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NORTHERN TRUST OPENFebruary 2, 2010Anthony KimPACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA CHRIS REIMER: We want to welcome Anthony Kim here to the media center at the Northern Trust Open. We're going to start off by doing a traditional press conference, and then after that Anthony has a special announcement to make in conjunction with the First Tee, the Audubon International and FedEx. First we'll get right to it. First tournament on the PGA of 2010, but you had a fun night last night it seemed like on Jay Leno. Maybe start by talking about that experience a little bit. ANTHONY KIM: Yeah, I'm ready to start the 2010 season. It's been a lot of hard work over this off-season, and fortunately I've been able to gather a good team around me to be healthy this year and really feel like I have a great start to the year coming up, especially starting here at the LA Open. I was obviously on the show last night, a lot of fun, and hopefully I'll get to do some more of those as I play better this year. Q. How would you assess -- after 2008, winning those tournaments, then 2009, did you in your mind consider that a step back in your career? ANTHONY KIM: Well, I would say a step back, but at the same time, I can't judge myself on one year. I'm planning on having a long career out here on the PGA TOUR, and I love what I'm doing. It was a step back, but I think that I learned quite a bit from last year. I was hitting it so far off line, I've never had to hit so many irons off tees just because I was scared of hitting it in the water or out of bounds, and learning how to manage the golf course better. When you're making double bogeys, it's a lot harder to control your emotions than when you're making a lot of birdies. And in 2008 I made quite a few more birdies than I did last year. I think I've grown as a person and as a golfer, and now it's just time this year to go out and do what I can do. Q. Would you talk about Jerry West's presence out here and the significance of his presence and this being your debut this year? ANTHONY KIM: Well, it meant a lot for me to have Jerry come up and say it was important for me to come out. But at the same time, this is what I do for a living. This is the TOUR I play on, and this is my home. To come back to LA and start my season here on the PGA TOUR is a special feeling, and hopefully I'll get to play some good golf and put on a show for the fans that come out this week. Q. How have you grown as a person? ANTHONY KIM: Well, I try to make good decisions every day of my life. But I'm not going to make the right one every time. I think handling some of the questions that I get and some of the feelings that come from playing badly, poorly, last year have made me grow up a little bit faster. I thought everything came a lot easier than it did, and in 2008 I really couldn't do too many things wrong. I felt like every move I made in 2009 wasn't the right one. So I think looking back on those things, I'll be able to reach back and learn from those mistakes that I made last year and definitely use that to my advantage this year. Q. Speaking of tough decisions, you took a few slings and arrows over the Bob Hope thing and going overseas. I was wondering whether you thought you were treated fairly on that, and I can't imagine it was an easy decision to make. ANTHONY KIM: I didn't even know anybody had a problem with it. Well, obviously I heard a couple of the rumblings when I was over there. It was a tough decision. I moved out to Palm Springs, I had a wonderful time out there to finish up my high school -- to finish up high school out there, and really felt a bond with the community and love being out there and love playing golf out there. So it was very tough for me to pass that up. But I would like to be an international player. I would like to play in European Tour events and help grow the game of golf, because really that's what we're trying to do on the PGA TOUR anyway. If I play good here and there, it can't be anything but positive. I know that a lot of people think I made the wrong decision, but my team and I made that decision a couple months ago to go in that direction. I stand by that decision and feel like it was the right one for me. I will be playing more events than I did last year on the PGA TOUR, so it's not like I'm taking anything away from the TOUR. I'm going to be at one or two more events this year, and hopefully that can help bring some sponsors back. I fully understand where people are coming from because I wanted to be at the Bob Hope, as well. Q. Where do you come down on the whole grooves issue and the use of the Ping clubs or not use of them? Where do you stand on that? ANTHONY KIM: Well, as a person who has 14 Nike clubs in his bag, I'm not too worried about Ping clubs. I do know that everyone has their own opinion on the grooves. I know for us -- I know the amateurs don't have to change for ten years or whatever it is. But I know my dad is not going to enjoy the game quite as much ten years from now when he has to play the grooves we're playing. Now, is it going to make the game better? I don't know. I know that these are the rules, and I'm going to go ahead and play the clubs that are legal and whatever Nike makes me. It's just part of the game. Technology is making the game a lot easier, obviously, and if that's what the USGA feels like they need to do, they need to do it. But personally, I really have no opinion on it. We're going to shoot under par regardless of what they do. I mean, we're good enough golfers and we'll figure a way out to get the ball in the hole. Q. Can you talk about your team? Is there anybody new or any additions or subtractions to your team and who's advising you, or any other changes in the off-season? ANTHONY KIM: No, just my trainer is not going to be with me full-time this year. He got me started on the right track, and we'll work with him at home so I won't have as many people traveling with me. I have a new caddie I started with a couple months ago. He's my best friend, and we played college golf together, were roommates in college, and we won -- I think we finished first and second and seventh in our first three events at the end of '09. So I feel like there's a good connection there, and I feel like there's a chance that that'll go long-term. Q. Who is that? ANTHONY KIM: Brody Flanders. I made a switch -- I have my assistant has been the same one for the last couple months, and he's keeping me in line. And I have the prodigy agent in the pink shirt, Chris Armstrong. CHRIS REIMER: We'll move into the next portion of today. We'd like to go ahead and invite some of our guests up here with us and I'm going to step to the side here and we'll move on with the next announcement. Just from our left to right we have David Pillsbury, President of Golf Course Properties and Championship Management for the PGA TOUR; we have Joellen Lampman with Audubon International; and Richard Heysek with the First Tee. Anthony Kim, some of you may know, is co-chair of the First Tee's Young Ambassador Council along with Paula Creamer, and so we have some of our favorite members here from the First Tee who have also joined us here today. But David, if you'd like to kick off today's announcement that would be great. DAVID PILLSBURY: Chris, thank you very much, and Anthony, thank you for your involvement in the announcement today but moreover for your involvement with the First Tee. I know these guys were scrambling over here to see you. They were awfully excited to have a chance to meet you as are thousands of other First Tee kids across the country. The fact that you've involved is terrific. I can't think of a better spokesperson and representative for the First Tee. I'm also delighted to be here on behalf of the PGA TOUR in my capacity supporting two business units that roll up under the TOUR, one being golf course properties, our TPCs, and Championship Management, our owned and operated events, of which this is one. We are very involved in environmental stewardship on a number of fronts. In particular I would just mention on the TPC side with respect to Audubon, most of our TPC properties are Audubon, certified and in fact, this year at the Golf Course Superintendents' Association meeting, our TPCs won 11 environmental stewardship awards out of 19 nationally, which is pretty impressive for our small collection of properties. So we take environmental stewardship very seriously at the PGA TOUR. We're excited about the progress we're making, which is why I'm so delighted to be here to help unveil a new program in which Federal Express, as part of its corporate commitment to environmental sustainability and responsibility, has partnered with the TOUR, Audubon International and the First Tee to create a campaign that will teach participants like these young people down here in front environmentally friendly golf course improvement techniques and sustainability practices that they can carry forward in their careers as golfers. This initiative, the FedExCup Fore!Ever campaign is providing grants to six public golf courses used by the First Tee for environmental improvements such as tree planting, which we'll experience here shortly; and creating the green golfer curriculum for First Tees across the country, which has been developed by Audubon International that will teach young golfers Nationwide about sustainability through golf. We're delighted to be here. Last Saturday, in fact, this group along with lots of other kids with Audubon and the First Tee of Pasadena and FedEx volunteers conducted the first golf course improvement project at Brookside Golf Course and planted a number of trees and had a great day from everything I've heard about it. Again, we're delighted to have Anthony involved, and thank you to FedEx and Audubon for your support of this program. CHRIS REIMER: Richard, if you'd like to comment, as well. RICHARD HEYSEK: Yeah, I first of all wanted to say how proud we are to be working with FedEx and the PGA TOUR on this new initiative. We never would have been where we are today with 3.5 million kids having been touched by the First Tee without partners like the PGA TOUR and FedEx, and we're very, very grateful for your long-lasting commitment to our programs. Anthony, we're excited to have you as co-chair of our Young Ambassadors' Council. I look forward to you inspiring our young people like we have here in the first row today. The real significance of this program not only is actually making the improvements of the six courses David mentioned, but we're going to be introducing the green golfer curriculum to all of our kids and all of our chapters. And one of our nine core values at the First Tee is responsibility; right, kids? And we now see this as a great opportunity to teach our young people they also have a responsibility to their environment. And this new curriculum that was developed with the help of FedEx and Audubon International will help us reach all these hundreds of thousands of kids and teach them how they can become not only good on the greens but green golfers, as well. So thank you for being here, and we appreciate the support of everyone. CHRIS REIMER: Joellen, just an overview of the environment improvements that are being made? JOELLEN LAMPMAN: Thank you very much. Let me start out by saying that golf has a really unique opportunity to play a role in caring for our environment. By their very nature they can provide significant open space in natural areas across North America. At the same time golf's use of chemicals, water, fuel have gotten some significant criticism for threatening the environment. So in order to address the challenges and the opportunities available on golf and in the industry, Audubon International has chosen golf and the environment to be one of our four core initiatives that we're working on. The initiative is helping to build support for eco-friendly golf management practices across the country, and we also have programs that we've developed with assistance from the USGA that helps golf courses to reduce their environmental footprint, and also serve as models for the entire community of what sustainable resource management can look like. We're really thrilled to be part of the FedExCup Fore!Ever campaign. Through this campaign we're going to be reaching young golfers and their parents through -- we're going to be teaching them about ecology and sustainability through hands-on activities. We started this program on Saturday at Brookside Golf Course. We made with these kids direct connections between ourselves, the organizations that we work with, and with our environment. We naturalized formerly maintained turf grass areas; we planted hummingbird vines; we built nest boxes; they built a tee out of recycled sod from the Rose Bowl; we naturalized a pond shoreline; we also incorporated native drought-resistant plants as the clubhouse landscaping. And as the time goes on, as the kids grow through the First Tee program and they continue coming to the course, they're going to be seeing these plants mature and they're going to be directly seeing the impacts of their efforts. They're going to be seeing more wildlife when they come out onto the golf course. We obviously couldn't have done this without FedEx's support, and this wouldn't be possible without the PGA TOUR and with the First Tee, and we're just so happy that we're able to be part of this event. Thank you. CHRIS REIMER: Thank you. Great words, now let's watch a quick video of what took place out in Pasadena. (Video shown.) CHRIS REIMER: Anthony, I know as a First Tee young ambassador you do a lot of work with the First Tees in your hometown but also at tournaments like this one, so talk about not only this program but the First Tee as a whole. ANTHONY KIM: This is one of the first times I've heard about the FedEx Fore!Ever campaign, and I feel lucky to be a part of anything that the First Tee does. I know that when I was younger I wished I had a program like this, the First Tee, to help push kids in the right direction, even if they don't have everything in their life going for them. I'm just honored to be in this position, and hopefully I can inspire some young kids to do some greater things in the future. CHRIS REIMER: Before we head outside to do a ceremonial tree planting out on this course, I just wonder if you have any questions for any of the members that spoke, or if any of you little guys have any questions for Anthony. Q. What would you say is the most important part about your game? ANTHONY KIM: The most important part? I'm not really that good at it, but it's to be patient, even when things aren't going good. You just have to try to keep a level head, not get mad, and just keep trying as hard as you can. CHRIS REIMER: Folks, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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