much easier at this tournament having seven less groups.

MARK RUSSELL: Absolutely, sure. I wouldn't say much easier, but it is easier.

Q. Are you concerned with the conditions tomorrow, and not with regards to there will be no rain, but mud on the balls tomorrow; that they won't be able to clean?

MARK RUSSELL: You know, when we lift the ball, Alex, we lift the ball because we cannot play golf under the casual water rule. That's our purpose of lifting it. When a player can't take relieve from casual water when you take relief from casual water, you have to take complete relieve; you can't go from bad to better. That is the reason we lift the ball.

We really don't complete the ball because it has mud on it. You know, we play golf on the ground, and it's soft, you're going to get mud on your ball on occasion. But that's the reason we lift the ball is because we can't play golf under the rules of casual water.

And if we are lift, cleaning and placing, we're giving you a club length to find a place to play and we're going to let you tee it up. So we don't want -- no cause for casual water relief.

Q. Would you guys do that the second round, lift, clean and place?

MARK RUSSELL: If the conditions warrant it, but I think the conditions are going to get better. We get some sunshine out here and a little breeze and it will dry up pretty quick.

Q. What type of influence does the tournament host have on whether you play it up or down?

MARK RUSSELL: We didn't even discuss it with him. Wasn't even -- I didn't even see the tournament host until late this afternoon.

Q. When did they last cut the rough?

MARK RUSSELL: 1860 I think -- no. I'm not really sure when they last cut the rough. Frank Kavanough, our advance official we've always had good rough here, I'm sure he had John Anderson and his staff top it off, but I can find that out.

JOAN vT ALEXANDER: Thank you, Mr. Russell, for joining us. Appreciate it.

End of FastScripts.

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