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MCDONALD'S LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY COCA-COLA

June 7, 2005

Ty Votaw

HAVRE DE GRACE, MARYLAND

MODERATOR: Thank you all for joining us this morning. We're very excited to be here and to debut a couple new announcements that our Commissioner, Ty Votaw will share with you at this time, and we'll do questions and answers afterwards. Thanks.

TY VOTAW: Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Laura.

I would like to thank all of you for joining us here today at the McDonald's LPGA Championship presented by Coca Cola. This is a wonderful new venue, and we're excited about being here and playing for the first time this year. I'm sure all of you will enjoy covering the tournament and the great competition this week.

I would also like to extend a very special thanks to Frank Quinn, Herb Lotman, Alice Miller, Betsy Rawls and the entire championship team who serve as great hosts for the week. I'd also like to acknowledge Rae Forker Evans, the newly elected chairwoman of the LPGA Board of Directors, and Heather Daly Donofrio, not only a competitor here this week, but also the president of the LPGA Tour Executive Committee, and there are days and weeks I know she wonders which of her jobs take up more of her time, competitor or president of the tour executive committee. We're very happy you both can be here.

Earlier this season I shared the traditional state of the LPGA at our season's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, and today I'm very pleased to share with you an update to the LPGA business plan and some exciting news as it relates to the LPGA strategic initiatives.

In March of 2002, we announced our Fans First and the Five Points of Celebrity, which laid the foundation for a long term, fan focused strategy. This foundation is working, and combined with our presentation of the very best of women's professional golf has significantly raised the LPGA brand profile, but even with that success, business as usual is not part of the LPGA's game plan.

We are pleased to be announcing today that we are bringing to you in addition, as an extension to our Fans First and Five Points of Celebrity, which both remain very important in our focal points of our five year business plan, today we're adding to the arsenal, if you will. In some circles, it is said we're giving birth to twins today. I'm very pleased to share with you today the next two exclamation points to our strategic plan.

First the LPGA Playoffs at the ADT, a new year long competitive structure featuring the largest first place prize in the history of women's golf and the first playoff system for profession golf; and These Girls Rock, our new brand platform that further contemporizes the LPGA, and showcases that our Players are some of the best golfers in the world.

Both programs are designed to strengthen the LPGA experience for our fans and sponsors and all of our stakeholders and celebrate the LPGA's great performances, passion and personalities that are on display week in and week out.

The LPGA at the ADT and These Girls Rock are perfect ways to elevate our organization and give fans and sponsors more reason to connect with the LPGA, our players and our teaching members. To go over them each separately, I'll start with These Girls Rock. Our new tagline These Girls Rock is part of our new brand communication platform and a culmination of a multiyear fan study to identify the most compelling brand positioning for the LPGA.

You will see it throughout all of our communication channels, and you will see some examples here, but we will be using These Girls Rock in all television, [publications, advertising, LPGA.com, venues and tournament promotion, sponsor integration.

Every communication point will be utilizing These Girls Rock. The initial print creative will feature Tour players Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr, Meg Mallon, Karrie Webb, Lorena Ochoa, Se Ri Pak, Grace Park, Jennifer Rosales and Annika Sorenstam.

In addition to USA Today, the Baltimore Sun and LPGA.com, where it is debuting this week, These Girls Rock will appear in a variety of tournament and major media outlets during the initial media plan. Broadcast media will include radio for LPGA tournaments beginning in 2006, and we are working through the issues whether or not a television advertising spot could be rolled out in subsequent years.

When looking at and thinking through what These Girls Rock really means, as you can see by the images up here today, we're having some fun with the print creative. Performance, passion and personality are the cornerstones of this new brand platform, performance, passion and personality.

We will have some fun with the statistics and milestone achievements of the great players of the LPGA Tour. Part of this performance, passion and personality might include Annika's career low of 59 and being the all time money leader and how that relates perhaps to how she might fit in on the PGA's Tour all time money list.

Christina Kim, the youngest player in the LPGA history to earn $1 million.

Paula Creamer, the youngest winner in 52 years.

Beth Daniels, she recorded nine executive birdies, it's those kinds of performances, or when she two years ago became the most experienced golfer to ever win an LPGA event in our history.

Those are the kinds of examples again we will be celebrating as part of These Girls Rock.

Jimin Kang, after making a double bogey on 14, made a hole in one on 15 that proves to be the difference of winning the Corning Classic over Annika Sorenstam; as well as shooting a 27 on the back nine, the lowest 9 hole score in the history of the LPGA.

Kelli Kuehne, back to back eagles at the 2004 LPGA Corning Classic, and raised more than $1.5 million for diabetes research.

These are some of the examples of women we will be celebrating in our communication platform that These Girls Rock will embody. Above all else, These Girls Rock is communicating that the LPGA players are great golfers. We are also working on applications for a Teaching and Club Professional Membership that will communicate that the LPGA teaching professionals are among the best in the world.

We're positioning the LPGA as a celebration of great performances and a showcase for unique electric personalities.

Our second initiative, second twin, is LPGA Playoffs at the ADT. The Fans First initiative laid the foundation three years ago, but we also have determined in the course of our execution of the five year plan, we have continually had to intensify the entertainment value of our property. The competitive marketplace is relentless, whether that's in golf, sports or entertainment.

We recognize that fans and consumers have many entertainment alternatives, and the golf fans especially have a growing number of events to select from on all tours, as well as special events throughout the year. The next five years will demand the constant pursuit of entertainment and making sure our fans know we're trying to innovate their experience as fans and consumers.

We will demand constant pursuit of the entertainment innovations, which remain true to the values of the game, our fans and our brand over the next five years.

We must continue to anticipate the trends in the entertainment marketplace before they occur and have new products and ideas ready in place, and this announcement today, and this is an example of us doing that.

In working through all the issues, we reviewed how other sports properties manage their seasons. Major League Baseball has the World Series and the drama that leads up to it. NFL has the Super Bowl. NASCAR now has, in its second year, it's revised a points chase for the championship that is sponsored by Nextel. College basketball, of course, has the Final Four. Now the LPGA has LPGA Playoffs at the ADT.

We are excited about elevating the entire LPGA season and bringing the drama and excitement to the season's conclusion.

You have heard me talk about it. Now, here's how it works. We are reengineering our tournament schedule to create LPGA Playoffs at the ADT beginning in 2006.

Modeled after playoff structures that have been so successful in the major sports. The new competitive formats will include a regular season that splits the LPGA schedule into two halves, with 15 players from each half and two wild card players, qualifying for the LPGA at the ADT and the ending final event the ADT championship using a performance based system throughout the year.

The LPGA Playoffs at the ADT will take place over the first three days of the ADT Championship, which will be now feature 32 players at the conclusion of the LPGA Playoffs at the ADT, the finalists.

What makes this entertaining and exciting and a capstone to our season is the fact that the 2000 winner of the ADT Championship will earn $1 million, the largest first place prize in the history of women's golf. The new format will add greater relevance to our tournaments in both halves of the season and give a full field events near the close of each half a greater profile.

Throughout the year LPGA Tour, players will qualify for LPGA Playoffs at the ADT by earning points in either half of the season.

These are the fundamental principles of the LPGA's new playoff system, and more specific details of this new format will be finalized in advance of the release of the LPGA's 2006 Tour schedule. We anticipate significant fan and media attention throughout both halves of our schedule as players compete for playoff.

In closing, I would like to give special thanks to Mike Snyder, who is president of the ADT Security Services, Inc., And the team of the ADT Championship for working with us towards this exciting and innovative update to the schedule and to the ADT Championship and to continue to make history with the first ever $1 million prize for first place in the history of golf.

With these two very exciting new initiatives for the LPGA, the organization is poised well for the future.

I want to thank you for your time today on these two innovations. I also want to remind everyone about a couple of the highlights of this weeks McDonald's LPGA Championship. On Thursday, after the completion of her round of play, Karrie Webb will officially enter the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame by reason of the fact that she will complete or have competed in her tenth event in her tenth year, which is her final requirement for entry in the LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame. We will have an announcement and a session with Karrie, but this is a very special week for her for a very special player in the history of the LPGA Tour, and we're looking forward to celebrating that last requirement being checked by her.

And should Annika successfully defend her titled this wee, she will become the first player to win the same major championship in three connective years. There will be many other storylines each day, and I hope you will enjoy your week here covering great golf and some of the best golfers in the world.

With that, I would like to open it up for any questions anybody might have.

Q. Ty, speaking of Annika, if you could talk about what her success this year has meant to the LPGA as a whole?

TY VOTAW: You want to limit it to just this year?

Q. Well contemporarily.

TY VOTAW: It's a continuation of her domination of the LPGA over the past, really since Colonial, when she participated in Colonial a couple years ago and did it for all the reasons she stated, which is to make herself better. I think she's accomplished her goal by having competed in that event and what's happened since that time, which I think is won 18 out of 37 or 36 events she's played. We're seeing a very special player in the history of the LPGA. Whether or not she's the greatest is up for debate and up to reasonable minds to differ on, but at the end of the day, her being the face of woman's professional golf has added to the popularity and awareness levels of our organization and to golf generally, and I've never missed the opportunity to say thank you to her and thank you to everything she's done for making the LPGA the success that we are.

Michael or David Stern had Michael Jordan and Tim Finchem had Tiger Woods, and in this, my last year as LPGA Commissioner, I can say those are pretty good analogies. Annika Sorenstam being the player that she has been over the seven years I have been Commissioner has certainly made the job easier.

Q. Ty, going back to the Playoff, was any consideration given to match play as the final 18?

TY VOTAW: Well, it may have been if we hadn't already had a very compelling addition to our schedule this year called the HSBC Match Championship at Hamilton Farm. Our hosts for that week, Dennis and Susan Townsend, are in the audience today. They have the misfortune of playing with me at the Pro Am this afternoon. We're excited to go to Hamilton Farm in a few weeks time to see 64 of the best women golfers in the complete for $2 million.

With that on our schedule, we felt that this was a further refinement and an example of differentiation that we would do that no other Tour has done in the world of golf and have these types this type of format with players being eliminated and advancing at multiple times over the course of a tournament, and if you think down to a group of finalists who would then compete for that $2 million first place prize.

Q. Ty, what makes you feel good about this event working just as well here as it did at DuPont? What are the things that give you comfort to know that it will be as successful here?

TY VOTAW: Well, when the request was made for us to look at this facility last year, we came, looked, kicked the tires, so to speak, asked for a couple of things to be done in terms of player hospitality in terms of practice facilities, infrastructure changes, and the speed and the swiftness of those changes being made gave us and the commitments to make those changes gave us an enormous amount of comfort in knowing that the overall experience for our players and for our fans here at Bulle Rock would be what it is.

Clearly we had a wonderful time at the DuPont Country Club for the amount of years we were there and the crowds and the reception and the history that had been made there was something that was profound for the LPGA, and we appreciate very much all of the support that everyone associated with the DuPont Country Club gave us during that time period, but the fact that I'm told by the tournament organizers that they are well ahead for ticket sales this year, the infrastructure changes, the commitment to making this facility ready in the manner it needs to be to host a major championship in golf all have given us an enormous amount of comfort.

This is you Tuesday, so that question might be better answered after the conclusion of the event, but where I sit right now, all of the things we've asked them to look at and do, they have been great.

Q. Again about the Playoff, was the NASCAR, The Chase for the Cup, was that sort of the model that you went with?

TY VOTAW: Somewhat. We looked at a lot of different things that have worked for didn't work in other sports, and certainly we were intrigued by the fact that you could take a sport that had a season long competition that may or may not have funneled down to a dramatic ending and how that sport then changed that structure to come up with the Chase for the Championship from Nextel Cup, and see the success that it had. We started this process last July when the Chase for the Championship was in its first year, and so what we were intrigued by at that time was the amount of coverage, the amount of debate, the amount of back and forth, whether this was good or bad, and ultimately the results of increased television ratings, increased attendance, increased media coverage on the part of the sports I think was a valid decision to change the points structure.

We looked to see how we could do something similar, not completely the same, but similar. Whether it's the fans, whether it's the media or how we could come up with something like this while still being true to the integrity of the game and the values that are inherent in the game. We think we have a structure that is consistent with all of those things.

You'll hear in the weeks and months after this as we roll out this and refine it and get more input how we do all of these various things, you'll hear debate as to whether this is a good or bad idea. We think ultimately this will raise the profile, raise the bar for the LPGA because it will bring a real exclamation point to our year in a dramatic way, where for the first time you will have a group of players competing for a season long championship that has at the end of that rainbow a real bucket of gold, $1 million first place check.

Q. Did you talk with people in the golf world, other tours, consult with them and how do you feel this might be perceived?

TY VOTAW: We didn't talk to anybody else because we thought they would take it. We didn't talk to our so called competitors. We certainly talked to our Board of Directors, our Playoff Executive Committee, we certainly talked over the course of the past six months, to a significant number of players for their input, and we'll continue to get that input from players, sponsors, fans.

The model or the three basic kind of fundamental principles associated with the Playoffs are the two halves of the season, a season long point season on both halves based on performance in both of the events and in winning certain events, as well as the dramatic conclusion at the ADT and the format of having people be eliminated in advance in multiple points throughout the tournament that funnel down to the dramatic conclusion. We think all of those things are positive for the sport, and I think it will raise the profile.

As I said, there's a certain amount of debate and the debate will continue. At the end of the day, someone has to get all the input from the stakeholders involved. Someone has to gather all that information and has to collate and come up with a process and a plan that we think is in the best interest of everyone, not any one stakeholder, but everyone, to raise the profile, and we think this does that.

Q. You gave some examples of These Girls Rock. How physically are you going to capitalize on that? In film clips or press releases?

TY VOTAW: Everything that some of the execution you can see here. We have a vintage rock and roll poster, if you will, that shows the images of some of our players, a mock rock and roll setting that is from a vintage rock poster from the '70s. We have some parodies of how our fans feel about the LPGA in a rock setting. We have some of the things with Annika in this mock rock and roll album covers. Even though this execution takes place in a loose connection with a rock and roll theme, I want to emphasize the fact that our players through the performance, passion and personality throughout the performances through the LPGA Tour. It's an attitude more than it is any kind of a musical reference.

So, we feel it tells the story that our players are worth being entertained by because they are such compelling performers and entertainers in the world of golf.

Q. This golf course can humiliate men pros

TY VOTAW: I'm looking forward to doing that today. Well, I'm not a pro.

Q. What's the balance between using all of this golf course to the point you could have everyone out here complaining or to soften it to make them look good? Where did you lean?

TY VOTAW: I think they're still leaning, because the as a first year experience, our officials, both our advance official last week and our tournament officials this week, are going around the golf course setting it up in the manner in which they think is the best and most competitive setup that we can possibly have. I think Barb Trammel, our head of rules officials and our head tournament official, is better equipped than me to answer this question.

At the end of the day, this is a major championship and the history and traditions of major championships are that it's probably going to be closer to the former example, where it's going to be a very tough test as opposed to a setup in which a premium is on making birdies and eagles. This is a major championship, and it should be treated as such is my opinion, and I believe that will be the opinion of the officials as well, but also one that's not too Draconian.

Q. So, you will have the highest cut in history?

TY VOTAW: I don't know what the highest cut in the LPGA history is. We'll have to look that up. I will guaranty if we meet that record, we will have more complaints than not.

Q. Ty, we're happy to have one third of your logo at Bulle Rock. How long was that debate to have to pick the logo and tag?

TY VOTAW: It took about 18 months. It was the result of a fair amount of fan and consumer research. We worked with an advertising and brand marketing company that many of you who watch sports on weekends and see the Gatorade "Is It in You" campaign, that's the add agency that came up with that campaign. There's no information in the press release today that you can refer to. It took about 18 months not only from the fan research to the concept to the presentation of the concept to rolling it out today with input from boards members of our Board of Directors, and input from every stakeholder, representatives from each stakeholder in our universe, whether it's players, sponsors fans, et cetera, et cetera.

So, fairly I wouldn't necessarily call it akin to how a legislation gets made or sausage gets made, but at the end of the day, we're very happy with how the execution has come about, and we feel very confident it will achieve our objectives.

Q. Thank you from Bulle Rock.

TY VOTAW: Thank you.

Q. Any idea if last night's weather occurrence has any impact on the course?

TY VOTAW: I'm sure it made it wetter. Our officials will look at it in the next couple of days I'm sure.

If there aren't any other questions, thank you again for being here, and I thank you very much for your attention to the McDonald's LPGA Championship presented by Coca Cola. Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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