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HP BYRON NELSON CHAMPIONSHIPMay 24, 2011Deane BemanIRVING, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: Deane Beman, thank you for joining us for a few minutes by phone. First of all, we would just like to congratulate you auto winning the Byron Nelson prize sponsored by the T. Boone Pickens Foundation. Obviously if you look at the past winners, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, shows a little bit about the importance of the award. Tell us a little bit about what it means to you. DEANE BEMAN: (Away from mic.) What Byron Nelson did for this community is very special to me, and it's an honor of mine to win this award. Q. And the Salesmanship Club kind enough to donate $100,000 to a charity of your choice which is the Duvall Home. If you will comment about that charity? DEANE BEMAN: It's a home for handicapped children. I have a daughter who is handicapped and she will be 50 years old this year. And she has at the Duvall Home for 30 years. It's tough for any organization like that to make a go of it. THE MODERATOR: We will open it up to questions. Q. For all of us who were up close and personal with Mr. Nelson, everyone has so many favorite stories. Can you share one of your favorite memories about Mr. Byron Nelson? DEANE BEMAN: Byron was a commentator for ABC, and I was playing in the U.S. Amateur in 1966, and I was going into the playoffs, and I had the great fortune to be interviewed by him. He was very gracious, and he made it easy under very fine circumstances. That was my first personal experience with Byron. He was quite a man, and he understood the ups and downs of competition. Even as a commentator he was very kind with me in my debacle of blowin' it, the U.S. Amateur, but I remember very clearly he was very special that day. Q. You've talked about how the Nelson Tournament, the charity has been a model for what the PGA TOUR has become in regard to being charitable. Can you talk about your first memory of what you saw from this TOUR, and how you saw what you hoped the PGA would become and what it has become. DEANE BEMAN: The Salesmanship Club, as I started out early years being Commissioner, it was clear they did it better than anyone else. They were focused on what they did, they raised more money than any other charity, and I made a couple of visits and probably about my third visit to Dallas they took me to the camp that they used to have in east Texas. And I saw with my own eyes what they did and the benefit to the communities and what they did for these young folks, and it occurred to me that if I was to achieve the objective of making the TOUR in a major sport, with a lot more money and a lot more benefits to the players, that the thousands of volunteers were probably not going to take their week's vacation so that a bunch of players can run home to their money. That there wasn't a greater cause in the community. The volunteers were not just trying to make a lot of money for themselves and for the players, but they were doing something in their own community. I just did not think the entire concept of this TOUR would hang together. So I used them as an inspiration to what the TOUR is that you see today. They were the model, they were and are the most progressive of the organizations in -- that run tournaments, and they -- not only has the TOUR benefited from what they've done, but the rest of the sponsors have benefited by their example and what they brought to the PGA TOUR. Q. Do you remember around what year that was that you first visit the camp? DEANE BEMAN: I'm sorry, I'm not catching the last question. Q. Can you remember what years it was that you visited the camp and what those first couple of years were that you visited here? DEANE BEMAN: It would have been -- my visits there were about 1977, '78 and a year later in '79 the TOUR policy board passed a resolution that exists today that all future PGA events had to be run with 100% going toward charities. They were the inspiration for that and the reason that that policy was put into place and exists today. As we all know the end of last year the TOUR raised some $1.6 billion for organizations like the Salesmanship Club and the community benefits from that and that continues to rise every year even in this bad economy, those contributions are clicking along and the TOUR and the PGA TOUR. Certainly the players are benefitting from the success of the TOUR but the success of the TOUR is touching literally thousands of people every year. Q. Deane, in your fantastic career particularly your amateur career, that's one of the best amateur careers I've seen. What's one of your favorite memories from what you accomplished on your resume? DEANE BEMAN: You know, most of the things that as you sum it up as Commissioner of the PGA TOUR, most of the things you see are in terms of money and we talk about the money that goes to charities and the prize money the players are playing for, but I think the thing that I feel is the greatest accomplishment is that we were able to take golf from a minor sport to a major sport to the a small money sport to the a big money sport and still keep intact the great values that golf has. The fact that the players call penalties on themselves, they respect the rules, they respect the game they play, the rules of the game. They respect their fellow competitors, even when they're defeated, and those enduring values are still there even though they're playing FOR a lot more money, and there is a lot more commercialization. When you come to the core values of golf, we have been able to maintain those in the sport and I don't think any other sport has been able to do that. Q. Deane, I'm wondering if you could tell me what the rationale was for the President's Cup. Was it in some ways a reaction to the Ryder Cup? DEANE BEMAN: No, not really. I think the President's Cup is an exercise in reality. That golf was going to be a worldwide sport not just in the Europe and in the U.S., it was becoming a worldwide sport and great players like Greg Norman and the South Africans that we see and the great players in the sport, these players at the time, they were going to be a big factor in the future of golf and I think the President's Cup respects that. Q. Hey, Deane, we had technical difficulties at the start of this. I'm going to ask you a question and get your answer so we can get it recorded. This is a very prestigious award. What does it mean to you to receive it? DEANE BEMAN: Well, the recognition, you know, it's a reflection of what the game is. It's a reflection of what the whole TOUR is and I think the TOUR is a reflection of Byron Nelson. Byron Nelson was a great entertainer, a great sportsman and a great player but his life was not centered around his own endeavors and accomplishments, he expended that life into his community and we see the results of that today. I think the award is meaningful to me because it's not only a reflection of Byron Nelson, it's a reflection of what the TOUR stands for. Q. Deane, you have to be proud of your personal playing career not only as a professional but of course as an amateur. What's one of your favorite memories about the stellar amateur career that you carved out? DEANE BEMAN: Probably the most rewarding -- you know, I won the British Amateur, which was my first really big tournament that I won. I've won some other amateur events, of course, but the British Amateur was -- I was on the Walker Cup team and won that but I think the most meaningful was to come back the next year and win the U.S. Amateur, because I wasn't favored to win. With Jack Nicklaus and Harvey Ward and a lot of great players playing in the British Amateur the first year I wasn't expected to win but to back that up one year later by winning the U.S. Amateur, I think that sort of validated my first -- at that time we all thought of the Amateur as a major Championship and of course that's how Bobby Jones counted his Majors. Back then, in the dark ages, back in the 50s it was considered a major championship and I think the second time validated my first one and I think that was the most rewarding. THE MODERATOR: Mr. Beman, we appreciate your time and for your contributions to the game, thank you. DEANE BEMAN: I appreciate it, I'm sorry for the mix-up or I would have been there in person but I'm delighted to have a chance to talk to you. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Mr. Beman. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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