ADT CHAMPIONSHIP

November 20, 2002

Ty Votaw

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Thank you all for being here. I'd like you to welcome you all to the 2002 ADT Championship, and the beautiful Trump International Golf Club for our second ADT Championship here at this facility. I really can think of no better venue for us to finish our year and hold our championship than this.

This really does represent the very best of the LPGA with the Top-30 players in the world on one of the five golf courses that we play with a very gracious and committed host in Donald Trump.

I also want to thank and recognize our title sponsor, ADT, and take a brief moment to say a special thank you to Mike Snyder, (ph) president of ADT and his entire staff. They have really been instrumental in bringing ADT to the LPGA and West Palm Beach, and their personal and professional commitment to making LPGA and women's professional golf bigger and better and is something we very much appreciate.

Just to give you a sense of how committed ADT is to the LPGA and women's golf, earlier this year they expanded their partnership beyond its title sponsorship of this event to become the co-sponsor of our tour-wide realtime scoring program. And through this program, ADT is able to bring realtime state-of-the-art scoring live to the millions of golf fans around the world that follow the LPGA.

I would also be remiss if I did not takes take a moment to recognize the community of Palm Beach County. The LPGA has a very rich history in south Florida, and we are thrilled to return here in 2002. A special thanks should go to long-time Palm Beach County Commissioner Carol Roberts, who is the chairman of the tournament's local organizing committee which is the driving force behind the ADT Championship and success that we have here in our second year. Len Harig (ph) of the Palm Beach County Business Development Board is another great friend of the LPGA. And both organizations have been instrumental in bringing the LPGA to Palm Beach County again this year and we cannot thank them enough.

As we conclude our 2002 season, I'm very pleased to be here today to give you an update on the overall state of the LPGA. Not surprisingly, I am very bullish on the LPGA, and also, not surprisingly I will not hesitate to point out some of the specific highlights and reasons why I believe the LPGA is so well positioned in today's sports entertainment marketplace, perhaps stronger than ever in our organization's 52-year history.

I'm going to share with you a number of things today. One, I will share with you the majority of the 2003 schedule through October 1 of 2003. I'm going to give you an update on how we are tracking against the new business goals that we set that came out of our first ever Players Summit in March, and the first year of our five-year business plan. And lastly, before we open it up for questions and answers, I will make a few remarks about the debate that has gone on over last few months over Augusta National.

In 2002, I think the only thing that can be said about that is that it has been an incredible year. I would first like to reflect on that incredible year and what I believe what has made it such an extraordinary year for the LPGA, for our players and for our fans and certainly our fans. And any discussion about 2002 cannot go on without first talking about Annika Sorenstam, who has once again given us a record-breaking season and a number of compelling story lines. With ten victories this year, she became the LPGA's first $10 million player, and with a victory this week at the ADT, she will become the first player since 1964 and the great Mickey Wright to win 11 events on the LPGA schedule. And she also may very well become the first player to cross $11 million in prize money here this week.

Her accomplishments are at times incomprehensible to not only staff of the LPGA, her fellow players and I think certainly everybody here in this room. Rightly so, the question is already being asked: Is Annika the best ever on the LPGA TOUR? While she continued her outstanding performance this year, following up on an incredible 2001 year, LPGA fans continue to enjoy the Tour's deep bench strength and breadth of talent. Se Ri Pak's success with five wins has put her into the No. 2 spot on the Money List again, while Juli Inkster continued to amaze us with her U.S. Women's Open performance, as well as in the Solheim Cup, helping to lead us to a victory at Interlachen is another example of how great this year has been for women's golf.

And certainly Karrie Webb's victory at the Weetabix Women's Open once again demonstrated her fine play, and as you know she is the defending champion in this year's event. Any year when you can have arguably the four best players win your major championships is a year when the depth and breadth of talent on the LPGA is in evidence.

While the past few seasons unquestionably marked the dominance of what you have called the LPGA's big three, Annika Sorenstam, Se Ri Pak and Karrie Webb, I believe 2002 also marked the emergence of a number of several new LPGA stars: 22-year-old Beth Bauer has already clinched the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Award for 2002 and is one of promising stars of the LPGA TOUR. Beth is also the only rookie of this year's rookie class to qualify for this week's ADT Championship, further demonstrating how great a young talent she is.

Rookie Natalie Gulbis made several impressive showings on the golf course. Her Rookie of the Year race with Beth went down to the wire and unquestionably she is one player, along with Beth, who have captured the imagination of the fans across the world. In the case of Natalie, several national media appearances including the Today Show and People Magazine. Americans Laura Diaz and Cristie Kerr and France's Patricia Meunier-Lebouc clinched their first LPGA TOUR victories this year and the U.S. team, as I've said, regarding the Solheim Cup which featured first-time members Laura Diaz, Cristie Kerr kept alive its unbeaten streak on home soil for the U.S. team in that competition.

Four players crossed the $1 million mark in prize money this year, which is the most in our history, and this week, Karrie Webb had the chance to become the fifth player. The most that's ever been on the LPGA is three; and so that reflects, as well, how the top players are performing week-in and week-out.

International talent on the LPGA remains strong, and 18 of the 25 rookies in 2003 are from outside the United States, including Mexico's Lorena Ochoa and Norway's Lorena Pedersen (ph). They are already capturing the public's imagination in the way they have brought themselves on to the tour, in the case of Lorena in her FUTURES tour and performance, and their performance the Solheim Cup.

The fans around the country and around the world have the chance to salute one of the great ambassadors for the game as Nancy Lopez conducted her Farewell Tour. While it has no shortage of great ambassadors and stewards in the game, there is perhaps no player who has done more to advance women's golf than Nancy, and we congratulate her on her Farewell Tour and we thank her.

As you all know, in 2002, we also embarked upon a new strategic business plan for the organization. It marked a milestone as the LPGA convened its first ever Player Summit this past March in Phoenix, and by all accounts, especially the ones that you have written about, the event was a huge success. We brought our players together for several days to unveil our plan and share with them all facets of the LPGA's business, but most importantly, we also asked for a commitment from the players to not only support the plan, but also improve themselves and how they present themselves to the marketplace.

I am pleased to tell you that 180 players showed up for that. They left the summit meeting with a commitment to what we asked them to do, and we felt that that commitment has shown up in our Fans First emphasis in how the fans have reacted to us in going forward.

I have been accused of not being able to make a speech this year without the Five Points of Celebrity in it, without the Five Points of Celebrity. And not wanting to disappoint you, I will say them again: Performance, approachability, passion, appearance and relevance, the Five Points of Celebrity while some of you may be hoping that their life expectancy is a short one, I believe that they will have more than nine lives going forward.

We asked all of our players to improve themselves on all of these points, and I think how the fans have reacted to this is demonstrated in a number of key big industries of success. The business the LPGA has had over the past several months since we have come out of the Players Summit has significantly grown over past nine months and our business results are tracking very favorably against the goals we set in our five-year business plan. A sign that the LPGA's market share in the world of sports entertainment is on the upkick and the fan interest in the LPGA is growing.

All of this, I think we all acknowledge in the face of a down economy and a significant belt-tightening within the sports sponsorship and corporate arenas.

Specifically, since launching the plan last March, the following has happened: On-site attendance is up ten percent total and 13 percent on average per event. Average household television viewership is up 10 percent from comparable from comparable telecast in 2001 by more than 20 percent on both network and cable. Average viewership among men 18 and older is up 30 percent on ESPN and ESPN2. Average viewership among women 18 and older is up 17 percent on ESPN and ESPN2.

On network television our average household viewership on broadcast grew by 24 percent and average viewership among men 18 and older grew by 43 percent and women 18 and older by 18 percent. LPGA.cOM traffic, exponential increases have been shown in 2002, 64 percent up in page views, 23 million to 27 million year to date and year over year. 55 percent over in unique visitors per month, up from 170,000 per month last year, and a 200 percent increase in registered users.

Our tournaments have embraced our new Fans First approach throughout this year, and we have conducted a variety of fan friendly programs at a number of events throughout the year. These included a Cruise-the-Course program at Kraft Nabisco, a live and open public concert involving Vince Gill and Amy Grant, and VIP Inside the Ropes, just to name a few.

Here this week at the ADT Championship we are conducting a special fan promotion that enables our fans to win VIP experiences at each day of the competition that includes a meet-and-greet with Beth Daniel and Rolex Rookie of the Year Beth Bauer, a chance to walk inside the ropes with a friend, with the leaders, and a chance to be part of the 18th green awards ceremony and have a picture taken with a tournament champion.

We have worked very hard this year to make improvements on our telecast on the LPGA, and I think those improvements will certainly continue as we get feedback from our fans and from our sponsors as to how we can make both of those media more fan-friendly, consistent with our Fans First approach.

So that's 2002. Again, an extraordinary year on a number of different fronts, and one in which gives us a great amount of momentum to head into 2003.

We are announcing today with respect to our 2003 schedule, our 2003 schedule through October 12 of next year. The period following October has some TBAs because of our international events that have just been completed. There is some finalization that needs to take place with respect to those and we plan on announcing the remainder of our schedule post-October 12, at least prior to January 12003.

The schedule is being handed out now. And in summary, the year begins with the return of the ConAgra LPGA Skins Game being played January 25-26 at Wailea Golf Resort in Maui. The first full field of the year will be the Welch's/Fry's Championship in Tucson and the Randolph Park Dell Ulrich Course in Tucson, March 13 to 16.

Our schedule continues through the remainder of the year up until October 12 as you can see with a couple of breaks. As always, we take the week of the Masters off and return to Las Vegas with the LPGA Takefuji Classic, which was previously played in Hawaii, and we are now going to be at Las Vegas Country Club in Las Vegas the week after the Masters.

With respect to some statistics that we are very pleased about as far as our schedule going forward, 2003, we will have at least 23 full field events in 2003, which is the same number of events as we had in 2002. The schedule through October 12 has the same number of official events as 2002, 29 events, not including the Solheim Cup and the Skins Game, and our total official prize money through Samsung will be at least $2.65 million higher for the same number of events in 2002. 12 of these 27 events have increased their prize money representing close to 45 percent of our tournaments in their purses one year to the next. Nashville remains a TBD as of this conference and we are trying very hard to return to Nashville with our partners that is on the schedule in May. On September 15-21 following the Solheim Cup is another TBD possibility in the Midwest.

Some other highlights that may not be as evident from your reading of the schedule: Three majors have raised their purses by $100,000 going to 1.6 and the U.S. Women's Open purse will be at least $3 million. As you know, the USGA announces their purse increase after their annual meeting in January that takes place just at the start of January, end of February in 2003.

Two events have increased their purses by $200,000 and six by $100,000. And new to the schedule, 23 years on the PGA TOUR schedule Michelob Lite Open at Kingsmill will feature a $1.6 million event. And our event in Los Angeles, the Office Depot announced its purse increase on Sunday of their event last April, and has increased their purse $500,000 to go to $1.5 million.

We are extremely pleased with our 2003 schedule through October 1. Fans of the LPGA will be treated to a schedule of events consistent with 2002, one of the most thrilling and successful seasons on the LPGA, as I have documented for you. We feel very good about the fact that players economic opportunities remain as strong as more than 40 percent of the events have returned and announced today have raised their purses for 2003.

Before we open the floor up to questions, I'd like to take a few minutes to discuss the ongoing debate regarding Augusta National Golf Club and the specific question of whether women should be members of Augusta.

In July when this issue and the rhetoric regarding this issue started to become a national debate, I believe sooner rather than later was the realistic and reasonable expectation that all of us in the golf industry should have had about whether or not a woman would be named a member to Augusta National.

By September, I expressed my belief that it was a question of when, and not if, a woman would be invited to be a member. Now given the statements in recent news that was chronicled last week out of Augusta, it would appear clear that women will not be admitted any time soon to Augusta National, and this news is disappointing because the highly-charged rhetoric on both sides in our view of this issue has become a distraction and is damaging to the game of golf.

Simply put, Augusta National should admit women as members. It is Augusta's right as a private organization not to admit women, but it is not the right thing to do. We had hoped that this issue would be resolved quicker than it has. Clearly, this appears not to be the case and ultimately this is not in the best interests in the game of golf.

In my capacity as Commissioner and with the full support of the LPGA board of directors, I want to express our wish that is Augusta National do the right thing and admit women as members.

I am well aware of all of the arguments to the contrary. However, my opinion is this: The time for the debate has passed. Nothing anyone says or writes or no matter what polls may say overrides the single fact that not admitting women to Augusta National is exclusionary, and that is wrong for people and wrong for the game of golf.

Long before this controversy began, Augusta National was a symbol for the very best of golf. Its name is synonymous with stellar golf, stellar play, stellar athletes and stellar tradition, much like the Super Bowl is for football and the Daytona 500 is for auto racing and like the Kentucky Derby is for horse racing. The Masters is to millions and millions of people around the world, the very face of golf. Because of the place Augusta holds in international consciousness, it must do the right thing and admit women. Augusta's exclusionary practices with respect to women speak volumes to the world and to the game of golf. The message it sends is that women cannot be part of that face of golf, and that is wrong.

Augusta has broken the race barrier but has chosen not to break the gender barrier. As such, Augusta is treating race differently than gender which is perpetuating golf's exclusionary past and the perception that golf is elitist and exclusionary instead of what we all in the golf industry want it to be, which is inclusive and inclusionary.

The Masters has been the LPGA's friend in many ways, donating money to the LPGA Foundation to help young girls get into the game of golf, and we respect and appreciate and want to acknowledge much of what the organization has done and we respect the success of its leadership and its members over the years. But on this issue, we cannot condone its stance on this issue and we clearly can no longer hope for a quick resolution. Again, that is disappointing.

What is the LPGA doing about its own membership policies, you may ask. This is a question we have been asking ourselves for a long time before the national debate about Augusta began. On the Tour side, our memberships will remain open, only to women, due to the physiological differences between women and men. But I believe the time is right for the LPGA teaching club professional membership to consider admitting men as members. In fact, I have made this recommendation to our board of directors. They have accepted my recommendation, and later this week I will be meeting with the leadership of the LPGA teaching and club professional membership to discuss this very everybody.

Because that issue is subject to membership input, it may not be easy to accomplish that. It may not be legally required to do so. But we think it's the right thing to do.

What action will the LPGA be taking now that we have firmly expressed our views? First, I will continue to make myself available when appropriate and when asked to talk with Hootie Johnson, as well as others in the golf industry, to help bring this issue to resolution sooner rather than later.

Additionally the LPGA will continue to closely examine it's own membership policies and ultimately do what we hope is right. There will be those who disagree with us. In fact, members of our own organization have expressed differing viewpoints on this subject. We respect those viewpoints.

However, the LPGA is the leading women's sports organization in the world and the premiere women's golf organization, and as such, we believe it's in the best interests of our organization to firmly and very publicly express our wishes that Augusta do the right thing and admit women.

With that, I'll open it up for questions.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Well, men have participated in our teaching programs for many years and there has been some level of discussion in every year since I've been with the organization about the issue of whether or not it would be an opportunity for the organization to open its membership on the teaching club professional side to men to send a signal that the reasons for the LPGA being an all-women's organization and on the teaching club professional side are perhaps outdated. And we want to be more inclusive in that regard and provide the opportunities not only of teaching programs that are open currently, but also the membership benefits that are open and a certification and the branding that comes with the LPGA teaching club professional member.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: We have had indications of interest from men over the years, and to the extent that we do our jobs in marketing those benefits to that audience, and that includes college coaches and includes non-PGA of America members, we feel that it can provide an opportunity for us to send a signal to the golf industry that we are more inclusive rather than exclusive.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I'm not sure that's an absolute rendering of what that mission is, and I don't think it's contradictory that we continue that mission of being a leading voice in women's golf, while also having the perspective of male golf professionals, male golf coaches, as we develop our programs for teaching and as we develop on that voice in the world of golf.

Q. You've been known to show up down there the last couple of years. I'm wondering if you are personally still planning to go or draw a line in the sand and not show up under the big 'ol tree?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I guess the best way to answer that would be that I'm an optimist. I believe in progress, and you should probably ask me that question next spring.

Q. Do you anticipate seeking to speak with Hootie Johnson about this?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I have had two conversations with Mr. Johnson, one at the First Tee trustees meeting and another in a phone conversation a week or so after that. I have had numerous conversations with Jim Armstrong, the general manager of Augusta National where I've apprised them of what my public comments might be. But other than that, my conversations with Mr. Johnson will remain private.

Q. Also, have you spoken with Tim Finchem recently about this, and are you at all disappointed that he has not taken the same public stance as you just have?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I have spoken to Tim about this issue, and again, like my conversations with Mr. Johnson, I'd prefer to keep those private.

Whether or not I'm disappointed or whether or not I feel good about my conversation with Tim is really irrelevant in this discussion. What I am for is admitting women to Augusta, and that's the best I can say to answer your question.

Q. Augusta National has no Asian members. Do you think they are under any heightened responsibility to accept an Asian member?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I don't know if that debate has necessarily reached a level of debate relative to women members. If it does, I can talk to it at that time. I think certainly the highly-charged rhetoric of the debate so far with respect to women is damaging to the game of golf, and damaging to women in golf, and that's what we are expressing our views about today. Any other minorities, I think, is best left to another time.

Q. Are you going to re-up here at this place next year? What's the status; and what can you tell me are Florida's events's for 2003, and I understand there's a possibility Naples might host one in 2004.

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: We'll have something I think more to say definitively about coming back to this facility hopefully by the end of this week for 2003.

With respect to 2003 on the schedule, we have every intention of coming back here in 2003 and I think when our schedule comes out in January, we will be in Florida with this event.

As to other events in Florida, the schedule won't include any other events in Florida in 2003, and we are working hard to see if we can do something about that in 2004 in a couple of Florida markets.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I apologize. I can confirm that in 2003 we will be here at Trump International.

Q. Your Augusta National stance, is that exclusive to Augusta National or would that also include places like Pine Valley and Burning Tree and places like that?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: That's a good question. I would make a distinction between those clubs that you mentioned, Pine Valley, some other examples, Burning Tree, because they don't hold themselves out to the public in the way that Augusta National does.

I think because Augusta National has become such a public face of golf; I think that that is a distinction that is worth making.

So this does not necessarily apply. I don't think that all gender or single-gender institutions are immoral or wrong, but I think that in the case of the issue of a single gender institution such as Augusta in the way it holds itself out as holding a major championship, is what is making our decision on this issue the most compelling.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Well, there are some technicalities you want to draw with the R&A in terms of a club and where they physically hold their -- St. Andrews is not owned by the R&A, like Augusta National is owned by the organizers of the Masters.

But to the extent, and if I'm going to be consistent, I would make the same argument with respect to Muirfield hosting a British Open Championship as I would Augusta National hosting the Masters.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: No, they don't. They participate in the running of the Women's British Open, but that is organized by the Ladies Golf Union with both the support of the ladies European Tour and the LPGA, and with the support of IMG and the title sponsor, Weetabix.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Well, I'm not sure that the Women's British Open is held at a site that is controlled by the R&A. And the date as far as I'm concerned, they do have a role or a place in the operations committee, if you will, of the Women's British Open. But they are one portion, certainly not a majority position in the running of the event; that would be the Ladies Golf Union and the LPGA.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: That's a good question. I'm not sure I'm qualified to answer what other people in golf can do.

All I can say is what is the right thing for the LPGA to do, and that is to express our view, is continue to make ourselves available to the protagonists in this debate, and express on as consistent a basis as we can our view that this is bad for golf and it should be resolved sooner rather than later.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Well, I think that just like the issue of race in private clubs, prior to Shoal Creek was an elephant that was in the room that no one really talked about. The issue of women members at Augusta was also an elephant in the room that no one talked about.

And now that it is being talked about in the way that it is being talked about on both sides of the issue, I think it's incumbent upon us to do everything we can to not have that elephant trample over everything that is good in the game and I think it has potential to do that.

Q. You posed a question as to whether Annika Sorenstam may be the greatest women's golfer ever. Do you have an answer to that question?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Do I have an answer? I don't know if I'm qualified to answer. I'd like to leave that open for interpretation to people more qualified today than me. Certainly, people who I'm talking to today may be able to answer that question.

Certainly, the career that she's had, and certainly the two years that she's had in 2001 and 2002, against what I consider to be the deepest and broadest strength and demonstration of talent on the LPGA TOUR would make a pretty strong argument that the debate would not necessarily be one that I would disagree with if you were to come out and say that she were the greatest effort, but I'm not sure that I'm qualified to say that.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I think in the past two years, that would be a fair statement to make, yes.

Q. One more gender discrimination question for you. Can you confirm for us that all of the events at which the LPGA plays it's tournaments, as well as the FUTURES Tour plays its tournaments, that all of those clubs do admit women?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I can confirm that with respect to the LPGA TOUR schedule, and I believe that is the case with respect to the FUTURES Tour.

Q. On the fourth point of Celebrity, which is appearance, to what extent does or should the LPGA push forward sex appeal as part of its branding of the LPGA?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I don't think that -- I think sex appeal as a strategy for the organization is a short shelf life strategy in terms of the overall organization.

How a player markets her appearance is certainly a decision that she needs to make as far as what she wants to do, as far as her -- the marketing of her persona. As an organization, the Five Points of Celebrity, I wish that next year the amount of debate about relevance and the Five Points of Celebrity would be discussed as much as appearance has been discussed this year, and maybe it will be by you folks.

But I will tell you that appearance, the appearance part of the five points has not been missed, and we have, I think, been wrongly criticized because it has very little to do with sex appeal and more to do with driving the power to attract fans to the LPGA through a players overall persona.

As I said in a number of interviews, if a player performs and has relevance for our fans and plays the game with joy and passion and fans finds her approachable, she will be more attractive than a player who does none of those things well, no matter what society may perceive her looks to be.

I think it's how you conduct yourself as a professional. I think it's how you present yourself to the public. I think it's how you interact with the public that all drive that appearance part of the Five Points of Celebrity. Yes, we have had seminars about what people think about fashion. We have had fashion experts come in and give our players tips about what that means, all with the purpose of presenting our players to the public in the best possible way and not be inconsistent with the overall motivation behind the Five Points of Celebrity, and that is making our better celebrity athletes.

Q. (Inaudible.)

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Week before Thanksgiving, November 20-23, I think.

Q. On the outside chance that you went to Korea with the event last week, did you go?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Yes.

Q. Can you just sort of characterize the reception you guys get over that there now? I believe the number is now 20 South Koreans with some status on the Tour next year. How important that country has sort of become in your grand scheme to conquer the world and whatnot?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: I don't know if it's that ambitious, but I will tell you that Korea -- and I said this in discussion with a number of you in the past. If a business plan existed for the LPGA five years ago, I don't think that six years ago, Korea would necessarily have been in it. Certainly, the success Se Ri Pak and subsequent to Se Ri, Mi Hyun Kim, Grace Park and others have had on the LPGA has made the demand for LPGA, the product and the brand of the LPGA and women's golf generally a very large part of our ongoing business plan going forward.

I will tell you that in terms of international television rights, no other country comes close in the rights maintained in the LPGA to televise LPGA events in Korea. We have launched an LPGA brand of merchandise that is very fashion-forward and very fashion-focussed in Korea, and our largest merchandising fees now come from Korea outside of the United States. We will anticipate over time the development of foreign language versions of LPGA.cOM and one of the first languages that we would talk about doing would be Korea because of this demand. That's why we decided to put an LPGA event in Korea with an inaugural Sports Today CJ Nine Bridges Classic.

The weather was extremely difficult the past two days. The scores, I think, reflected that. I think that Se Ri Pak's even-par round on Sunday of that event, with the playing conditions that she faced and the other scores that came in from that should go down in history as one of the finest rounds of golf played, ever, in the history of golf, man or woman. I don't think that's hyperbole when I say that. Sleet was on the greens, 30-degree temperatures with windchill, and her own even-par performance was great. And the reception that we received from the Korean fans -- it does not hurt that she won the event, I grant you, but it was a wonderful reception that we received and we look forward to going back there next year.

Q. You've only got two full-field events next year before your first major championship. How much of a concern is that, and how confident are you that you think you can add more early events in the season in 2004?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Well, certainly with respect to the major championship, it's probably not the best preparation for the players that will be playing in the Kraft Nabisco, to have only two events to warm up before that. So from that perspective it may not be ideal.

But I also think that we are dealing with a marketplace here that you will see over time, I think is shifting, of how the LPGA's schedule is configured going forward. I think you saw the first signs of that this year in 2002. We are not going to turn ourselves, twist ourselves into a pretzel to put events on the schedule in January just to put them on the schedule. We want the best types of situations with respect to communities and sustainable sponsorships and quality of golf courses.

So if going forward, we don't have any other events in January on our schedule, in this current marketplace, I think that's just fine. That's not to say that we won't work to make that configuration of the schedule to have more events prior to our first major championship; that may involve February in Florida. That may involve other times of the year in Florida.

But I think that there are certain advantages that we have and that is our strategic direction, that we think are in evidence by having a schedule that starts later in the year that gives our players more of an off-season.

Q. How did the Michelob go from turning from a PGA TOUR event into an LPGA TOUR event?

COMMISSIONER VOTAW: Well, we've had a long-standing relationship with Anheuser-Busch as the official beer of the LPGA, and they were the title sponsor in our event in St. Louis for many years. When they for marketing reasons decided not to continue their sponsorship of the St. Louis event, we continued our relationship with Anheuser-Busch as official sponsor of the LPGA, and in the course of that relationship which we consider to be very important and very good of the LPGA, we received some phone calls from folks in both St. Louis at the Anheuser-Busch headquarters and in Williamsburg about the possibility of, if they make the decision not to go forward with the PGA TOUR, would the LPGA be interested in bringing an LPGA event to Williamsburg.

I said if both of those -- if the first question is answered in the affirmative, that they are not going to continue, that yes, they are not going to continue, then we would be very interested in coming there. And the discussions went from there once they made the decision not to go forward with the PGA TOUR.

End of FastScripts....