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BAY HILL INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 16, 2005

Arnold Palmer

ORLANDO, FLORIDA

JOE CHEMYCZ: We welcome Mr. Arnold Palmer to the interview area.

We appreciate your time this morning and maybe just to start, Mr. Palmer, if you would, with some comments about the state of the Bay Hill Invitational, and then we'll open it up for questions.

ARNOLD PALMER: Okay. Well, my general comments are the golf course is very good. Probably as good as it's been in any of the recent years. One thing that we concentrated on this year to kind of make the golf course competitive or more competitive than it's been in the past is the fact that we have let the rough really get rough. We've been watching it for some time, kept the water on it, fertilizing it, really making it important enough that it will be a factor in the championship. We think that you're going to have to drive the ball in the fairway to really score well, and that was one of our goals.

The rest of the golf course is very good, also. The conditions have been enhanced by the fact that we've had some rain, and that has certainly helped make the golf course even better.

Before you ask me, I'll tell you. The two greens that I changed are the 2nd and the 17th greens. I didn't make a dramatic change to either of these greens. We took some of the front mounding out and moved it to the areas that were sloping away, which simply means that we've leveled them off considerably. It's subtle. It was subtle when we did, it but it should help the guys that were having a little trouble keeping the ball on the greens, give them a little more opportunity to keep the ball there.

2 was the front center. We moved the dirt there back down to the back left side and lifted that up, again, so the ball wouldn't trickle off into the rough on the left back part of the green.

And 17, we took some dirt out of the front right where there was a slight mound and moved that to the back right of the green and then we moved some dirt off the mound in the center, back center of 17 and moved that also to the right side of the green to build that up just a little bit, and that was the total of what we did on those two greens.

The rest of the golf course we haven't made any really big changes. We concentrated on the rough as I mentioned earlier and we've also made the greens and the fairways -- we've watched them very closely so that they are good. The greens have, in difference to the past few years, the greens have softened and with the rains and they will not -- and I don't think we could get them as hard as we would like to have them. So they will be pretty receptive to shots going into them.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Questions.

Q. There was a time when people called the top players in the game the big three and there was a lot of marquis value there. Now, looking at the top of the heap, do you think it's as strong as it's been in a long, long time, or even ever?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I don't think there's any question about the fact that we have some marquis players that are doing a lot in the game. Ernie Els, by his last two performances, and his previous performances over the last few years has been outstanding. He has played some wonderful golf, and of course watching what happened in the last two weeks, I think that's a pretty good thing, for him and for golf, the fact that he has played as well as he's played.

And certainly, I don't think Tiger and Mickelson at Doral hurt the marquis value of tournament golf with that situation down there. And of course Tiger played excellent, and so did Mickelson.

But that is the kind of thing you want to see more and more of, and of course that was kind of what you're referring to back 30 years ago or 40 years ago to get attention; we're getting it.

And of course, I feel that the field here is very strong with Tiger and Ernie and Goosen, all of the guys. We have a very good field and I'm very pleased with the people that are playing.

Q. Forgive me for asking the question, I know you're asked it a million times, but Bobby Jones is going to join you in having an exhibit at the Hall of Fame next week, and I wonder if you can comment briefly on what he meant to your career and your opinion as to how that accomplishment in 1930 has stood the test of time compared to other great years that golfers have had?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, Jones certainly brought the world of golf to the world's attention with the Slam and what he did playing. Is that what you're referring to? Okay.

As far as I'm personally concerned, his books was one of the first books I read about golf and about his prowess and that left a lasting impression on me. I think that the fact that he did what he did and it did call a lot of attention to the game of golf, and I suppose that in the years to come it will continue to.

Q. Can you talk about what the feeling will be going back to Augusta knowing you're not playing, and what are your plans? Will you play a practice round, the par 3, Champion's Dinner? How long will you be there that week?

ARNOLD PALMER: None of the above. I am going to just give it a rest this year. I'm going to go to Augusta Tuesday and what I call socialize, I suppose, and attend the Masters Dinner Tuesday evening, generally socialize on Wednesday. And at the moment I have plans to attend the Chairman's buffet Wednesday afternoon or Wednesday evening, and then I plan to come back here Thursday morning or sooner.

Q. One follow-up, the honorary starter, has that ever -- are you thinking about that in the future?

ARNOLD PALMER: I will think about it in the future. But at the moment, as I said, I'm just giving it all a rest. I'm not going to participate at all. I'm not going to play in anything at Augusta this year. I'm going to say hello to my friends and do a couple functions that I would like to do, and then come back home.

Q. Just curious, why are you giving it a rest this year? Are you just, no interest in playing even a practice round, and socialize as you're playing the practice round? Is there something else that's going on that you just want to take a step back or what?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I'm not sure what you're asking me. I have no intentions of going on the golf course if I -- or the par 3. I'm just going to, as I said, socialize. I may change that in the years to come but at the moment, I just feel like I want to get my feel for not playing in Augusta. For 50 straight years I played and I loved it. I enjoyed it tremendously and I would still enjoy it, but I just want to get the feel for not doing anything.

Q. If you played the par 3 contest, do you think you would be tempted to tee it up Thursday morning? (Laughter.)

ARNOLD PALMER: Right now, I have no temptations. (Laughter.)

Q. A lot of parallels have been made about last year being your final Masters and Phil Mickelson finally breaking through because of the styles of play and also the rapport with the fans. What were your impressions watching that final round on Sunday and his performance there?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I was very impressed with Phil and his performance in the Masters last year. I think he won the tournament and that's what it was all about, and that was the way I like to feel like I was playing when I was playing very well there. There was no backing in. It was an up-front, aggressive approach, and I thought he did very well. I think that -- and of course, I get the feeling that that's what they really like at Augusta, the fans and the people watching. They like to see that approach and they like to see it happen that way.

Q. What tournaments or events do you think were significant in the development of your rivalry with Jack and Gary in the 1960s? Something has to cause a rivalry; correct? Some of the things that you see that created that rivalry in the 60s.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I think that both Jack and Gary were very competitive, and I think that's what stimulated the rivalry, and the fact that the media started making issue of the fact that we were so close and playing against each other.

Gary and I did, as you know, a whole series of television deals where we played with each other and at the same time we were competing against each other on the Tour. So that in itself kind of stimulated the rivalry. Both of them, Jack and Gary, in the early days when they turned professional, they came to me seeking advice as to what they might do. And of course, some of that advice was, would I give Mark McCormack permission to handle their affairs, which I did. And of course that I think even stimulated the rivalry even more. But in addition to the rivalry, we were friends. We were friends, we're still friends.

As Jack and I had discussed a few times in our lives, we can recall a few tournaments such as the ones you're talking about, the Open or the Masters or PGA, whatever it might have been, tournaments that when we got paired together and Jack and I particularly, a couple of times, we got so intent on beating each other that someone else in the field went right by us, and that happened a couple of times.

Q. You say after socializing a little bit you'll come back to Orlando on Thursday. How much will you watch television, follow it during that weekend, tune in for the whole event?

ARNOLD PALMER: I'll watch a lot of the Masters. Sure, I enjoy it and I will tune it in and watch it a lot. I think, you know, that's something that's still left, I enjoy watching it. I watch a lot of the golf on television.

Q. And you were the original almost IMG guy, and just your thoughts on the TOUR's reaction to the IMG Monday outings and the decision on that?

ARNOLD PALMER: My reaction to the letter, you're talking about?

Q. Yes.

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, as I said earlier, I'm not sure I approve of that approach. I don't think that -- I don't think that that can help the general situation on TOUR. When you offer certain players with the thought even though it isn't written out, that you offer certain players for exhibit, whether it be a company outing or whatever it be, at the same time at the same place of a tournament, and as I say, even though it isn't written, there's some pretty good knowledge that they are going to play in your golf tournament. I'm not sure I like that approach.

I think that, bottom line, I would hope that that isn't something that we will see a lot of, because I think that eventually it will hurt the TOUR, whether it be Bay Hill or whether it be Greensboro or you name it, if all of a sudden the sponsors are going to get feeling like they have to do some sort of entertainment during their week to get players to be there and play. And that's one thing.

There was a time when, you know, I had some tournaments offer me an opportunity to make a speech in the bathroom and for the right thing come and play in the tournament. (Laughter.) They didn't care where I spoke, as long as I got there.

Q. What did you say?

ARNOLD PALMER: That, I will not say. (Laughter.)

Q. You obviously have a special relationship with your grandsons, Sam Saunders and we enjoyed you playing the Father/Son tournament, the Office Depot last year. There's a lot of youngsters, international young players in the field, and obviously Sam, he's playing very well and continuing to play well and he's got a great future. Was there any point that you considered him in the field, if not this year -- well, obviously not this year but how soon do we expect to see him in this golf tournament?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, of course, his mother said -- I have to be careful what I say. Actually, there was a moment that I considered having Sam play this year. But after consulting with his mother, we both decided that it was a little premature and plus he has school.

As hard as I press for him to play good golf and be around golf tournaments, his mother is pressing for him to go to school and get his education, and I endorse that wholeheartedly. So the future as far as Sam is concerned, I think I wouldn't be surprised at all if in the next year or so he gets an invitation to play in this golf tournament, but I think he's got a lot of things to do right now. He's a young man, he loves to play golf, and he enjoys doing the things that he's doing, and we're going to encourage that.

Of course, in another year he's going to be off to school, and that will become also an important part of his life, and I would urge his mother and father and him to do his education, four years at some school. There's plenty of time for him to get out and play the TOUR.

Q. You mentioned that appearance fees or the money outings would eventually hurt the TOUR, but currently many of the events that are on this tour are trying to find ways to get better fields that don't have someone like yourself to draw that field in. What would you suggest to them, considering that there's so many inducements out there now for players to come and some of them still won't go to those events. What would you suggest to those events?

ARNOLD PALMER: What they do to encourage players?

Well, that's difficult. Certainly there's been a lot of suggestions as to what might be done, cutting the number of tournaments; I see Tiger is pushing the possibility of reducing the number of tournaments. I don't think that a guy that is playing along and just barely making it wants to reduce the number of tournaments. He wants to have as many events as he can to help his potential for eligibility in the tournaments.

It's difficult. Where do you start and stop when you pay appearance fees? I mean, I went to a lot of places in the world where I received appearance fees for going. That was probably the reason I went, whether it be Australia or wherever around the world. The fact is that -- and just what you're saying, in a lot of cases, I wouldn't have gone if it hadn't been for that.

But, now in the world of golf, with the situation as it is where you're playing a tournament, you know, the average is around $5 million now. If you make the cut, you're going to make some reasonable money. So adding on top of that appearance fees, you're really putting a lot of pressure on the sponsors and what is going to happen with that sponsorship. I think the PGA rule about non-appearances fees is one that they have to enforce. That's about it.

Q. Jack made some comments a couple of weeks ago about his concern with power becoming too dominant in the game, everybody hitting the ball 290 to 310 and that hitting fairways less and less important. Vijay Singh said that he -- hitting fairways is the least important stat out here; if he can drive it 310 in the rough, that's fine with him. I know that you and Jack a few years ago thought that managing the golf ball was probably the best way to control all of that. Are you even more concerned now and do you think that anything should or will happen?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, you've just expressed my concerns. I have the same concerns Jack does about the game and what is going to happen to the came.

We can do things like the rough, we talked about here this week and the fact that the guys are going to have to keep it in the fairway to really score well.

But ultimately, we can lengthen golf courses and we can let the rough grow, we can make the greens a lot faster. The one place that we can fix all of that is with the golf ball, and there is a danger, you know, and of course I think that everybody is aware of this -- if they are not, they should be; that you could get to the situation where the Masters or the THE PLAYERS Championship or any tournament where they just hand you a golf ball and say, you play this. And that golf ball would be reduced; initial velocity, the distance you could hit it, would be limited.

I don't think we want that. I think that we want to see the manufacturing and the playing of the game continue as we have known it for many years. And somewhere along the way, I feel, that the manufacturers are -- and I'm talking all of them, are willing to talk about this. I think that they have also come to the situation, and I think that there's some reason to believe that they will be willing to cooperate in reducing the velocity of the golf ball or how far the golf ball can go.

Q. Back to the question of appearance fees and players. Back in the day, you and Jack and Gary seemed to make it a point to go to every tournament periodically. You saved a lot of little golf tournaments in this country. How much onus is going to have to go on to the star players that they do that kind of thing to go to some of the tournaments that are talking about being in deep trouble now because of their not showing up?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I think those players have to think about that. I think that that's a key to the problem that we're talking about, appearance fees. I think that if the players will make appearances at tournaments that are having a little bit of a problem making it, it will solve that problem of keeping them whole. I know that Jack and Gary and myself over the years, we discussed it from time to time and decided that we would try to spread ourselves out to help the tournaments that had a problem, and we did it, a lot. I did it probably more than anyone, and so did they. They were both aware of it and did as much as they could.

Q. It's been 50 years since you won your first PGA TOUR event in Canada and I understand you're going back there later this year to celebrate that. I wonder if you have a recollection of that tournament, what it meant to get your first win, and also why you've made the decision to go back to Weston Golf and Country Club?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, I'm very aware of what happened in 1955 and have some very fond memories of that tournament and playing in it and winning it. And I'm going back for a lot of those reasons.

One thing, one sad moment about that is that winning that Canadian Open in '55, I played good, but I putted very well, too. And the putter that I used, I never saw after the tournament was over. And of course the excitement of having won and not really paying a lot of attention to where my golf clubs were, for some reason they were lying out in the open and the putter disappeared.

Q. So you think that putter is somewhere in Canada still?

ARNOLD PALMER: Oh, I'm not going to say where that putter might be. (Laughter.) But I often wonder if whoever got it what they are doing with it, because it isn't worth a damn unless somebody knows what it was. (Laughter.)

Q. Knowing Mark McCormack as well as you did, did you think that IMG letter would have gone out if he'd still been in charge of the company?

ARNOLD PALMER: You know, I can't -- I can't forecast that or look back and say that it would not have gone out.

My opinion, it would not have. Mark was a businessman and used a lot of business tactics, but I think that he was also aware of the same things that I'm aware of, and we discussed those things, particularly in the early days of my playing and going various places. As I said, I went places where they paid appearance fees that paid me to come. But not on the American tour.

Q. Back to Augusta, although you're not playing the Masters this year, the tournament is not going to be without a Palmer. Although I know there's no relation, Ryan Palmer is going to be playing in the Masters this year; he qualified. What do you think the reaction of the fans are going to be at Augusta if they look up on the score board and tee sheet and see the name Palmer?

ARNOLD PALMER: You know, something similar to that happened to me. One of my first events that I played in the 50s in the early 50s, and there was a guy on the Tour that was doing pretty well and had done pretty well, and his name was Johnny Palmer. Now, most of you don't even remember Johnny Palmer, but some of you might. I remember in Palm Springs, we were both playing in the tournament there at Thunderbird, and it was an Invitational. The headlines came out. I had a pretty good round, and the headline comes out and says, "Palmer leads Thunderbird, not Johnny." (Laughter.) That's somewhat what you're asking.

Q. Could you reflect on some of the changes that you've seen at Augusta National over the years, and going forward, what do you see they might do, whether it be pin placements or whatever to maybe protect the course down the road?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, of course the changes that happened at Augusta over the years for the 50 years that I played, were sort of, you know, you almost expected something to happen on a particular hole. I think, let's just say, No. 8, the par 5 up the hill, where one year playing No. 8, I put it in a sand trap on my second shot, pin-high to the left of the pin. And the reason I remember it is I holed the sandshot for an eagle 3.

Well, the next year, after I did that, that mound appeared on the left side where that sand trap was, and that was the kind of thing that, you know, it was -- and hell, if you hadn't played, you would never have known that wasn't there all along. Other things like that happened.

The things that really didn't happen very much over the initial years that I played was that they rarely ever changed the putting surface of the greens. The greens and the undulations in the greens up until they put the bentgrass on, stayed pretty much as they were. They continually tried to quicken them, get them faster, but as some of you know and some of you remember, there was a bermuda base and then we were overseeded with an annual. To get them as fast as they wanted was very difficult. They had to roll them. Someone said to me, "When did they start rolling greens?" Well, Augusta was rolling greens back when I started playing there. So that isn't something that was just recently happening.

But even that, with the mat of bermudagrass on the base and then the overseed, it was almost impossible to get the greens as fast as they are today.

Q. The pin placements?

ARNOLD PALMER: The pin placements, for the best part, were pretty standard. I knew a lot of the guys on the committee after I played there a few times, and I used to ask them offhandedly, and they said, pretty much the same, left, right, center, back, front, right and so on. The pin placements -- only in the last few years have I seen them even change at all.

Q. On the changes here, you went out with your own bare hands with a shovel. Why not just get supervise somebody to do it? Why do it yourself?

ARNOLD PALMER: I wanted it right. (Laughter.)

Actually, I kind of got the urge to get out and do it myself. I had my son-in-law with me and it even motivated him. He got a shovel in his hand and a rake, too, and helped me. I think we both enjoyed it, doing what we were doing.

Of course, the guys were all there helping, too. It was just a fun thing to do.

Q. I think your first Masters or the first couple of Masters was when CBS started televising the tournament. For those of us who weren't there in the late 50s, I wonder if you can recall what television coverage on the course was like back in the late 50s and how it progressed in terms of where the cameras were; did you notice where they were? When did that change where they were positioned behind you at times and if that was an issue.

ARNOLD PALMER: Initially the television was pretty much the last few holes. I think most of the television that I can recall was, oh, I think maybe 15, 16, 17 and 18 in the early days. And it wasn't, really, obvious, it was more subtle. That's kind of the way the thing got started with Arnie's Army, some of the people on the television stands held up signs, and of course that didn't last very long, I think maybe one or two years. And then they limited no signs on the golf course at all because they were appearing on the stands where the cameras were.

Q. Your comment about remembering a tournament, "Palmer leads and not Johnny," makes me wonder, when was last time you recall, and when was the situation that you were somewhere that no one knew who you were?

ARNOLD PALMER: (Sighing) (Laughter.)

Well, the last time I had an incident like that happen, I was driving from Turtle Bay to Pearl City on Oahu to get a marriage license, and that was just a month or two ago, and my bride was sitting next to me and we were going to get a license. She said, "Now, Arnold, when we get to where they are going to issue this license, if they don't know who you are, I don't want you to be upset." (Laughter.)

So we drove up to Pearl City, we got out of the car, went into the marriage license place. And the little lady there, Japanese lady, who was absolutely wonderful, we just both of us liked her immediately, and we talked to her for a few minutes. And she said, "Why don't you people have a seat while we get this work done here." And Kit sat down and the lady looked at Kit and she said, "Now let me tell you how lucky you are young lady." That's the last time. (Laughter.)

JOE CHEMYCZ: Before we go, I know, Mr. Palmer, you have something to talk a little bit about with your charities.

ARNOLD PALMER: I have as you know, and as we have over the last almost 20 years now, been working to do something with the local hospitals and of course as you know, the Arnold Palmer Hospital For Women and Children. We've had some announcements recently, and I'm going to ask John Bozard to take the mic and tell you what has happened and what is happening and how very proud we are of what has happened in the last 20 years with the golf tournament, with the hospital and to tell you that what happens at the hospital is an ongoing thing.

It doesn't happen this week. We help and we push and we do a lot of things to make the hospital the best in the world, but what has happened over the years is that the people who have been very benevolent to the hospital, it goes on year-round. And we are constantly hearing from people all over America and the world about the hospital and with that, I'm going to ask John Bozard to make an announcement.

JOHN BOZARD: Thank you very much, Arnold. I appreciate the opportunity to be here and to tell you just a little bit about what is going on at the hospital because this is a very exciting time for us. We've had the great privilege of being here for nearly 20 years with Mr. Palmer and many years ago, Winnie Palmer, who was always right at our side here.

About 20 years ago, we invited the Palmers to come to the hospital and take a tour, just to visit and see what was going on with women and children here in central Florida, and as they toured, Mr. Palmer said to me as he was leaving, "We can really do better than this for our children."

And thus began the legacy of caring, because in 1989, September 10, 1989, we opened the Arnold Palmer Hospital For Women and Children. And you know, when you bear the name Palmer, that just really does things. I mean, the standard of care really rose in Orlando. We have become better than we dared dream we could be, because we had the responsibility of living up to the Palmer name and what that meant. It stands for quality; it stands for caring; it stands for so many things. We could never imagine the success that this hospital is going to bring to this community. We could never imagine the number of children and women that we would see through the years.

As of last year, we have seen a total of 1.5 million children in that hospital. That hospital was built to handle about 6,500 deliveries a year. This year we will deliver 11,000 babies. Simply put, we have outgrown the facility.

So in January of last year, we broke ground for a brand new facility. It's going to be the Hospital For Women and Babies. And as we thought about that hospital we wanted to put a name on that hospital that would be synonymous with caring and quality and commitment and compassion. There was one name that kept coming back to us. We knew what name we wanted to putt on this hospital.

So just as we announced nearly 20 years ago that we were going to build a hospital called the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Women and Children, this is a special time for us because I am so happy and pleased and proud to be able to amounts and unveil to you to the public for the first time the name of our new Women's and Babies Hospital.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's just a great privilege for me to announce the name of our new facility as the Winnie Palmer Hospital For Women and Babies. (Applause).

We know that because it bears her name, the legacy of caring that was started here nearly 20 years ago will continue. Mr. Palmer, thank you so much for allowing us to be here today.

ARNOLD PALMER: Thank you, John. It's pretty clearly said and done and we're all very proud.

JOE CHEMYCZ: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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