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THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 3, 2010

Jack Nicklaus

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

JACK NICKLAUS: Yeah, the tournament benefits our foundation, and basically, it's a healthcare foundation that really support the kids in the tri-county area. We have been very successful with really helping a lot of kids, and so they asked me if I could participate and be part of it, and I said okay.

Q. What would it mean for you to have so many guys that look up to you as well --
JACK NICKLAUS: It's very nice. We've got a couple of guys that I've played with before I played with Kenny and I played with Danny before I've never played with Drew. I'm looking forward to that. Brees has had a great year this year, even if he was a Purdue guy, but he was a Big Ten guy, so that's good. We'll have fun with that.

Q. You said you'd played with Dan before. What's your take on his golf game?
JACK NICKLAUS: Dan plays pretty well. Dan plays well. Kenny plays well. And I understand drew plays well. I'm going to move up to the forward-forward tees and let them play the back tees.

Q. What kind of tips will you give them on the course?
JACK NICKLAUS: Oh, I don't know. I haven't been out here with the tournament recently so I don't know what's going on. But I would assume we have narrow fairways and a lot of rough and too much length for me.

Q. When you hit the Bear Trap, any tips you'll give to them?
JACK NICKLAUS: I'll just get one of us on the green so we can make a par.

Q. What is it like for you to be able to play the Bear Trap, something that's so difficult for the TOUR player?
JACK NICKLAUS: They hit the Bear Trap, it will be tough today. It's tough any day. Really when we did the holes, two the water holes, we made them very short par 3s. We didn't realize the wind was going to play such a difficult situation and play havoc with everything they do. But it turned out that way and you know, it got nicknamed the Bear Trap after that. So I guess I got famous for that.

Q. What's it like to play with Marino and Brees?
JACK NICKLAUS: I enjoy playing with the guys, like I said, I've played with the guys before. I think it's nice that they give their time to come to a golf tournament from another sport to give their time for charity and to bring people out to raise money. I think that's great, and that's what they are doing. Of course, it's Kenny's Pro-Am. He's the host of the Pro-Am and he's come here the last few years to the tournament. He has a performance I guess tomorrow night.
There's a lot of guys that make the golf tour what it is. It's not all the golfers. The golfers are certainly a very, very big part of the golf tour, but there are a lot of people who are volunteers who give of their time, people who work hard -- if we had to pay for this, golf tournaments would never happen.
Guys come out and give for their team and that's really neat. I'm just delighted that I have the opportunity to play with three good guys like I'm going to play with today, and you know, my game is not for public consumption anymore. If I don't play golf, I try to hide in the corner somewhere, that's about it.

Q. As far as the Honda Classic and how it's grown, do you think popularity-wise it's picking up?
JACK NICKLAUS: Oh, it's picking up. There are a lot of guys who have come here, the other guys have told them it's a good golf course and it's a good golf tournament for them and they will have to play golf and it's fair. So, they are here.
The field is growing every year. The reputation is growing every year and I think that's great. It's great that the people in the area have supported it. That's neat, too.

Q. You don't play much, but is the competitive juice going to be flowing for you?
JACK NICKLAUS: We are partners; we are not trying to compete, let's hope.

Q. When people talk so highly of you -- (Inaudible.)
JACK NICKLAUS: I look at Drew as a quarterback that I watched play at Purdue and watched play at San Diego and now at New Orleans, win the Super Bowl, and a young guy who everybody said was too short, who has overachieved from a size standpoint but has learned how to play and his completion percentage is unbelievable. He has excelled in his sport and gone to the pinnacle of it. You give a guy a lot of credit for that. I think that's really great and that's what we like to see.

End of FastScripts

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