DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

October 2, 2002

Iain Banner

Harold Riley

Johann Rupert

Tico Torres

GORDON SIMPSON: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome from the top table here for the Dunhill Links Championship 2002.

First of all, I'll introduce the top table to you. On the far right here we have Johann Rupert, who is the chairman of the Championship Committee. On his left is Iain Banner, who is a Championship Committee member. On his left is Peter German, the Executive Tournament Director and to my immediate right we have David Garland who is the Tournament Director.

I think Iain is going to kick off with some introductory remarks.

IAIN BANNER: Happy to be back at St. Andrews. A wonderful week ahead, obviously coming off an incredible week last week at The Belfry and we feel very privileged to be back at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. I'm just to going to hand it over to the chairman of the Championship Committee, Johann, to say a few words.

JOHANN RUPERT: This is unexpected because I told Iain he had to do the talking. Last year I got in trouble when I said certain things. My wife told me when I opened my mouth to change feet; so I'm only going to keep quiet.

In all seriousness, we said last night how privileged we were to have so many members of the Ryder Cup team here, and we just hope for the weather because certainly I've played all three courses and they are in magnificent shape.

I think if we go back a little bit as to how it started, we were very happy with the Nation's Cup. But when the tours got together and decided to have the World Cup officially recognized by the five tours, it became a bit of a problem because the Nation's Cup would have been secondary. We were not up to paying appearance fees. We decided not to do that.

So, we had a choice. We were in discussions with the five tours as to whether to sponsor that, but the problem was that that would have been a moving event, and we wanted links golf and we wanted it at St. Andrews. So rather than have a secondary tournament, secondary Nation's tournament, because of the official sanction and the World Cup, we decided upon a Pro-Am. And this really started out of a group of friends that used to travel around Scotland before the old Dunhill, the Nation's Cup. It kind of grew over the years and didn't really matter whether you were a celebrity, player, broken down businessman. It really turned into one great festival. People from all walks of life started meeting one another and a kind of camaraderie formed. A lot of tired and emotional evenings were held.

I'll never forget when Tico Torres came the first time, I'm afraid I didn't really know who Tico was, obviously. Obviously I knew Bon Jovi, so I had to explain to him that he had to shave; that the rough look doesn't travel well. Then the worst thing is the then captain of the R&A, who is South African, incorrectly and most incorrectly, called him, sir, should have. But Harvey Douglas and Tico struck up the most remarkable friendship. This is really what the spirit of the event was all about, how people from different walks of life became friends.

I'll never forget having known Tico for about three or four years, his daughter once gave Harvey a Bon Jovi video so he could see who he was playing with. He sent Tico a message, "You know, Tico, I liked you a lot more before I had to watch this video."

So it's really just a fluke and it started after that. I must say, I'm really pleased that all of the amateurs who were here last year started sending wine, cigars, please don't forget us, etc., Etc. So it seems like the amateurs did like it a lot. Hopefully, the event will grow. We have at our disposal three fabulous golf courses. I'm not going to have another opportunity to thank the superintendents and various links trusts for their help and support. Thank you.

GORDON SIMPSON: Thank you, Johann.

Q. Has any thought been given to changing the format in future years?

JOHANN RUPERT: We did give it thought, and we decided that if you look at the Bing Crosby, which is now the AT&T, and it's been around, for, what, 40 years, and so I think we'll stick with that.

I actually had the privilege of playing with David Frost one year, and we made the cut. Both Mark O'Meara's and Calcavecchia's amateurs dropped out. To me, it was one of the most memorable days. In fact, I struck up a really nice friendship with Mark O'Meara who could not have been more gracious, friendly. As long as the amateurs know to get out of the pro's way and not to walk on the lines, etc. Quite frankly, last night we did request the amateurs to firstly, to leave their mobile phones in their rooms, and secondly, to play up.

I've played in a lot of Pro-Ams, and I must tell you, the pros are not that much quicker than the amateurs. As long as they pick up and get out of the way, most pros here don't mind. Are you going to ask Retief Goosen's brother if they make the cut to drop out on Sunday or Ernie Els' father? I doubt it. I think part of the fun for these players is to bring family members, and for them to enjoy it.

So I think it's a different spirit. I did like Craig Turner's suggestion, I think it was in Golf World, that maybe the prize money is too high. I bounced it off a few of his fellow tour members, who did not quite agree. (Laughter.)

IAIN BANNER: I think if I could add to that, the support from the professionals has been amazing. When you start a new format, they are your first and foremost consideration and their support has been fabulous.

Q. Is the event back in for one year or is it a long-term commitment?

JOHANN RUPERT: I thought Iain was going to cut the budget a little bit, because, as you know, it's not exactly booming times. But I think you'll manage to find the money somewhere.

No, I think we are in, obviously. I think the Tour and especially the links trust and the R&A have been very helpful in dates. We're not really short-term players, so we are committed.

Q. Would you address the problem of handicaps?

JOHANN RUPERT: We got criticized last year, and quite correctly so. All of those guys got it cut back this year -- Kerry (ph) was not exactly the smallest guy in the world. He's back, he's happy.

Most of the people last year that got cut played on the Sunday or Monday. So clearly -- and what we had was what we actually loved; that a 3-handicapper from Lugas (ph) won the tournament. It's so -- I mean it really gets boring to have some rich celebrity who is an 18-handicapper, as happened at the AT&T more than once, win. So we try to be fair. Therefore, we decided because of the additional shots that people get, ladies, for instance, get at Carnoustie and here, we had to pick between three-quarters and two-thirds, so we settled on two-thirds. So everybody is cut by one-third whether -- whether you are an 18 or a 12, you are cut by a third and we think that ought to address it.

You know at the AT&T they have got what's called a ringer's book, and they have got a statistician who checks everybody's score. About five years ago, there was a gentleman from Japan who had his cup taken away from him because the statistician of the USGA worked out that it was mathematically impossible that better-ball could finish -- I think it was 42-under without missing the cut. So they found out the gentleman had two handicaps. One at his home course, which he owned, which was a 14. But whilst travelling in Japan, he was a 6; so they stripped him of the title.

We don't want to get to that. I know most of the caddies on the old course so if you really want to know what happened last year a caddie came to me and he said Johann, we have a problem. I said, "What's the problem?"

They said, "There's this gentleman " -- who shall remain nameless -- "but this gentleman who is playing off of 14, he hit it into bunker, he hit it on the road, he made three doubles and he shoots a 76."

So then I asked the caddie, he's at Kingsbarns, and he goes around there at 75. So we had a little chat.

IAIN BANNER: I think Johann made the point last year it was discretionary. This year it's consistently applied to everybody, so we feel it's fair. Often, before tournaments, there's adjustments and we've elected this.

JOHANN RUPERT: It's not that the guy is a crook. The guy is a good athlete. So what does he do? He knows that he is going to be playing links golf. So he goes and he gets himself a coach and for three months beforehand he hits balls nonstop, which Kerry Becker (ph) did when he won the AT&T with Greg Norman. He took a coach from Leadbetter, took him to Australia and practiced nonstop for three months. He then requested to be cut by two. If they did cut him by two, and he still won the tournament going away because Kerry was a good athlete.

Now, if you look around here there are a couple of very, very good athletes. So a month or two before they start practicing on their short game, they start -- you can't legislate for that. So you cut everybody one-third and it makes it fairer.

Q. Will there be adjustments during the tournament?

JOHANN RUPERT: No. And everybody is aware of the tournament.

Last year there was no adjustment during the tournament. There was a communication problem. We didn't cut anybody during the tournament last year. That was part of the communication problem between us on the various courses.

IAIN BANNER: Tico Torres, the drummer of Bon Jovi , will you come and join us? You might have seen Tico early just posing for a photograph with a set of hands. If we could just bring the hands for everybody up here to see, it would be great.

I had the opportunity and we had the benefit of touring Bon Jovi in South Africa in 1995 where I met Tico and discovered the first evening in that dinner together that he was passionate about golf, and we discussed a concept of his, and that was the idea of casting the hands of winner's of major tournaments. The grip, of course, being a fascinating aspect of any professional golfer's game. Tico, why don't you talk a little bit about what happened thereafter and then we can make the announcement.

TICO TORRES: Studying the game of golf, I could never find a three-dimensional view of the golfer's hands to find out what the grip is like and speaking with Iain and meeting Johann and Dunhill with their help, we contacted Gary Player in Japan. And thus, the idea came to fruition, where you could actually see a three-dimensional grip, which I think is the most important part of the game.

Thereafter we went after some of the best golfers in the world. I think as a student of golf, it's imperative to be able to see that. In years to come -- it's been several years now, we are going to donate the hands to the home of golf, the museum in Britain and so it's something that everybody can share and enjoy.

I believe this is one of the finest tournaments. I've been coming here for -- this is my seventh year. Gracious people. It is the epitome of golf. I tell my American friends that you have to go, because it's the true soul and heart of where golf belongs.

IAIN BANNER: There are ten sets of hands that are being donated to the museum: Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Seve Ballesteros, Steve Elkington, John Daly, all great winners of major tournaments.

Thank you, for your generosity.

JOHANN RUPERT: We have one further announcement by Harold Riley.

HAROLD RILEY: A few years ago we received a proposal from the University of St. Andrews in connection with an extraordinary collection of drafts photographs, images that have been taken over many years at St. Andrews.

JOHANN RUPERT: George Cowie, who is a photographer for more than 50 years here in St. Andrews. I saw him in 1953 at Carnoustie when Ben Hogan won the Open Championship. Because it was my -- it was the occasion for me to actually make drawings at that time and record the tournament, I watched him. Because as a painter, you have the chance to pick up all of the kinds of things that are on the periphery of a great tournament. A great tournament isn't just the players. It isn't just the spectators or necessarily the people who work there and clean up afterwards or the marshals; it's everybody.

I think what George Cowie had was the facility to see everybody. And I kept seeing him, he would watch Ben Hogan who was very cold, walking with his chauffeur, and in those days, you didn't have any barriers, people could walk right up against the player. And he would turn around and he would photograph the people that were around. And that collection is in some ways quite unique. There's about 60-odd thousand negatives which he left, and he left them to the University of St. Andrews and that really, in a way, very unusual, because press photographers, they get a hard time, they mutilate it and then they destroy the negatives. So they are never cast.

One of the things I think that is important about this collection is he kept it together. And he photographed everything. He photographed the members, you can see the members of the R&A outside the clubhouse sitting there with their drinks, and you know they are a curious body of people. In many ways -- they are a very curious body of people and very fascinating, too. He took great interest in photographs. I remember one occasion, I had an exhibition with Peter, and I came out and there was a wonderful old member there and he's standing there looking at me, lovely red face and about 50 years -- he said to me, "Are you the artist that did that picture in there?"

And I said, "I am, yes, sir."

He said, "Well, you know I have to tell you something. I think that's very good. If you keep at it, you could probably end up doing well." (Laughter.)

George Cowie photographed all of that and he photographed the great players, Bobby Jones walking with a dog on the course, surrounded by a crowd. Babe Zaharius in the water with a huge bunker. The thing that matters is he was a photographer that not only photographed the players; he photographed the incident. Bing Crosby, for instance; ironic, he photographed Bing Crosby . There's a couple when George Cowie was looking at the crowd behind him and this one, which I picked out and printed is a little boy with a little head, almost coming out of someone's pocket just looking between the players and Bing Crosby is very relevant to this tournament, because really, in a sense, the Crosby became the AT&T.

So I hope everybody will go see that exhibition. Dunhill has been very kind. They are helping the University, and helping to put together not just this exhibition, but they are hoping to help to produce a catalog resume. I think the University of St. Andrews is wonderful to have taken the problem of making a huge database out of the collection.

And Dunhill, for helping them do it, bringing this tournament to this place helps everybody. Just walk down the main streets and you can see it.

If you go into the museum, you see a collection of clubs, which, in fact, at one moment nearly went away from here. The ultimate collection belongs here, near to where those men made those clubs. If it had not been for somebody very far from here, they would have been gone.

I hope you'll go and see the George Cowie collection. He was a very modest man. Not many people know about him, but he was a very fine photographer and I really commend Dunhill for helping put that together.

IAIN BANNER: Thank you. Just to let you know, in the hotel of the old course, there are approximately 50 pictures that Harold, has authenticated, a fabulous collection of work, which we welcome you all to come visit and look at.

HAROLD RILEY: Although the copyright clearly rests with the University of St. Andrews, it should be and will be known as the Dunhill Cowie Collection.

GORDON SIMPSON: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Let's all hope we have a great week at three wonderful golf courses. Thank you.

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