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LPGA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY ROLEXNovember 21, 2009Doug BrechtHOUSTON, TEXAS DOUG BRECHT: We'll start with the up date. At 1:00, just before 1:00, we went out and looked this golf course again. Having had it rain for quite a bit longer than we were led to believe it was gonna rain, the conditions on the golf course were the worst we've seen all day. Instead of getting a little bit better, it's gotten worse. So we decided to not play anymore golf -- or not play any golf today. Not that we ever played any. We're not playing any shots today. We have a schedule for the rest of this event with an approximate start time of 8:00 in the morning for those players who have already begun their round and are on the golf course; with those that haven't started starting at 8:20. The rest of the field will then tee off, and we will finish round two tomorrow, make a cut to the low 70 and ties, and play round three on Monday, starting approximately 7:00 in the morning with an approximate finish time on Monday being 2:00. Plan on making another course visit this afternoon somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 and see if conditions have improved, gotten worst, whatever the case may be, and then have a further update as far as the feasibility of trying to start at 8:00 in the morning, if we can still hold to that time at that point or if we need to make an adjustment to that. Q. So Doug, I guess with the rain, it just forced your hand today for 54. Just didn't have no other option really? DOUG BRECHT: With the plan that we set out before today, we had a chance of playing 72 holes by the end of the day tomorrow. We could obviously still try and implement that plan and put it into effect and try to finish 72 holes by the end of the day Monday. But as I mentioned to you before, there was some possible hiccups with that plan, and rather than forcing people's hands and probably forcing them to stay on Tuesday to finish, we felt it was in the best interest of this event and for our players and everyone concerned to now shorten this event to 54 holes. Q. (No microphone.) DOUG BRECHT: 36 holes on the LPGA Tour is an official. We have to play at least 36 holes for this event to be official. I have been to an event before where we only played 18, and that event became unofficial. 36 holes does make this an official event. We are, at this point, committed to 54 holes. We'll cross that road we know we get to it as far as -- I mean, we got to determine if the golf course is a playable. Right now - I'm not trying to duck your question - but we're gonna do everything we can to play 54 holes. If we have to cut back to 36, at that point in time we'll make those decisions and comment further about that. Q. Did you consider cutting to 30 instead of 72? DOUG BRECHT: We considered cutting to 30 and ties. Our regulations even give us the latitude of cutting to 60 and ties. Again, looking at what golf course we have right now, what the forecast is, it's forecasted for -- probably seeing some sun for the rest of the day today and sun all day Sunday and Monday, we've got plenty of times to let 70 and ties come and finish this event. In the best interest of what the LPGA is trying to accomplish with all the factors being considered, we felt like that was the best route and avenue for us to take. Q. This has nothing to do with you obviously, but, man, the weather forecast was a little bit off today. Wasn't it was supposed to be sunny a lot earlier this morning? (Laughter.) DOUG BRECHT: We could go back a little farther than and tell you how much off it was for tomorrow. At one time, we were predicted to get three to four inches of rain. You want to think about where we would be right now if that happened, it'd be worse off than where we are. At one time yesterday when we delayed the start, we did it basically because of how hard it was raining and what was moving at us, knowing we weren't gonna have a chance to play, and then all that dissipated as it got here. So we had a plan based on the information that we got right there. Finally we were able to go ahead and play. Our plan this morning was good, because, again, we're looking at a forecast, and we weren't gonna get a little bit of rain last night, which ended up being a half inch, and then no rain after 8:00 today. Well, that, front stalled right over on the east side of Houston. The back end of it kept swirling around and dumped rain on us until about 1:00. You know, weathermen are great. We have a great weatherman. He works his tail off and does a terrific job for us. He's as good as the information that's given to him, too. We can look at all the weather bands we want and all the forecasts we want, we can put radar in motion and see where we think that radar is gonna be at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. May not get there. Q. (Question regarding input from the players regarding the delays.) DOUG BRECHT: The players are part of the equation. We certainly seek and ask for their input as far as our decision-making process goes. But in the end, it's up to the LPGA officials and our committee to make the decision that's best for the event. But we definitely do talk to our players and get their input as to what their feelings are. Q. (No microphone.) DOUG BRECHT: That's part of the equation. When we first heard all the information about flight switching and how difficult it was and how there weren't very many flights available, that really hasn't been the case as far as we're concerned, because we already started switching some of our flights ourselves. None of us had a problem whatsoever. Seem to be plenty of seats available on multiple airlines flying -- not getting everywhere you want to go, but to a lot different places and a lot of different locales. Q. (Question regarding amount of rain.) DOUG BRECHT: At 6:00 this morning, it was just over one and a quarter inches. We've had a little bit more since then, but I don't have a measured amount to give you at this time. Q. (No microphone.) DOUG BRECHT: That includes the week, the playing time up until 6:00 this morning. Q. (Question regarding Monday start time.) DOUG BRECHT: The Monday time right now is approximately a 7:00 start, going off both 1 and 10 tees, playing in groups of three with ten-minute starting time intervals, cut to 70 and ties. Q. Sending the players out this morning, you thought that maybe you could get it going, and once they got out there you knew there was no way? DOUG BRECHT: I was in contact with the golf course personnel when I first got here who were out working on the golf course. I plain and simply asked them the question: Can you have the golf course ready for me to play at 7:00 this morning? The reply was absolutely no problem. We went out when it got to be daylight enough to see, which was 6:45 to 6:50 to assess that situation. Unfortunately, we had already made a decision that we needed to have players going out there at 6:45 to be in position ready to play at 7:00. By 7:02, we had made a determination the golf course was now not playable. Players were already out there, so we just turned them around and sent them back in. That's just happened plain and simple. No different than what our normal procedure is and how we would approach it. Q. (No microphone.) DOUG BRECHT: I'm sorry, I can't answer that, because that's not -- I don't deal with those type of things. That's Becky Newell and the people from IMG who have to decide that. Q. 54 doesn't affect any kind of player the year, the points... DOUG BRECHT: Points will be the same. We'll still plan a having a standard money distribution. Nothing will change other than the fact we're playing 18 holes less, and obviously we won't make a cut to 30 and ties for the last round. Q. (No microphone.) DOUG BRECHT: That's what our plan is right now. We will update further this afternoon once we have another chance to look at the golf course. There will be some type of announcement tonight. Q. (No microphone.) DOUG BRECHT: All of it. (Laughter.) The greens, let me -- the greens are great. We can play -- there was never a time when we couldn't have played on a green and had a very good result. But the fairways are saturated, the tees are saturated, the bunkers have some water in 'em. Probably the bunkers are okay to play out of. They drain a little bit better than everything else. The real problem right now is the saturation point has been reached, and this water has nowhere to go. A whole squad of helicopters would be nice just sitting over the top of the golf course, but... End of FastScripts |
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