SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP AT GAILLARDIA

October 24, 2002

Bruce Sudderth

BRUCE SUDDERTH: Play was suspended today at 11:51 because of excessive water standing on the greens, which made them unplayable. So the golf course became unplayable because of standing water on the greens, and then it got worse after that, with the hard rain still going on outside right now, and it's supposed to continue throughout the afternoon and not subside until tonight.

So with that in mind, we couldn't regroup and get the golf course back in condition to be playable today. So, we are going to resume round one tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. with all of the players being in their position being ready to play at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow.

We have a favorable weather report, especially tomorrow afternoon, with the rain subsiding tonight. Maybe a little mist in the morning but hopefully the greens have drained off and we can go on time. If that occurs, we will start round two at 10:45. This means that we will not repair for round two. We will just keep right on going.

The first group will probably have approximately an hour before they would start their second round. It's kind of easy to figure that the players will take today's tee time and add two hours to it and that will be tomorrow's tee time. The last -- we have two groups that did not tee off. They should finish around noon and they will go -- or rather, they will finish about 1:00 and they will tee off at about 2:00.

So if everything went according to plan tomorrow, we will finish round two about 6:00, but now if we are delayed tomorrow, again, then we'll go into Plan B. Hopefully we will get caught up tomorrow.

Now, all strokes count. We will not replay a stroke. So today -- there's nothing washed out, so everybody will continue and resume play exactly where they left off today.

Q. Inaudible?

BRUCE SUDDERTH: Lift, clean and place, no. It was never consideration for this event. This would be considered a major and we would have to have some kind of major catastrophe out there for us to play lift, clean and place. So we were playing the ball as it landed.

Q. Is there a rule that all strokes count today?

BRUCE SUDDERTH: No, actually on the Senior Tour now, all strokes do count. The only time that would not happen, for example, this tournament could be extended into as late as next Tuesday. We will go -- if we have a day that we don't get to play, we will play Monday. Now, the only thing that could make us play Tuesday is if 50 percent of the people complete play on Monday. If 50 percent of the people did not complete play on Monday, then that would wash out and we would be at 54 holes for that time.

Q. If only one group had teed off this morning and played for a couple of holes or one hole, and play was stopped, those strokes would count?

BRUCE SUDDERTH: Absolutely. Yes, absolutely.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BRUCE SUDDERTH: No. Especially a 72-hole event, you want to try to get in as many holes as you can. I would have loved to have restarted this afternoon. Even if we could only have played like six holes. Well, that wasn't an option for us because it would have taken at least two hours to get the golf course back playable after it had stopped raining, at which, you know -- we had to have the rain stop and then another two hours to get the bunkers washed out and the greens squeegeed, etc., The tees squeegeed.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BRUCE SUDDERTH: Today they announced it at 2:00, right. That was the superintendent. We had our staff meeting and discussed what we could do, all of our options. It was obvious we were not going to be able to play.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BRUCE SUDDERTH: This golf course drains very good. It really does. We don't have a lot of standing water, has good surface drainage, so, I'm very optimistic, after the rain stops, that just the natural drainage after a few hours and we'll be able to go, just getting the bunkers back in shape and things like that.

Q. Will you be prepared to play on Monday?

BRUCE SUDDERTH: They have been notified, and, yes, I don't know what their exact plans are, but they asked me that going in. They asked me that yesterday so, we went through all the scenarios that could happen yesterday. So they are prepared that they may be playing on Monday.

Q. (Inaudible.)

BRUCE SUDDERTH: Approximately an hour. It depends on how fast or how slow they play. The faster they play, the more break they will get, obviously.

Our lead group is on the 16th hole, three holes to play. So they start at 9:00 and should be through by, you know, 9:30.

Q. Inaudible?

BRUCE SUDDERTH: Well, the low areas in the fairways would obviously -- but the greens. And also, standing water in the bunkers. The rules take care of that, but you like to have a place for a player to drop, even if you do have casual water and they are completely full, that concerns us.

Q. So lift, clean and place wasn't an option?

BRUCE SUDDERTH: It wasn't an option for this event.

Q. For tomorrow?

BRUCE SUDDERTH: Tomorrow, no. You see, you can't change the rule that you start, No. 1. So we started today's round.

Q. What about the second round?

BRUCE SUDDERTH: Well, we wouldn't do that. We wouldn't finish round one playing the ball down and then start in the same condition moving the ball. That would not be an option. And the players don't expect it to be an option, not with what's on the line in this event. See, we're not pushed for time to have to finish it by such and such a time.

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