U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 2000

Mary Capouch

David Fray

Kendra Graham

MARY CAPOUCH: Delighted to see you all today and welcome to the 55th U.S. Women's Open Championship. I'd like to tell you a little bit about myself and the volunteer committee of which I am a member. I'm chairman of the USGA Women's Committee. There are 23 of us who established a policy for women's amateur golf in the United States, and help conduct six of the 13 USGA Championships; Women's Open is one of those. I live in Mandeville, Louisiana and I'm certainly glad to be up here in cool weather in Chicagoland. Amongst other responsibilities of the USGA Women's Committee are selecting our International Teams, and being involved with Women's Handicap Regional Committee, the Women's Regional Affairs Committee which represents golf associations all over the world, and the Women's Committee is also involved in an initiative which we feel is very important in promoting junior girls golf, which is the LPGA Girls Golf Club, in conjunction with the LPGA and the Girl Scouts of USA. Back to International Team selection again. I think all of you must know by now that every two years, we have a Curtis Cup match, which happens on alternating sides of the Atlantic, and we select the eight best amateur players from this side of the pond to compete against Great Britain and Ireland. And this year our United States team was victorious 10-8 against Great Britain and Ireland, the first time we've won overseas since 1984 and we've successfully defended our match. We are very excited about that, proud of our current Curtis Cup team, and those eight amateur players are in this field here at this championship.

KENDRA GRAHAM: Well, I think every time we have the opportunity to conduct a National Championship for the best women golfers in the world, it's special. And we're very excited to be here in Chicago and at the Merit Club. We have been coming here for many years, and it's a delight to see how Oscar Miles has conditioned this golf course for this championship. We're very pleased with the condition of the golf course and feel like it's going to be a stern test for the players this week. We hope Mother Nature continues to cooperate and keep it dry so that we can keep the nice firm fairways that we have at this point, and firm the greens up a little bit more and get some nice speed on them, and we're ready to start.

MARY CAPOUCH: Well, actually, this competition at the Merit Club was scheduled to be in 1999 rather than the year 2000, and when the PGA scheduled their championship in 1999, we felt that we had already had our original dates. We decided that it would be better not to play in the same year that the PGA is here. Obviously, it would be too much competition in the world of golf in one city. So, we were able, due to the kindness of the Merit Club, to reschedule the championship for 2000 on the same dates we had for 1999. And we ended up -- both those dates were opposite the British Open. Those were our original dates. So, we fell into that slot. We were assured by our television partners that that really could work in our favor, and so we have those dates.

MARY CAPOUCH: Well, it works in our favor. In some people's eyes it works in our favor, because habitual television viewing all day long, seems to be in their eyes, a popular thing to do. You get in the habit of watching the British Open, and then right into the Women's Open after that. They felt that was to our advantage.

MARY CAPOUCH: Nancy Lopez has never been our Women's Open champion, and obviously, she has been runner-up, I believe, four times. As far as our exemption criteria in general are concerned, we exempt our Women's Open champions for ten years. Once they fall off that ten-year track, then beyond that, we will probably extend an invitation for an exemption to a past champion who is not otherwise exempt if she does not -- if she is not exempt in other criteria for that year. Do you understand what I mean? In other words, they get an exemption for ten years. If they are not exempt under another category after their ten years of exemption as a champion is up, then we will consider them for an exemption.

MARY CAPOUCH: Nancy is not a past champion. Nancy is a past USGA champion. She is somebody that has done a lot for women's golf and is still competitive, and it means a lot to us to have her in the field.

MARY CAPOUCH: Absolutely.

MARY CAPOUCH: No. It's absolutely a year-by-year thing. We take into consideration new criteria every year.

KENDRA GRAHAM: Interestingly enough, there's a women's subcommittee, which Mary is chairman, who every year looks very closely at those who are exempt for the Women's Open. They do so at our annual meeting which usually takes place end of January or February. They do a lot of research. This committee looks at fact and figures of who has been given a special exemption in the past, history and precedent, and they analyze that. Special exemption can be given, but that's where they all get together and announce who will be given a special exemption, and as they go along in the year they look at who may not be exempt who all of the sudden stands out as warranting an exemption. So, each year it is looked at individually.

MARY CAPOUCH: Well, we hope it's really gaining a lot of spirit for women's golf. Our clinics that we have this week, particularly the one today with Patty Berg and Kathy Whitworth and Peggy Kirk Bell is an example of how women can play golf for a lifetime. And in that case -- but they are also able to relate to the young -- to the young people, which I think is pretty outstanding. Our Junior Golf Club is -- or Catch the Spirit Junior Golf Tent is really an effort that's been ongoing since 1993 at Colonial in Fort Worth, and that was the first year that we gave children a hot dog and a cap as an incentive to come with their parents and help experience the Women's Open. And, since then, overall, we have used the Women's Open, in particular, as a strong vehicle to promote juniors, and I think it's been very effective, but, it also in turn helps the club because then they can attract more spectators.

MARY CAPOUCH: Well, I think that we're only on day three of the practice rounds, and tomorrow is the first round of the competition. I think you're going to be surprised how many kids there are coming out.

MARY CAPOUCH: The target date that we're looking at right now is July 4th, and that will kick in in 2002.

MARY CAPOUCH: For at least three, four years.

KENDRA GRAHAM: The master plan is that we would stay in the July 4th weekend in as many years to come as we can. I think right now we've got a master schedule out to 2010. However, we still would like the ability to go during a different week, if we get an invitation from a golf course that we would really like to accept and the July 4th weekend isn't conducive in conditioning the golf course during that time period. So, we still kind of are reserving, hopefully, the right to go elsewhere. However, having said that, we do understand that it if we get into one week year-in, year-out, that that could help the Women's Open Championship in the long run, much like the U.S. Open, much like Wimbledon. And those considerations are certainly being looked at.

KENDRA GRAHAM: For the most part, for all of our National Championships, the USGA works on an invitation basis, which a club invites us to host a particular championship. Sometimes it's an invitation that is very specific, a particular championship in a particular year. In other cases, it might be a championship in any year, or it might be any championship in a particular year because of the Centennial celebration or something like that. That invitation is reviewed after a visit from the USGA, and then accepted by the pertinent committee, be it the Executive Committee or the Women's Committee. Now, having said that, sometimes word gets out that we might be interested in going to a particular course, if we let it be known to have them consider inviting us. But that's the framework, invitation. And then it's accepted by the USGA and then we go into agreements and that sort of thing.

KENDRA GRAHAM: That is the one drawback to the July 4th weekend is that certain golf courses cannot get their golf courses prepared to championship conditions during that time period. I think we first learned that when we went to Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth in '91 -- I shouldn't say first, but certainly in recent years. It was nobody's fault, but the weather did not allow the golf course superintendent to prepare the golf course, get the greens as we would want them during that time period. Bentgreens in Fort Worth in July just don't mix, certainly with a Women's Open Championship. So, I think we would want to be able to accept invitations from golf courses, such as the Colonial, that would have concerns based on weather, and we don't want to miss a great invitation just because we have to be during the July 4th weekend.

MARY CAPOUCH: Well, there has been an increase in the purse every year in recent history for the Women's Open, but this has been the largest -- the largest, by far, purse on LPGA TOUR schedule. The purses is -- I mean, the Women's Open is obviously the championship of international women's golf. The USGA places great importance on this championship and considers it to be the flagship carrier for women's golf, and so we intend to -- of course, keep looking at the purse down the line. But I think that this year, we let the public know that women's golf means a lot to our organization and we're there to support it and have our Women's Open be the leader.

MARY CAPOUCH: As far as $1 million every year? Not necessarily.

MARY CAPOUCH: The size of increase? No. Again, it's kind of like our exemptions. We look at it every year.

MARY CAPOUCH: We felt like we did a lot for women's golf by raising the purse $1 million for the Championship this year, and I think that speaks volumes, when so many of the other championships have purses that are so much less.

KENDRA GRAHAM: I think one thing the USGA has done, and I think the backing has come from Women's Committee, our Executive Committee and certainly the organization, we have tried to elevate this championship to the highest, highest level. Judy Bell, sitting in the back of the room, I can remember her once saying that we have this perfect championship, but nobody going to see it. And, I think what we keep trying to do is showcase women's golf, championship women's golf by conducting it at great golf courses, conditioning it so it's the best golf course, the hardest golf course that the women see all year long; and also doing everything we can to promote the championship and raising the awareness of women's golf by getting over 100,000 spectators at the Championship. And we've been on this steady rise since 1995 in promoting the Women's Open and getting spectators out, and it's been very exciting for us to see that the word is getting out. And I think all we can do is keep trying to do that very thing, and by having the best championship for women in the world, that's going to spread the word about women and women's golf, and along with that comes the recognition that a U.S. Open has, a Men's Open has.

MARY CAPOUCH: We hope it will be 100,000 overall. We need to have a good gate to get to 100,000 but things are looking good.

KENDRA GRAHAM: We have been told, and those of you from this market will know better than we do, that Chicago is a big sales at the great town, and people are used to buying their tickets at the gate. And we are certainly hoping that's going to kick in, and any help you can give us, we would appreciate as far as getting those gate sales up; and again, having as many people here as absolutely possible.

MARY CAPOUCH: The play on TOUR this year has been fantastic, and we're excited our defending champion, Juli Inkster, has had such a blockbuster year and has been in the press a lot; people have been writing about her. She's a great role model for women's golf, and she's not the only player that's done really well. I think that in and of itself is helpful in showcasing women's golf and promoting this Championship.

KENDRA GRAHAM: Do you mean the USGA or the host club?

MARY CAPOUCH: The answer is that -- the answer is no, that it's not a profitable championship. I'll let David follow up on that.

DAVID FAY: Well, it depends on how you define profit. That sounds like a politician speaking. But we do have an overall television contract, and that television contract is based on a certain number of championships, which are aired on NBC and ESPN. We don't break it down, nor does the network, as far as X amount is dedicated to the other championships and X amount is dedicated to the Women's Open. But as both Mary and Kendra have indicated, the Women's Open is on the rise in terms of interest, event support. So I have my own definition of profitable, and as far as I'm concerned, the Women's Open is very profitable. It not only is an important piece of the USGA, but as has been said, I think it is an important part of promotion of women's golf and these great athletes that you see out here.

KENDRA GRAHAM: And I think one point I'd like to make, too, is since this Championship is conducted by the USGA, hosted by the Merit Club, our host clubs make money on the Championship. Obviously, it remains to be seen what's going to happen here at the Merit Club, but there were years when the host club broke even, maybe lost a little money. But our host clubs do make money, and I think that's the other element that you have to take into consideration.

MARY CAPOUCH: Our attitude is we've taken a wait-and-see attitude like this. It sounded like an interesting proposition when we found ourselves opposite the British Open, but we're still waiting to see.

KENDRA GRAHAM: I think we have to evaluate the overall picture as far as not only what does it do for us television ratings-wise, but what does it do for us in the whole world of golfs are as far as print coverage, photo opportunities, etc. So I think it would take us awhile to evaluate everything and see what we might want to do in the future.

KENDRA GRAHAM: I don't think we'll disagree with you. And I think the print media have been hit the hardest with this conflict, and we're aware of that. And we are not pleased with that, but we would have to evaluate it and go forward, but certainly, in the recent future, we have our championship dates out through 2004 right now, and we will not be conflicting with the British Open between now and 2004. And, if we stay with the date we believe they will be, which is the 4th of July, that won't happen in the future.

MARY CAPOUCH: Well, next we're going to Pine Needles where we conducted the Championship in 1996. Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina. In 2002, we'll be going to Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kansas. 2003, we're going to Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City, California. 2004, we'll be back at Pumpkin Ridge on the Witch Hollow Course in Portland, Oregon. And we were there for our '97 Championship, as you recall, Jerry, when Nancy and Alison Nicholas went to the 18th hole to determine the Championship.

MARY CAPOUCH: We've gotten a lot of invitations for the Women's Open, and we also have gone out to ask clubs of their interest, and it's delightful for us to see that there are clubs out there who have not approached us when we approached them; that they have shown interest.

MARY CAPOUCH: Yes, right now we're making a concerted effort to find marquis sites. For our Women's Open, we already have marquis sites that we've been going to in the past, but the kind of courses you're talking about are certainly on our wish list for the future.

MARY CAPOUCH: Absolutely. We feel like the sites we've been to in recent years are wonderful golf courses in great venues, but we also have our sights set on ones that their names might be better known to the public and better known to the players.

MARY CAPOUCH: Sure. Pebble Beach is right in there, along with some other courses like the Pebble Beach.

DAVID FAY: Any future sites we're not going to tip our hand, but I should emphasize, also, we have had discussions and clubs that have hosted major championships in the past have expressed an interest in hosting the Women's Open going forward. And when I say "major championship," I'm talking about major men's championships.