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RBC CANADIAN OPEN

July 21, 2009

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO

DAN PINO: Thanks for joining us. To get us started, I would like to introduce Mr. Patrick Moyer, president of the Canadian Golf Superintendent Association. He's also with Hilldale Golf Club, to make a special presentation to superintendent Scott Bowman on behalf of the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association. Patrick.
PATRICK MOYER: The Canadian Golf Superintendent's Association, CGSA, represents almost 1600 individuals involved in the profession of golf course management.
The main focus of the CGSA is to provide education, certification, representation and communication services with the overall mission of improving the image of the superintendent and the understanding within the golf community of the importance that the golf course management plays within the game of golf.
Through the development and delivery of training programs and the development of national occupational standards, the CGSA is working to ensure that superintendents are knowledgeable concerning the latest tools and techniques available to assist with environmental protection and consistent course conditioning and the ability to apply that knowledge in a responsible and effective manner.
Part of the ongoing effort to recognize the importance of the superintendents of the industry involves the presentation of a national tournament plaque to members that host such events. The RBC Canadian Open is the most prestigious of our national tournaments, and it is my pleasure to present Scott Bowman of the Glen Abbey Golf Club to accept the CGSA national tournament award.
Scott, congratulations to you and all your staff, and all the best with this week.
SCOTT BOWMAN: On behalf of Glen Abbey Golf Club, just a quick thanks. It's a big honor to host another one. This is my second, two years in a row. It's great to represent all the golf course superintendents from across Canada by hosting our national championship, so once again, on behalf of Glen Abbey, thank you.
DAN PINO: We're going to open it up to media Q and A, please. Just use the microphone on either side.

Q. Hi, Scott. I was just wondering with the weather the way it's been this year, with the unseasonably cool weather, and we've had a lot of rain, have there been any special challenges in getting the course ready?
SCOTT BOWMAN: We started very slow out of the gate this year. We didn't have a lot of ice damage, which was nice.
The fairways, the roughs took a long time to come out of dormancy. The soil temperatures were very cold. Not a lot of growth in the springtime, so took a little while for the fairways to catch up, took a little bit of extra work in the rough to get it to where we're at today. It's at three-and-a-half, four inches, but it's a dense three-and-a-half, four inches, so it took a lot of work to get it there.
Other than that, it's actually been a nice spring/summer for the valley here. Temperatures have been fairly below average. The 20s, to 22s is very nice for the valley. We did get a few days where we had some soil, surface temperatures of 55 down there. So the hotter it gets, the hotter it gets down there, so it's been actually pretty good.

Q. What's the difference between preparing the upper half of the course compared to down in the valley?
SCOTT BOWMAN: It's about a four-degree difference. Doesn't sound like a lot, but those days where you're watching the whole golf course as it begins to dry out, you really gotta keep your eye on what's going on down there.
And of course, morning sunlight and wind movement up top is a lot better than the morning sunlight and wind down below. So it's a little bit of a different -- it's a little bit different management style down below, but not too much different than up top.

Q. And you mentioned the denseness of the rough, and I played the course a couple of weeks ago. I know what you're talking about. Too well, I know what you're talking about. I'm just wondering when do the Tour officials come in and take a look at it?
SCOTT BOWMAN: I met with a Tour representative. He showed up for advance last Tuesday.
We cut it Tuesday, and then we cut it again on Friday, and we topped it inside the ropes on Sunday. So we topped it at three-and-a-half inches, and like I say, it's a thick three-and-a-half, and we will let it go, weather pending, for the rest of the week.
A little bit of rain going on right now out there might get it going again. So at that point it's their call if it needs to be topped again or let grow.

Q. (Inaudible).
SCOTT BOWMAN: It's not going to change too much, no.

Q. How much does this noise we're hearing on the roof concern you as you're heading towards the weekend?
SCOTT BOWMAN: A little bit, obviously. We had the golf course yesterday for the Mike Weir Pro-Am. It was real good. It was pretty firm. It was starting to dry out.
The fairways were starting to show that little tinge of purplish brown, which gets them very firm and fast. It's going to be able to take this rain right now. The greens are quite firm, and it's going to be able to take this. Hopefully it lets up within the hour.
Last I checked we only had four or five mil. So that's not a lot. As long as the bunkers don't wash out, means they won't hold any water. It'll affect conditions a little bit. It's obviously not going to be as firm as it was, but if we get another dry day, it's going to firm back to where it was.

Q. Just looking back on last year, and I know that was your first Canadian Open. When did you actually join the Abbey?
SCOTT BOWMAN: I joined the Abbey last March 1.

Q. So the Canadian Open was your first big event here. Look back on that. What kind of a nightmare was that for you?
SCOTT BOWMAN: Looking back, I don't honestly remember much of it. It happened so fast. Even the preparation, the first couple months, everything just happened so quickly, and that Sunday obviously it started to rain and basically never stopped, and we were just in survival mode. So honestly looking back, preparing for this week, I don't remember what we did last year.
We talked in our morning and afternoon meetings about how we're going to prepare for the next day, and I'd say every day I don't remember what we did last year because it was literally a survival mode.

Q. (Inaudible).
SCOTT BOWMAN: Pretty much, yeah.
DAN PINO: Thanks, guys.

End of FastScripts

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