MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP

June 24, 2000

Alice Miller

Betsy Rawls

HERB LOTMAN: Pretty easy how it happened. You know, when something is working, don't fix it, and 17 years ago -- 18 years ago, Betsy Rawls worked for the LPGA and that all worked pretty good. Well, it's time to go after the best one around again, and it's Alice Miller. Hopefully, Alice will be working with Betsy the next few years, learning what Betsy has set up here. And then after two years, we'll give her a written exam, (laughter), and if she passes, she'll stay. If she don't pass, you won't see Alice Miller. I couldn't be happier that we're able to get Alice to join the McDonald's LPGA Championship family. I'm sure she'll appreciate the chance of learning how to do the golf tournament from the other side. She'll be a very important asset to us and continue in the way -- the first-class manner that Betsy has kept us going all these years. Betsy is not going to retire. Betsy is going to continue on our board as an advisor. It will probably be a couple of years before Alice takes over fully, and Betsy will still be around. Unfortunately, we're stuck with her; we can't get rid of her. But she's our leader. Right, boss?

BETSY RAWLS: Yeah, that's right. I'll have to stay around to see all those signs are straight. Yeah, I would hate to detach myself completely from this tournament. I'm happy to hear Herb say that I'll be around, because I will enjoy doing that, and I feel, like Herb, that we're really lucky to have Alice. Our careers are certainly similar. We both were players on the LPGA TOUR. We both became rules officials for the LPGA. So we just came up through the same ranks, didn't we? It's interesting. I'm glad Herb likes that. We interviewed Alice a number of years ago. Twice we've gone after her. She was still a player then, six or eight years ago, and she said, no, she wanted to keep playing, she wasn't going to quit, which I totally understood. Second time around, she accepted, and I am just tickled to death that she did. I can't think of a better qualified person, a nicer person. She spent some time up here with our staff and with the board back in April, I guess, it was and my staff just loved her, everybody. I never saw anybody make such an impression on people her first time. Everybody just raves about Alice, so I feel really good that she will be able to get along well with the volunteers, certainly my staff, and all the people involved in this tournament. So it's a good situation. And I'm looking forward to slowing down and delegating a lot of work the next two years. It will be fun having Alice around. So with that, I'll just turn it over to Alice, and then I know you'll have some questions to ask her. So how do you feel about it, Alice?

ALICE MILLER: I'm very excited about it. Obviously, it's a wonderful opportunity for me. Everybody knows I can't replace Betsy; I can try and follow her footsteps and follow the tradition here. I'm not going to let you retire, Betsy. I would not even attempt this if it were not for the fact that she is going to be around for some time to come. The staff made a big impression on me in April, so it was a mutual thing, and that was a big part of the decision. It's a big move for me. I've got a lot to learn, but I've got a great lady to learn from. I would not attempt it otherwise.

ALICE MILLER: Well, I'm not sure I'm really qualified for this job at this time. Hopefully, I will be after a couple years. I will say that I have been a rules official for the last year and a half, and that has made me better prepared for a position like this, because I have been able to see some of the behind the scene operations at different tournaments. As a player, I have always seen this tournament as being the cream of the crop on our tour. This is a premiere event, both in terms of just the tournament itself, infrastructure the volunteer core that they have here; so that makes it an outstanding opportunity. I'm kind of looking forward to living in one place, and this is a beautiful area; so the thought of settling down and being involved year-round in one event is very appealing. The challenge of it, I will look forward to. Like I said, I have a lot to learn, but I enjoy challenges and learning new things; so that part of it factored in, too.

ALICE MILLER: The first time I was very intrigued by the opportunity. I wanted to work with Betsy Rawls -- I mean, what kind of a privilege would that be? And I was very excited at that time, and I really feel like I had two good years left in me golf-wise, and I felt as a player, you've only got so many years to play. And as it turned out, I didn't really have very good years in me, when I look back now. But at the time, I was still shooting some good rounds and felt fairly competitive and felt I needed to give myself a chance to finish that part of my life out or that part of my career out as a player. And to be honest, I felt that was an opportunity gone by that I'll never have again. So I was very flattered and pleased and humbled that they would ask me to do this, because I thought that opportunity had passed me by, or I had passed it by. So I feel very fortunate.

ALICE MILLER: She's a legend. And I think fortunately everybody here is very realistic that I am not going to fill her shoes, including myself. I think the expectation I was going to be able to replace her , I think that would be unrealistic doing that; I would not even attempt that. That's not possible. There's only one Betsy Rawls. I think the key thing for me is come in and learn as much as I can, carry on the tradition that she has set, and I'll have lots of good people helping me along the way, and she will stay involved for a long time to come. We hope to keep me on the straight and narrow, and that's what my big goal is, just to keep the tradition going.

BETSY RAWLS: You'll do as good a job as I have done, but let me just tell you, when I had first came here, I had been the LPGA tournament director for six years, and I thought I knew how to run a golf tournament, but I didn't know anything as it turned out. One thing does not carry over very well to the other. And Herb was very tolerant the first few years. I made mistakes, believe me. It takes a long time to learn. So don't think you won't make any mistakes, or I don't expect you to make any mistakes. It's a job you have no training for. There's no way to learn; you just have to do it. So, I'm not expecting you to be perfect for ten years.

ALICE MILLER: Good.

BETSY RAWLS: I've been so successful for one reason, and that's because I have so many resources. Gosh, if I really need anything, I go to Herb, and Herb can get anything done; and I have the support of the board. They have let me run it over the years. They have not second guessed me on things. They let me make mistakes through the years. I think by nature, I'm pretty compulsive. I think that helps. And as I expect everything to be perfect, I had a hard time tolerating anything that's not done well, anything that doesn't look just perfect. And so consequently, I stayed really involved with everything that goes on. So I had a hard time delegating and letting go I still had to check at things and look at thing. It takes some energy, but I'm highly motivated to do that. I think that's one reason that I've done a good job.

ALICE MILLER: I think Betsy has a tremendous attention to detail. I think she instills that in the people around her, and that results in the look that you have here this week. It's not easy to duplicate. You know, you walk up, just like I came on site this week, and everything is in place and the atmosphere is in place. And people don't realize all the hard work and attention to detail, both large and small, that makes that happen. And you have a wonderful attention to detail.

BETSY RAWLS: We have just a great staff. I tell you, they do a tremendous amount of work, and they do -- they do their work without me. I don't have to micromanage them. They are so adept at what they do. There are a lot of areas that I don't have to give a second thought to. And that's another thing: We are very, very fortunate that we have such a stable staff. They have been there, most of them, for over 10 or 12 years I guess now. And that makes a big difference.

ALICE MILLER: I was president in 1993. I was on the board for four years.

ALICE MILLER: I think so. I would hope that it would, but I think what Betsy said is very true; that everything that I've done will be helpful to some degree, but still won't fully prepare me for what's ahead. I'm just going to have to get in there get my hands dirty for a while to learn what it's all about.

ALICE MILLER: It's going to be a fun atmosphere. We'll work hard, but we'll have fun doing it.

BETSY RAWLS: It will be an adjustment not catching that airplane every Monday morning. It seems really nice to settle down be in one place, but you'll have some withdrawal symptoms when you first come here. And you'll think: Why am I not going to Palm Springs this week or why am I not going to Japan? But soon enough you get involved in the tournament and you'll forget about all that, that glamorous life out there on Tour.

ALICE MILLER: Real glamorous life, when you wake up at home and don't know where you are; you've been on the road too long.

BETSY RAWLS: That's Herb's call.

ALICE MILLER: It's important to remember that the Open isn't raising 2.2 million for the charities, and that speaks volumes. There's not a tournament on Tour that even comes close to that. So that's a very important priority here.

ALICE MILLER: Oh my gosh, no. That's why I retired. I can't beat these kids anymore.

ALICE MILLER: Really, it's funny, I haven't missed playing. I love the game and I love to play for fun, but I think the time was right for me to retire last year when I took this position. And I say it jokingly, but it's really true I could not beat these kids on a regular basis. But not to be in the hunt once in a while was not much fun. So the time was right for me to leave the competitive field. Although, Betsy might take you on.