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VERIZON HERITAGE

April 15, 2007

HILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA

JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: We'd like to thank Slugger White and Steve Wilmot for joining us for a few minutes here in the media center. Probably the best thing to do is let you guys shoot questions at them and then if there's any information we haven't covered, we will inform you of that.

Q. Steve, we heard a volunteer was hurt on 9 today. Any update on that?
STEVE WILMOT: Yeah, he was recently released from the hospital with minor injuries, and actually is probably home at this time. But he's okay.

Q. Did that incident play into the decision to stop play? Were you aware of it?
SLUGGER WHITE: I was aware of it. We had already stopped play. Unfortunately not quick enough.
STEVE WILMOT: It happened at about the same time.

Q. Were they hit by a falling branch?
STEVE WILMOT: Yeah, just a branch.

Q. Can you talk about, we've been at this tournament for many years, where does this fit in about how brutal it was out there?
SLUGGER WHITE: We're not coming back (laughter).
STEVE WILMOT: I've never been in a situation in a delay like this and I'm putting suntan lotion on. No, we've had some rain delays over the course of my tenure here, I guess you could say, but certainly never expected something like this. But it was certainly the right call.

Q. What's the television plan, times for coverage today and tomorrow?
STEVE WILMOT: We don't have exact times, but the Golf Channel told us that they will be picking us up tomorrow morning.

Q. Slugger, can you talk about the wind on 16? Was that the reason why eventually you guys decided not to -- to suspend?
SLUGGER WHITE: The first group went through, and quite honestly it was iffy at that time. But the second group that came through, we couldn't get the ball to stay on the green, and I guess Justin Leonard's ball hit on the back of the green and sat there for I don't know how long and then blew off the front. We just couldn't get balls to come to rest on 16.

Q. Who was the official that was with their group and sort of helped make that decision?
SLUGGER WHITE: Robby Ware was out there. I was at the 18th tee looking at that situation, and Robby had that.

Q. How about the golf course itself? CBS was showing the bunker at 18, sand was blowing out. Are they going to have to bring more sand in or any other situations?
SLUGGER WHITE: If possible, which is a big word right now, if possible. They're going to try to blow what came out back in, but they may have to add sand, and what we do in that situation, we'd water it and tamp it just to get it playable again.

Q. The forecast for tomorrow is also for high winds. Is there a plan if this needs to go beyond tomorrow or would it be 54 holes?
SLUGGER WHITE: Our regulation is when we get into Monday, if we get half the field finished tomorrow, we will go to Tuesday. If we suspend play tomorrow before half the field is finished, we will not resume to achieve that.

Q. Will today's scores count?
SLUGGER WHITE: Yes, we've gone deep into the field. We've got everybody teed off, so yes, we've just suspended play, we haven't cancelled.

Q. What are players' reactions to that?
SLUGGER WHITE: I didn't hear a negative. I mean, everybody kind of knew what was going on. I mean, these guys are good.

Q. You have a black-and-white policy about when to count the scores and when not to count the scores?
SLUGGER WHITE: It's kind of an unwritten law. I mean, I think when you get into six or seven holes played or in that situation, get everybody teed off, you're pretty much into the round by that time.

Q. Steve, how common is this kind of conditions here at Harbour Town? Does it happen once a year or do you know?
STEVE WILMOT: No, actually I even live here in Sea Pines. I've never seen these kind of conditions during the tournament, let alone 12 months out of the year here. Neither has Arnie (laughter).

Q. Steve, after we saw the backhoe trying to pull down that one branch on 9, is there any concern about any other damage like that that may complicate things tomorrow?
STEVE WILMOT: Well, from Slugger's side of things, when Slugger was looking into suspending play, we were out there taking down the -- we had to evacuate the skyboxes. All the tops of the tents had to come down, and for obvious reasons. Yeah, we were already addressing those things, and we had all the cooperation of our sponsors and caterers for obvious reasons and understanding, as well.

Q. To what degree was fan safety part of the decision?
SLUGGER WHITE: Yes, it was.

Q. How much of a part?
SLUGGER WHITE: It's in the equation. We have debris blowing around out there, and shoot, we don't want to get anyone hurt, that's for sure.

Q. Was there any concern about -- was there any thought to, well, we'll send the players out but we won't let the fans go out there to try to get a few more holes in?
SLUGGER WHITE: I didn't even think about that.

Q. Steve, the luxury boxes that were disassembled, will they be back for tomorrow?
STEVE WILMOT: No. Basically, the unfortunate thing, a lot of the sponsors, their guests and so forth have already flown out. Actually, Verizon's guests actually flew out yesterday because a lot of them were from the northeast and due to the forthcoming storm up there, as well. We'll have the -- the tickets will be honored tomorrow. We'll basically have an open-door policy down here. If you do not have a ticket, you can come through the gate and still -- unfortunately have to pay the $5 gate fee, but we're going to have an open-door policy if anyone wants to come down and watch golf. The shuttles will be running, the busses will be running tomorrow, and we'll be running as if it was a Sunday round.

Q. Slugger, did you do anything today in anticipation of the wind with tee or pin placements? And now that the rounds are started, can you do anything different for tomorrow?
SLUGGER WHITE: No, it will be the same hole placements that we had today. I told the players we are not going to cut greens tomorrow. We will be doing some watering ahead of play in anticipation of the afternoon, and if we have to, if we have to -- if we have to syringe during the day we'll do that, as well?

Q. To try to get them as slow as you can get them so what happened today won't happen tomorrow?
SLUGGER WHITE: They're growing a little bit, but it's going to get cold tonight. I don't think we'll get a lot of growth. We will get a little bit of friction. The wind is going to be our big deterrent tomorrow. If it gets up there again, we may have to stop again.

Q. What is the starting time tomorrow? And also, what are you looking at -- what are we talking about staying an extra day, what the financial impact will be on this thing?
SLUGGER WHITE: 7:45 in position tomorrow. As far as the financial, I think you can talk to Mr. Wilmot about that.
STEVE WILMOT: Well, you can only imagine, we have to keep security on, in addition to our bus drivers. We are having all the concessions open. There's a lot of time and effort, extra effort, that our volunteers will be putting forth tomorrow. We'll have a full group of volunteers out there, as well as marshals, walking scorers. We did not have standard bearers today for obvious reasons and we won't have them tomorrow, but there is certainly a financial hit that the Foundation will take, unfortunately. Or I should say fortunately because it is certainly the right decision and something we need to do.

Q. The four-hour window tomorrow, how do you understand the weather and the conditions?
SLUGGER WHITE: This wind is supposed to lay down at 7:00 o'clock tonight and be not as bad tomorrow morning (laughter). That's about as politically correct as I can be.

Q. But back probably later in the day?
SLUGGER WHITE: After 10:30 we're going to start seeing increasing velocity.

Q. What were the gusts up to?
SLUGGER WHITE: We gusted up to between 37 and 44 today.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: They can't get the gusts out on 16 and 18, this is just an area near here?
SLUGGER WHITE: I'm not sure, Joan, but it was pretty substantial out there at a point.

Q. Since the suspension, has any golfer pulled out?
SLUGGER WHITE: Not that I know of, no. I haven't heard anything.
JOAN v.T. ALEXANDER: We'd like to thank both of you for joining us and your time. Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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