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THE BARCLAYS

August 25, 2009

JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY

CHRIS REIMER: We want to welcome Tom Kite and Bob Cupp here. Obviously a tremendous undertaking to build and design this course and make it what it is out there, and if you wouldn't mind, both of you making some opening comments.
TOM KITE: Well, obviously we are very pleased to have the tournament here. We have been working on this golf course since 1992, a few years ago, and obviously a lot of water has gone under the bridge, a lot of contamination has been buried, and hopefully we have created a golf course that satisfies the players and satisfies the sponsors.
But more importantly, hopefully it kind of sets an example of what can be done to help revitalize an area. Obviously the New Jersey revitalization has been going on for many, many years and this is just one small part of it, but when you take a contaminated piece of property like this and turn it into a very real asset that brings a lot of exposure and credibility to the city and to the state, we think that's a good thing.
Hopefully that will be a good example, because unfortunately, there are many pieces of property like that all across the United States. And I think as the golf course architects and superintendents continue to work with the environmental institute to reclaim some of these properties, it will be hopefully a shining example of what can be done.
CHRIS REIMER: Bob, any comments?
BOB CUPP: The first time we showed up here, it was a nightmare, we were pretty sure any travesty known to man was on this property. There was consternation amongst the members with us, how do you make something out of this.
At the end of the day, it's Tom's and my job to see if it was there, and it was clear what was here. It's just a lot of work to gather up the mess. And it was worth it. We constantly credit Paul Fireman for having the foresight to step forward; obviously that means with the money, but he never said to Tom and I, 'I want you to do this and that'; "I know you guys will work as hard as you can to make it the best ever." You cannot have a better boss, than that.

Q. Can you give us the short version of what you had to do to convert this from industrial waste?
TOM KITE: Basically when we first saw the property, it was dead flat. There was two foot of elevation change over the entire property and it arranged from elevation eight to ten.
BOB CUPP: Actually there was one high spot in the corner, but then the rest of it was elevation ten.
TOM KITE: Elevation ten. And basically what you have to do, they won't let you move that contamination. They won't let you touch that contamination. You can't do anything with it. If you disturb it, it creates more problems than what's already there.
So the short version is, basically, you have to cover it all up, and you have to cover it up with enough material and with enough plastic to make sure that no water penetrates into that contaminated area.
So basically there is plastic that covers up basically the entire property, and then there's millions of tons of clay that have been put on this entire property at varying levels and varying depths. Some of it based on the design of the golf course. Some of it based on the amount of contamination that's there, and another plastic liner, and then the golf course on top of that. There's four feet of sand above the clay cap, and everything that you see is built in that four feet of sand.
BOB CUPP: In essence, we have built an umbrella over the oil tanks that are here, and as the rain previously fell out of the sky it pushed the oil down and when we built the umbrella down that stopped and the test wells that they had installed all over the property, within a year, showed that the aquifer and the oil had separated, and that was a significant victory that ended up on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. I can't tell you how your phone rings when you're on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. Better than the sports page.
TOM KITE: Good news or bad news, depending how you got there.
BOB CUPP: In this case it was good news. And it worked, and that's such a great story.
TOM KITE: So everything you see out there, obviously what was there, is not visible. It's buried underneath, so whether you like it or don't like it or indifferent about it, everything out there is 100 percent created. There is nothing out there that is natural.
The big thing in golf course design right now is there's some minimalist design, finding a great piece of property and touch it as little as possible. This is light years on the other side of the spectrum from that. Everything out there is 100 percent created, and those guys that are into that type of design and only designing golf courses on perfect pieces of property and only touching them just a little bit, they would have run away from this site as quickly as a bull runs; they would have got away from here very quickly.
As Bob said, it was our job to be able to see something that could take place like this before it ever happened, and we were lucky to be able to do that. And as he said, Paul Fireman basically gave us carte blanche to do whatever we wanted to do, and that's very unusual.
BOB CUPP: It also should be said that the property is totally safe, too.
TOM KITE: Yeah.
BOB CUPP: There is stuff down there you don't want to touch, but it is it completely isolated and it will be isolated forever, and that's a wonderful thing.
And by the way, we are not taking credit for that. We were involved in its creation but it was a long, long study, and months and months of plans by some very intelligent engineering who came up with those ideas, and it was up to us to live with that, which believe me, there was more people looking over our shoulder than I've ever seen. But it was worth it. (Smiling).

Q. What was that first conversation like with Mr. Fireman? He told you he had this idea to build a golf course here?
BOB CUPP: Well, Paul he's a player; was a good player. We heard a story about him last night where he made like seven birdies in a row or something; and he loves sports and he made his life's work in the world of sports.
And I'm sure, don't you think, Tom, that it was his dream to have a golf course. And you couldn't have -- his family, lots and lots of families, people he knows, probably people that you know, their parents and their grandparents sailed past that statute, his included. That's huge. It's a big deal, a big deal for him, and he deserves it.

Q. How long have you been thinking about doing a project from an environmental -- having grown up in an area that's environmentally friendly, had that been on your mind for a while?
TOM KITE: Quite honestly we don't look for pieces of property like this. We are all looking for the best piece of property to put a golf course on, and generally, when you think of that, you think of something like the sand hills of North Carolina or the coast of Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula, where you get a really spectacular piece of property that's easy to build a golf course on, basically has sand. If you can find sand to build a golf course on, it helps with your drainage so much, and that's what we are all looking for.
Unfortunately, those sites are becoming fewer and fewer all across the world.
BOB CUPP: And more difficult to acquire.
TOM KITE: And more difficult to acquire. And when you do find them, they generally have a population of about 12 around there. (Laughter).
Like Ben Crenshaw who I grew up with, one of my best friends and I played golf with him, and we were talking about some of his courses and some of my courses. He's got a wonderful golf course in the sand hills of Nebraska. But nobody in Nebraska; we have 25, 30 million people within a 30-minute drive there.
BOB CUPP: They have some cows.
TOM KITE: They have some cows, but not many that are playing the course. (Laughter).
Those types of properties are what we are looking for, but unfortunately you are not going to find them in a very populated area. And so there are a number of these pieces of properties all across the world and across our nation that are going to have to be addressed one way or the other.
The companies that have abused it, sometimes many, many decades ago, are obligated for the clean up of those properties and they are going to have to do that at some point in time and they are limited as to what they can put on that property even after the cleanup. And so golf is a wonderful option when you get a tainted piece of property.
Quite honestly you don't look for this type of site, but it gives you some great opportunities to do some incredible things, it really does.

Q. I think you might have played with Harrington or walked with him.
TOM KITE: I walked a couple of holes with Padraig yesterday. He only played a few holes, but I walked those holes.

Q. Can you talk about the reaction you are getting from players and how gratifying that might be?
TOM KITE: It's kind of the same type of reaction that Bob and I had when we first set foot on site. You know, unfortunately the only thing -- well, since 1992 when we first saw the site, there have been two major changes to the vistas that you see out there. New Jersey has exploded. And obviously 9/11, we lost the Trade Center. Other than that, that vista, the views, the things that you're looking at, no matter which way you look in that direction, that has not changed, even though the property itself has changed. They are jaw-dropping just like we did when we came out here.
We jaw-dropped for two reasons. First of all, we could not believe the property had been that abused. It's kind of like, that hurts. But then you look off in the distance and it's like, wow. We have said many times that there are a lot of great golf courses in the world. There are some fantastic; but in terms of the "wow" factor, there's nothing -- I mean, there's only one New York. There's only one city like this, and to be able to build a golf course where you have the sight lines to Manhattan, to the Statute, to the Verrazano Bridge, the "wow" factor is way up there.
BOB CUPP: Along with it comes the pressure. Let me tell you, we felt it for the 14 years that basically we worked on this thing. And the pressure to get it right, among ourselves, never stopped. Still going, by the way.
TOM KITE: And this week of course, obviously.

Q. The course it seems has had some mixed reviews. It has not made any of the so-called lists. Do you think that perception will improve, or what do you think perception will be by the end of the week?
TOM KITE: I can't really comment on those lists other than to say that most of those are very political. If you want to play that political game, and buy your way into a list, you can probably do that. And I don't mean that against a slam against any of the magazines, but first of all, the golf course has to give the raters access. This is a very private golf club.
So the ratings I think are very misleading. We certainly feel like Liberty National is qualified to be on any of those lists that you just spoke of, so I don't really put too much worries about where we rank in that. And I can assure you that Paul and Dan Fireman are not too concerned about where this thing ranks on the list.
We know what we have got; they know what we have got; and everybody is very prideful of that. Certainly in terms of public recognition, what's happened in the last week with the show last weekend and what happens this week, everybody that follows golf is going to know more about Liberty National than they did a week ago.
So I would be very surprised if it doesn't move up any of those lists. But that's not our goal. Our goal is to stay out of the political game, build the best golf course we could to challenge the best players, put it in the best agronomic conditions that we could and let the players come up here and tell us how good it is or how bad it is.
Ultimately, it's a little bit like raising children. You try really hard as parents to make sure your kids grow up good, but some of them do and some of them don't. No matter how hard you work at it, some kids don't turn out the way you wanted them to and others turn out better than you thought imaginable?
BOB CUPP: And at some point you put them out in the world and they have to fend for themselves.
TOM KITE: And that's the way we feel right now. We are like proud papas.
BOB CUPP: You got it.
TOM KITE: Just hoping that -- this is still a juvenile. I mean, it's only three years old. Honest to goodness, we never, never in a million years thought that we could be hosting a tournament this early --
BOB CUPP: This big.
TOM KITE: This early or this big in it's creation. We opened three years ago. We thought we would be able to host tournaments, but we were thinking maybe 2012 or 2013 would be the earliest that we could host something. I don't know all of what happened between the TOUR and Barclays and Westchester to cause that tournament to move, but they actually came to us; Tim Finchem came to me last year and said, "Could Liberty hold the tournament, The Barclays, in 2008?"
Well, we didn't have a clubhouse. The clubhouse was under construction. So that was not a consideration. He said, "Well, we would love to move it there in 2009." And Paul and everybody, Paul and Danny and everybody involved just did everything to make sure that happened.

Q. We heard this all last year at Ridgewood and I'm sure you've heard it all --
TOM KITE: Fantastic golf course at Ridgewood.

Q. Players love that kind of golf course.
TOM KITE: They do.

Q. Why should they or would they like this golf course; it's opposite --
TOM KITE: I don't know that it's opposite. Ridgewood is a good test. It was a good driving golf course. Had a lot of balance. You know, you can like blondes and redheads. You don't have to be so exclusive that you only like blondes. Brunettes are pretty good, too. (Laughter).
There's a lot of courses that people like. I don't think that because they like Ridgewood that that necessarily means that they will dislike Liberty National or vice versa. You know, hopefully this will -- I think there's some talk about The Barclays getting in a rotation among a number of golf courses.
Personally, as far as Bob and I are concerned, we would love to see Liberty National be included in that rotation. They have not given us any commitments yet because this is a test run. How do you know it works until you try it? Probably sometime in the near future after Sunday, they will be able to give us a grade whether we passed.

Q. Do you worry at all about getting pegged as just the course with the really nice views?
TOM KITE: No.
BOB CUPP: No.
TOM KITE: No, we have got a nice clubhouse. (Laughter).
BOB CUPP: Pretty grass.

Q. How nervous are you this week? This is the ultimate spotlight on what you've built here. Is there one thing in particular more than the other that you might be worried about going into this week?
TOM KITE: I think we are excited more than nervous. To say that the golf course is 100 percent perfect, no. Augusta National, for example, was built in 1930 and they are still building it. They are still making changes.
This golf course will evolve, and it's brand new. The trees will mature. There have been some trees that died and need to be replaced that we planted out here. There will be some things added to this golf course and things that are taken away from this golf course over the next few years, a lot of it in response to what happens this week.
But quite honestly, you have to at some point in time, as Bob said, you just have to turn the kids loose and let them go out and see how good they are. I can assure you, we busted our rears to try to make it perfect knowing that perfection was never obtainable. But we've got reasonably close to producing a very good golf course.
BOB CUPP: And that includes incorporation of what technology has done. Obviously we have enough length here, probably more than we need, but that's in response to the technology. We have great hopes that the groove change is going to change the way the players play.
And things like that have all been part of the discussions, all been part of our design scheme, and now we have put it together.
And to go back to your question a minute ago about the players like this, or like that, and one of the most common maybe misinterpretations of a golf course or golf course design is how it looks; whereas Brendan said, is this a sight, and so on.
The players are really talking about the golf shots. It's not what they see; it's what they feel, and that's a bigger deal to them. They like a certain kind of type of golf, as opposed to say heroic or really penal golf, they tend to not like that. They like places where there's variety and interest, where you can play two different kind of shots, or more, from any given spot. And if nothing else out here, there is variety beyond my wildest dreams.
Working with Tom -- you're not supposed to listen to this -- one of the greatest short game players ever, I work with players all my life and I enjoy it. Tom is ultra-creative, and it has been just a wonderful experience to create something that's got that much variety, and that's kind of what we are hearing from the players.
This is fun. I'm hoping, other than the fact that it's work for them, that they come away thinking, wow, this is cool, I like this. That's our goal, at least it is mine.
TOM KITE: Yeah, and of course, difficulty is part of it. This is not an easy golf course. It was never meant to be an easy golf course.
From the front tees, it's ultimately playable for the members. The members and guests come out here and they just can't get enough of it. To move up to a reasonable distance, it's very, very playable.
BOB CUPP: Humans can play it.
TOM KITE: But we wanted to challenge the best players, and to do that, you have to have length; to do that, you have to have reasonable amount of tightness off the tee; to do that, you have to have penalties when the shots are not hit up to a high standard. We think we have done that.
Honestly I heard about some of the articles that were in the papers this morning about the guy that talked to some players, and some of the comments I'm hearing is it's pretty hard. Right now, it's soft because of all the rain, but they are saying it's really hard. But they are not saying it's really hard. They are saying it's really hard, and that's okay. If the golf course is hard, but it's not unfair and it rewards good shots, I think they are way okay with that, I really do, the majority of them. Will there be some bitching and crying? Yeah.
BOB CUPP: But it gives them a chance to show off, too.
TOM KITE: I'm part of that group. We are PGA pros, it's part of our job description, you have to be able to bitch a little bit. If you can't do it, you can't get your TOUR card. That's part of the prerequisite. We expect a little bit of that, but that's a-okay.
CHRIS REIMER: It's part of the media's job, too. That's why you guys get along so well. (Laughter).
TOM KITE: Exactly.

Q. You mentioned a close call in 1992, so a very long pregnancy.
TOM KITE: Very long.

Q. Share some of the pitfalls that occurred along the way.
BOB CUPP: Well, there were more than a hundred routings of this golf course, because the property itself is a moving target. The environment was a moving target. The whole thing's ownership was a moving target. This was a dream that was floating out there on the edge of the bay, that we knew was there, and we did everything -- Tom, what, 50, 60 times? We have been here more than any human has ever visited a golf project, and for a longer number of years. We know every stitch of it. We know every little hiccup and glitch that happened in that process, and it was never a steady journey toward a final goal. It made so many turns, and so many times when we thought it was over. But it wasn't.
And that's when Fireman stepped up and the dream started to solidify, and it was -- I can't tell you what a happy day that was. That was a great day. But it was a circuitous, difficult, exercise, that taxed us, I guess as much as anybody could imagine professionally to design this.

Q. Tom mentioned Mr. Finchem contacting you. Did you do much campaigning to help bring this event here?
TOM KITE: Well, early on when we were in the design phase of this golf course, and actually even before Paul got involved with the project, we made strong pitches to all of the golf organizations: The PGA TOUR, the PGA of America and the USGA. David Fay and Mike Davis had been on this site before, and since the golf course open. Kerry Haigh was very instrumental in giving us some great guidance on this property as far as the difficulty of the golf course and things like that. The PGA, we talked to Jim Awtrey, who is the Executive Director, Joe Steranka, a number of times about Liberty National. And obviously with my association with the TOUR, we talked to the TOUR.
It wasn't really politicking, because at that time we were trying to get guidance and guidelines. If you're going to have a tournament there, what do you need; what do you need in terms of staging; what do you need in terms of communications; what do you need in terms of transportation logistics; what do you need in terms of the golf course; how long does it need to be; how much of this, how much of that. The whole thing, trying to put together the puzzle.
And of course we would try to incorporate that, and as Bob said we would be met at the end of the hall and you hit a brick wall and you have to take a different turn and you go down that road for a while and you hit another door and it's shut and you have to turn.
So it was trying to combine all of the great input we were getting from those organizations and those individuals as to what they needed to host a major tournament there.
To a great deal, we are landlocked. This is a very tight piece of property. It has some logistical nightmares for running a tournament here because it's so tight, it's so confining.
Now when what we are under right now becomes three towers, this pit where the media center is and the player parking and everything --
BOB CUPP: This is a parking garage, by the way.
TOM KITE: This is a parking garage and all of the towers, the high-rises -- well, high-rises in Austin, mid-rises in New York, for the towers will sit on this property, well it backs everything, the driving range is set back a little bit, it gives us more places for corporate hospitality and more places for staging and places for more luxurious media facilities and things like that, and all of the underground parking that you need. Quite honestly, we never thought we would be able to host a tournament this early, and we were in hopes that something would have been built on this sight by the time the first tournament was held here. And maybe that will -- if the economy turns around, and things start happening again, maybe these towers will be built here before the second tournament is held here or the third tournament.
But one of these days the space is going to get a little bit bigger, but it's still tight out on the golf course and that creates some issues. The TOUR, there were a number of people with the TOUR that had some real misgivings as to whether Liberty National could host it, not because of the golf course, but because of the spacing. We tried to address that but it's very tight. You are not going to be able to put 50- or 60,000 people on this golf course watching a tournament, because the space is so confining. It's going to be more like a Pebble Beach situation. I think you count it up, there are 13, 14 holes where you can only watch that hole from one side. You can't double-line the fairways with people.
To some extent in some regards, that's neat, because as a player, because on one side you've got golf and then you have the spectators over on the other.
BOB CUPP: And the spectators are looking at more open spaces.
TOM KITE: They are looking at more open space. That's a nice feature but it's a negative because you can't accommodate everybody.
BOB CUPP: And in a nutshell, too, building a tournament site is a totally different animal than building a golf course. Building a golf course, yeah, I can do that with one hand tied behind me. Building a tournament site, no. It's a different animal, a different animal. Complicated.

Q. One thing in the building of this golf course that you were not able to accomplish?
BOB CUPP: That we were not able to accomplish?

Q. Is there an idea or a plan or something like that?
BOB CUPP: Fifty more acres. There are a few things, but they are not over yet. There's some things around this property that sometime in the future may have it. We are hoping it will, but we can't say that it will now.
TOM KITE: But very few, very few. Again, Paul gave us an opportunity to go crazy.
CHRIS REIMER: Well, it looks great out there and appreciate you taking the time to come in. Good luck this week.

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