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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

August 11, 2010

KOHLER, WISCONSIN

JULIUS MASON: Good Wednesday morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Julius Masons with the PGA of America, and I would like to thank you for joining us for our and annual PGA of America State of the Association news conference.
We do have a special guest that I would like to recognize, beginning with the vice president of the PGA of America, Mr. Allen Wronowski, over here in the front row.
We're also joined by several members of the PGA of America board of directors and past presidents among you out there today. Thank you for joining us, ladies and gentlemen.
We also have Wisconsin PGA Section president Ike Bailey and executive director Joe Stadler with us. Thank you, folks.
And now ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the 36th President of the PGA of America, Mr. Jim Remy.
JIM REMY: Thank you, Julius, and good morning, everyone and thank you for being here.
Obviously we are very excited about what we believe is going to be a fantastic week in golf here at the 92nd PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. This will mark our third visit to Whistling Straits, a championship that began in 1999 with the PGA Professional National Championship, followed by that great victory by Vijay Singh in 2004 at the PGA Championship.
It also will mark the third time the PGA Championship is in Wisconsin. Following of course Gene Sarazen's victory in 1933 in Milwaukee, and of course, Vijay Singh in 2004.
You know, over the past really 16 years, the PGA Championship has featured the deepest roster of world-ranked players. And we are very excited this year obviously to note that 97 of the Top-100 players in the world will be in the field as we begin play tomorrow morning.
There are also 73 international players representing 22 different countries, the most of any U.S. Major. I think that just goes to show the how global the golf game is today, the professional golf game, and how excited we are to have representatives of 22 different countries in this field.
Again, we would like to remind you that the PGA Championship is the only all professional field in major championships.
This year, the championship, of course, will feature 20 PGA club professionals who earned a berth in June at our national championship held at the French Lick Resort in Indiana.
Led by three-time PGA Professional National Champion, Mike Small of Champaign, Illinois, also this season's Big Ten Conference Coach of the Year.
We all know that Whistling Straits possesses a great challenge as a golf course. And playing this year at 7,507 which is actually 29 yards shorter than in 2004. Led by its creator, Pete Dye, who made some enhancements, the Straits continues to be one of the great tests in golf.
This year's championship features changes to holes No. 3, No. 6, and No. 18. At No. 3, a portion of the large or a portion of the large green was redesigned to create a strategic back left hole location.
At hole No. 6 Mr. Dye moved the center pot bunker into the green, resulting in a bunker that gives the putting surface a split personality, really being two separate areas.
And they wrote this down here, No. 18, nicknamed 'Dye-Abolical,' presents players a higher risk/reward option off the tee for those longer hitters. I'm sure many of you have seen these changes, and we believe that it will help make this championship even greater.
On 18 a new fairway, the new fairway expansion to the left is well guarded by deep dunes and bunkers, the player who successfully navigates this hazard is rewarded with a very short iron shot into the green. However, it will take quite a drive to get into that position.
This week eight members of this year's United States Ryder Cup team will be determined. Captain Corey Pavin will discuss those eight on Monday in Milwaukee, and he will make four captain's selections to complete the team on September 7th in New York City. European Captain Colin Montgomerie will complete his team with three choices on August 29th.
As we celebrate a major championship this week, we also prepare to mark the fourth annual Patriot Golf Day this coming Labor Day weekend. And since 2007, donations to Patriot Golf Day have resulted in more than 1,100 scholarships distributed to families of veterans throughout the Folds of Honor Foundation.
We are honored to have representatives of the Folds of Honor foundation with us today, and they are joined by a family who has benefited from those scholarships.
I would like to take a moment to recognize the founder of Patriot Golf Day, a PGA professional from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Major Dan Rooney.
You know, we also have with us today a very special family and joining us today is the family of the late Dennis White. Gretchen White Craddock and her daughter, Sarah, and son Brian, Sarah is a senior at Auburn University, and Brian is a sophomore at Georgia Highlands College.
I was in the board meeting the other day when this family came in, and I can tell you the pride that they have in being involved with the Folds of Honor foundation and Patriot Golf Day; and to be recipients of these scholarships means so much to these families and really to all the 1100 families who benefit from Patriot Golf Day.
We ask all of you and we ask everyone throughout the country to support Patriot Golf Day and the wonderful work that the Folds of Honor Foundation is doing on behalf of our heroes, our veterans, who have fallen or been wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq and the many those who protect us and protect the freedom that we have in this country.
Another PGA Championship tradition is our community relations program, which since 2000 has worked with a host community to provide an opportunity for young people to enjoy this championship.
This week, the PGA community relations program provides an estimated $532,000 in value and tickets benefiting 165 Wisconsin-based charities.
We all know that juniors represent the next generation of golf, and up to four juniors age 17 and younger accompanied by a ticket bearing adult are admitted free to this championship. And we're very proud of that.
Additionally, the 92nd PGA Championship at Whistling Straits marks the launch of Let's Move on Course. The PGA of America has teamed up with First Lady Michelle Obama in February when our vice president Allen Wronowski attended a launch of 'Let's Move,' the Nationwide campaign to combat childhood obesity.
This partnership introduced our Play Golf America programs to a new audience and utilizes the PGA's ad hoc league of junior programs conducted by more than 41 sections of this country and grass root professionals from all over the country.
Let's Move on Course is designed to promote the health and fitness that comes from spending time walking the golf course, especially for junior golfers right here at Whistling Straits.
Walking we all know is good for your health, and what a better place to walk and to get exercise than to partake in this great sport that we all love so much. Fitness is in step with golf. And I've spoken about this since the beginning of my presidency nearly two years ago.
Health and fitness experts advocate taking 10,000 steps a day, which is the equivalent of five miles, 8,800 yards or a walk on a golf course, to improve your fitness and certainly help control your weight.
This year at the championship, juniors can pick up a pedometer from the PGA of America when they enter the gate at the junior ticket distribution area to record their steps.
I personally used the pedometer the other day and walked over 13,000 steps just running around this facility during the course of the day; so I can vouch for the fact that it's amazing how many steps you actually take when you begin to measure it.
Those juniors who visit PlayGolfAmerica.com and record the number of steps they take during the The 92nd PGA Championship at Whistling Straits will receive a Let's Move on Course certificate and be entered in a drawing to receive an autographed pin flag signed by the 92nd PGA Champion.
It's great to see that here in Wisconsin the partnership that exists between the Wisconsin PGA Section and The First Tee of Milwaukee county where the fitness program, 'Hit It Hard Boot Camp' is well in place for the juniors incorporating physical and mental fitness training, along with nutrition and advice.
Our effort to health and fitness continues as the PGA of America today becomes the 100th member of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation. The foundation focuses on activities in schools, the workplace, and the marketplace to promote healthy weight among Americans balancing the energy they consume with the energy they expend during physical activity.
The partnership is another way that golf can promote and will remain and help people get exercise. It is a great way to have, for familiar less to exercise and to have fun together.
I would like to recognize at this time Lisa Gable the executive director of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation.
We celebrate this week the life and contributions of true champions who really transcend our sport. I am privileged to recognize the 2010 recipient of the PGA Distinguished Service Award whom we will honor this evening here in Kohler. He won 51 times on the PGA TOUR including two U.S. Opens and one Masters. He's winningest U.S. Ryder Cup player who played on eight Ryder Cup teams and was the captain of another. Yet his Hall of Fame career will only touch the surface of what he has contributed to charities over the past half-century to benefit young people worldwide.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the head table, our 2010 PGA Distinguished Service Award recipient, PGA Member, Mr. Billy Casper.
(Applause.)
BILLY CASPER: Thank you very much Mr. President. What a thrill it is to be here. I didn't win the PGA, but in 1958 I finished second to Dow Finsterwald, 1963 second to Jack Nicklaus, and 1965 second to Dave Marr. So I should maybe have a handle on that trophy. (Laughter.)
But what a thrill it is to be here to witness the procedure of this great championship. It is something that is very special and unbelievable, considering what we used to have years ago. It was very small and not the function that exists today.
When President Jim Remy called me, I said I have to set the telephone down because I can't talk. It was just overpowering to have an opportunity to receive an award such as this from an organization which I've been a member of for well over 50 years, and it just is amazing to be that old and still have an opportunity to function within the programs of this great organization.
I appreciate the opportunity of being here and particularly the opportunity of being introduced here this morning, Mr. President, may we all stay in good health and may we have many more years together. Thank you.
(Applause.)
JIM REMY: Thank you so much, Billy. You know, growing up in golf, I always remember seeing Billy Casper on TV on Saturdays and Sundays, and what a great champion he is. And the only thing better about Billy than his wonderful championship is the person that he is. He's an outstanding person and it's going to be a true honor to present him with the Distinguished Service Award this evening at the Kohler Memorial Theater.
I hope everyone enjoys the week, it should be a very dramatic week, a wonderful golf being played, a great championship, a Ryder Cup team being chosen, and it should be a tremendous week. Thank you.
JULIUS MASON: Thank you, Jim. A point of news, ladies and gentlemen, next year's PGA Championship we look forward to unveiling a list of the second-place finishers at the PGA Championship in the wall in the back of the interview room.
And now, please welcome PGA Honorary Member and CEO, Joe Steranka.
JOE STERANKA: Thank you, Julius, and thanks everyone for joining us this morning.
As Jim pointed out, these championships are a great opportunity for us to celebrate everything that is great about the game, the sport, and the industry of golf. Whether it is paying tribute to people that are touched by the charity that is part of the three and a half builds a year that's raised every year in this country and again to Gretchen and Sarah and Brian, thank you for joining us, you put a face on those billions of dollars. They become meaningless; but when you see real live people like you who benefit, we really appreciate you joining us here for this championship. So thank you.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to join Governor Jim Doyle and Herb Kohler here to talk about the economic impact. You mentioned the charitable impact, but with 38,000 jobs and $771 million in wages, this game that Wisconsinites 750,000 strong enjoy so much, is also an important part of the Wisconsin economy. And $900 million in tourism that is driven by 1.2 million visits every year from folks out of state or out of the country, as you're seeing today; because of golf is a great testament to how important our industry is to this country and to states and the reason that the World Golf Foundation and Golf 20/20 spends the money to help fund those types of studies.
Also this week with the championship is an opportunity to showcase the greatest players. And you need worldwide television partners to do it. You see us broadcasting a record 30 hours of High Definition, and for the first time ever 3D coverage of this PGA Championship on CBS and TNT, Tokyo Broadcasting in Japan and SKY Television in the U.K., more hours, more coverage, than ever before.
And those of us who are involved in running the business of golf and the business of golf tournaments see an insatiable appetite for content or coverage of the game's biggest events, and that will continue; we see that popularity in golf continuing.
Another thing that, as Jim mentioned, is this focus on youth, and the importance of us investing in the future of both the sport and the industry of golf and you need partners to do that, so to be able to partner with the World PGA Alliance that we formed last year we actually announced at last year's championship and take a best-practice approach to junior golf development, now called the PGA Medalist Program, that will be branded worldwide and it really is a more scientific approach to training young men and young women and targeting them and developing their athletic skills, along with their traditional love and enjoyment of the game is something that we're quite proud of.
The Junior Medalist Program will focus on kids from age five to 17 and the three different stages are involved, and we'll have more information about that and partnering with a number of organizations in this country, two of which reach new audiences for us.
There's been a lot of talk about focusing on families in our industry, and our work with the National Recreation and Park Association is an example of that to do a Family Tee Program that allows us to allow the entire family to come out and play the sport of golf from a shorter set of tees is something we're proud of.
Then reaching out to the Native American community through the United Southern and Eastern Tribes. I went down to Alabama recently and addressed their semi-annual meeting, and we have an actually a PGA apprentice, his name is Ray Halbritter, who is the CEO of Oneida Nation, who is kicking off an initiative to introduce golf to Native American communities at Turning Stone Resort that also hosted a PGA TOUR event earlier this year.
It's all part of the never-ending quest to share what's so great about the sport, so great about the game, all of its values, and at the heart of it are PGA professionals like Jim Remy.
You know, when I called Jim to go over the business of the PGA, often times I'm getting him in the golf shop there at Okemo Valley, and he's was working on the lady's member/guest the last time we were talking getting ready for this PGA Championship.
It's something we're quite proud of, the work that those 28,000 men and women do every day to make this sport better and the industry pretty healthy and resilient, even in these tough economic times.
So with that, I'll wrap it up and turn it back to Julius.
JULIUS MASON: Joe, Jim, thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, the floor is yours.

Q. For either Joe or Jim, talk about the selection of the venue for the next Ryder Cup and coming back to the Chicago area; plus there's a new drivable par 4 on that course and if you're familiar with that.
JOE STERANKA: The lineup of championship sites both for the PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup is set out through 2020, and the folks from Wisconsin know we're going to be back here in 2020 for the Ryder Cup.
But the next time we get to play the Ryder Cup on home soil is going to be at Medinah. And the folks at Medinah, they have 800 acres, a great physical plant to stage and move a lot of folks around, but they also were focused on how to improve the excitement and drama on the course.
And they did take a par 4, added a pond to the right-hand side. It is going to be one of the great risk/reward holes on the back nine coming at a great time.
So, yeah, we're excited about the investment that the Medinahs of the world; Hazeltine is going through that, as well, re-grassing their fairways and greens and adding some more strategic viewing areas. The investment, if you want to be the very best, just like the PGA keeps investing in events, it has to come from clubs themselves, and it's nice to see the Medinahs make that commitment.

Q. Joe, it's been a pretty tough economy in a lot of golf courses around the country for the last couple of years, some bankruptcies some closures; do you think that the American golf model might need to be adjusted a little bit to combat this in the future?
JOE STERANKA: Oh, the model has adjusted. At our Annual Meeting in New Orleans we brought together a panel of leading multi-course owners -- and Jim can talk about how it's affected his business. But there has been a reset in how people spend time and money.
And the beauty of it is, and the National Golf Foundation hired McKenzie to do a study on the resilience of consumers buying tee times, page for golf, versus designing out, going to movies, other recreational opportunities, and the willingness of golfers to spend money on golf and times is higher than all those other things, even in this recession.
Before I turn it to Jim, let's say that we're up, we're three times greater the number of closures. We're still at a 95 percent business success rate in the golf course industry, and that's pretty good. For an industry that relies on discretionary time and money, the last three years we were down less than one percent in rounds played, two percent last year, and we're down 3.3 percent year to date this year.
Does that mean it's tougher to run the nation's golf courses and bring in enough revenue to do business? Sure, it is. But relatively speaking we're still a very stable industry.
But Jim, you have faced it the last few years.
JIM REMY: Certainly we operate two semi-private resort golf courses in the State of Vermont, and obviously we have seen some impact from it. We seem to be rebounding a little bit this year over last year back to 2008 levels, which is a good sign.
As far as closures, clearly there will be some closures, where there was overbuilding or a real estate development, was tied into real estate, we have seen that.
But one thing I think is important and to be honest, I've tried to ask the media to discuss this and talk more about the sport of golf and the values that it has and the opportunities that are out there.
I think we tend to talk about golf at the elite level, you know, the very Top-10 percent of this sport. When in reality there are more nine-hole golf courses in America than 18; 75 percent of the round in America are played at public golf courses.
So I think the average green fee in America is $28, so it's actually a very affordable recreational opportunity, something you can do with your family, something that's good for your children; it's healthy; it teaches great lessons.
There are the availability of reasonably-priced golf course, and I think that we need to get the message out that there is a real value to a family to be involved in a sport. And I don't mean monetarily, but more from a health side, from a lessons' side, the way children are brought up; I've said before people who play golf are good people, and if more people played golf, it would be a better world.
So I think we need your help, all of you, to get out and send that message so that we can get people back on the golf courses. We're seeing a rebound; I'm encouraged by it and I think it's going to continue.
But it's a little different. And the question is the model different? There's no question about it. And we have adjusted, and I know my operation is a better operation today than it was three years ago.
We're smarter, we work harder, we stay longer, and we watch those expenses better than ever before. So the model is changing. That's a good question. Thank you.
JOE STERANKA: One thing I would add on to that is financing is a challenge for every small business. And America's golf course business of 16,000 golf courses, aren't owned by five big motion picture studios, you know, 90 percent of them are small businesses.
And every small business in this country right now is having trouble getting financing for anything. And so will there be more closures, bankruptcies, financial reorganizations because of that, the difficulty in getting access to financing? Yes. Just like there are going to be more home foreclosures and other business foreclosures. It's a message that the PGA and the other allied organizations are taking to Washington DC to talk with the Secretary of Commerce and members of the finance committee and the House and the Senate Committees to talk specifically about our industry and the need to support it like any other industry that's out there.

Q. Joe, two questions. On the Ryder Cup, tax situation they brought up in Britain. I wonder if you could discuss that and does that have any bearing on you guys at all?
JOE STERANKA: What Doug's referring to is a court ruling in the U.K., and we just exchanged some information this morning with our counterparts over in Europe. But it has to do with taxing athletes who come and compete in the U.K., not just their winnings, but perhaps part of their endorsement income and could that have an effect on the Ryder Cup.
And let's face it, governments around the world are looking for new sources of revenue as their traditional sources decline. In this particular case, our initial read is the players do forego big endorsement contracts to wear the U.S. flag and the European flag that week. They aren't compensated by those endorsements during the week of the Ryder Cup, and it should not be an issue.
There are also a couple of events, the Olympics being one of them, that had been put on a list where they're not going to be subject to that.
So we're going to take, go through that process and really ask Europe to take the lead. And the second?

Q. Follow-up question? Different question, but when it comes to daily fee golf and playing the PGA Championship, I think it might be classified as more of a resort course than a daily fee course; have you given any consideration to a daily fee, because you probably haven't been to one since probably Kemper Lakes?
JOE STERANKA: Kemper Lakes at the time was a high-end daily fee golf course. That was back when high-end was $75 and that was in 1989.
But no, we have had discussions with a number of daily fee facilities, along with traditional clubs, as we proved going to a private club that was unknown at Valhalla and coming here to Whistling Straits, we'll step out of the box every now and then and try something. And right now the USGA is doing a great part in taking it to the Bethpage Blacks and the Torrey Pines, and I would consider Pebble Beach more in line with Whistling Straits.

Q. For both gentlemen, as you know there's been a lot of discussion recently about whether Tiger will play in the Ryder Cup or whether he won't. What is your sense on what it means whether he plays in it or doesn't; the economic impact, the TV ratings and so forth?
JOE STERANKA: Well, I'll start. The No. 1 player in the world is a big attraction. He's followed in every shot he takes. He practiced for three straight days here, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and that was much followed as well.
So we would love to see him play in the Ryder Cup matches. But that, we have separated our team selection from the business side for very good reasons, and that's a big responsibility that the officers give a captain is to get the best team together.
So that's the business side of it, but there is a one of those separations of church and state like you have in the editorial and business in your publications.
JIM REMY: I would just comment. Tiger attended the Champion's Dinner last night, he seemed in good spirits and I wished him all the luck in the world and I told Tiger, I hope you have a great week this week and wished him luck and he had some wonderful things to say last evening about his contact through his career with PGA professionals and we appreciated it very much. Tiger is very supportive. We hope he has a great week.
JULIUS MASON: Thank you very much for joining us today, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy the day.

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