PGA Championship Interview ANDY BUSH & KERRY HAIGH

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PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Baltusrol Golf Club

August 14, 2005

Final Round

 

An interview with:

 

ANDY BUSH & KERRY HAIGH

 

JULIUS MASON: Hello again, everyone. With me at the head table on my far right is Andy Bush, the tournament director for the 87th PGA Championship, and in the middle, Kerry Haigh, managing director of tournaments for the PGA of America.

 

I'd like to turn the microphone over to Andy first to talk about some details and operations for tomorrow. Andy?

 

ANDY BUSH: Just a few general announcements. The gates will open at 8:30 am tomorrow. Play will resume at 10:05 am. General parking and volunteer parking will be located at the Quarry, as it has been for the volunteers. The Meadowland will not be open to the general public tomorrow. All general public ticket holders will come to the Quarry to park and will be directed there, and we'll get directions released.

 

All Sunday ticket holders will be allowed in the gates on Monday. We will also operate train service, our shuttle service from the train stations at Summit. Those train hours will operate from 8:00 am to 5:00 PM. All of the commemorative rail passes that were used this week will also be honored at New Jersey Transit at Summit station. We will also continue to use Millburn High School, the media parking lot that has been used all week, and shuttles will operate from 7:00 am to 5:00 PM and we'll continue that same service.

 

Corporate parking will continue to be on the Upper Golf Course. We will also have three concession stands open that are relatively close to play at 16 and 18 and the main entrance. The Wannamaker Club will not be open for the public tomorrow.

 

We will also not be allowing ticket sales at the gate, so it's only Sunday ticket holders that will be allowed in.

 

JULIUS MASON: Thanks, Andy. This information will be handed out. It's actually being copied right now and sent out to the media center working area. At this time I'd like to turn the microphone over to Kerry Haigh.

 

KERRY HAIGH: Thanks, Julius. The only other item, CBS will start coverage at 10:00 AM and play will resume at 10:05 with players leaving in advance or walking out at 9:50 am.

 

JULIUS MASON: Thanks, Kerry.

 

Q. This is for Kerry or Andy. Is it the situation that CBS dictates that the last pairing goes off at 3:00, and when you have a situation when you see that the weather is going to be poor, could that not be have been brought forward to 2:00 PM, or is it a stipulation that you must finish at 6:45 for television?

 

KERRY HAIGH: I think we had for about almost a year that we had agreed on the finish times, and published that in all of the schedules for everyone involved were set for 7:00. The forecast all week long has been for scattered storms and chance of storms and lightning. As we know, we've been very fortunate up until now with storms that could come at any time basically during the afternoon.

 

Q. Just as a follow up to that, I didn't hear a clear answer on that; is that dictated by television or does the PGA dictate that in terms of the final tee time for 3:00?

 

KERRY HAIGH: We certainly talked with CBS and I guess mutually agreed on what is an appropriate finish time.

 

Q. Did that conversation happen at a certain point today where you sat down and said, we have this forecast, and therefore we will make or not make this decision? Was that a meeting that happened today?

 

KERRY HAIGH: No. As I say, we agreed on the start times and we've looked at the weather basically throughout the week and kept the plan that has been all along.

 

Q. Truth be told, the weather forecast was far worse today than for any time of the week. There was just a chance of scattered showers early in the week and today every forecast I saw on The Weather Channel and locally were pretty certain it was going to happen.

 

KERRY HAIGH: The forecast was, I think, there was more of a chance of scattered showers but they were still scattered.

 

If you look further to the south, they have had no activity at all, and we were within four or five miles of missing it ourselves. So I think the forecast was very accurate, that it was certainly very scattered. We were just unfortunate that it came too close and right on top of it.

 

Q. Let's see if he can drive this nail with a different hammer. You conduct a number of championships, some of which are not televised. If you were in like circumstance with a non televised championship, and you knew the details that you had today, would you err on the side of caution and adjust your time so that you didn't carry your championship over into the next day?

 

KERRY HAIGH: That's a good question. But no, I think we would have probably had we made all of our arrangements for a 7:00 finish and with all of the people and parties involved, we would have kept it the same.

 

Q. Not to belabor this anymore but Phil Mickelson was asked about this and he said he asked to have the tee times moved up. Is that accurate and were you part of that conversation?

 

KERRY HAIGH: I'm not aware of that.

 

Q. Just to make sure we have this clear, there was no discussion today with CBS about moving the tee times up?

 

KERRY HAIGH: There was no discussion, no.

 

Q. Are you comfortable with the reaction when the horns sounded? It seemed like there was a lot of chaos and uncertainty about where to go out there once that happened.

 

KERRY HAIGH: I'm not sure I understand the question.

 

JULIUS MASON: Can you ask the question again?

 

Q. Were you satisfied with the reaction once the horn sounded? It seemed like there was a lot of chaos amongst players and the people about where to go and what to do at that point.

 

KERRY HAIGH: For the second suspension or the first suspension?

 

Q. The second.

 

KERRY HAIGH: I think when the air horns sound, the players are familiar with what to do with it. They have had more suspensions than they care to think of this year, I believe. I think obviously the fans, the spectators are disappointed, and we are disappointed for them that we could not end up with a result today. But for their safety and the players' safety and the threat of lightning right above us, we obviously suspended and cleared the golf course.

 

Q. Back to television and tee times. The weather aside, had you finished around 7:00, were you satisfied with that kind of a finish time, that there would have been enough daylight left to have a three hole playoff and get it finished?

 

KERRY HAIGH: Yeah, absolutely. I think had we not had the first suspension, we expected to finish at 6:50, which gave us an hour and ten, an hour and 15 minutes of play. The three holes in the playoff are probably 40 minutes, 45 minutes at the maximum which probably gave us two or even three additional holes to that.

 

Q. So I understand, some of the fans that are leaving here and are disappointed with not being able to see the Sunday finish feel like they got stiffed. You are pretty much telling them they have no grounds to feel like they got stiffed.

 

KERRY HAIGH: Can you repeat the question?

 

Q. The fans that paid good money to see a Sunday finish, the questions here are, you could have moved the tee times up, the fans know that, they are saying that, they leave here feeling like they got stiffed by the PGA because they are not going to be able to come back tomorrow and you are pretty much saying they have no reason to feel that way, is that right?

 

KERRY HAIGH: That's not what I said, I don't think. We're obviously disappointed for the spectators who are unable to see the finish. We all wanted to see a finish obviously. It's very disappointing.

 

As I say, we were within seven or eight miles of finishing, of the storm missing us. So we were I guess we were very unlucky that it did hit us.

 

Q. Just on going back to this again, just so I know, who ultimately has the authority to change the tee time? Is it you or is it CBS?

 

KERRY HAIGH: The PGA of America.

 

Q. So it's ultimately your decision. And secondly, when something like this occurs, as an example, let's say Tiger is in there at 2 under, the wind changed, the last three holes are playing dead into the wind, they are not as easy as they had been during the week, and it's already difficult, you can see that perhaps the outcome may have really been affected by that decision entirely.

 

KERRY HAIGH: Not in the least. I think that's part of golf; the tee times every week, every day playing conditions change, during and the next day. So not in the least, no.

 

Q. Is the tournament suspended after 6:00 or after a certain time, and also could you give us an idea of the discussions regarding the storm and when it was decided to finally make a decision?

 

KERRY HAIGH: I didn't catch the first question.

 

JULIUS MASON: Let's go question one and then we'll go to question two. Repeat the first question, please.

 

Q. Is the tournament automatically suspended after 6:00 PM? Is there a time when you decide to suspend rather than just keep playing or play after a short stoppage?

 

KERRY HAIGH: No. The championship is not automatically suspended after 6:00 PM.

 

Q. Is there a discussion involved as to when to suspend it or can you give me an idea of who made that decision?

 

KERRY HAIGH: Well, the same way we always make the decision. We look at the weather forecast and we have an on site weather team who are monitoring the weather throughout daylight hours. And if there's a danger, then we will suspend play for the protection of players, media, and spectators alike.

 

Q. What would have had to have happened in the last 24, 48 or 72 hours for you to have had to consider starting earlier today regarding the weather and other factors?

 

KERRY HAIGH: I think the forecast if we absolutely knew for sure we were going to be hit at 6:00 in the afternoon, then we would certainly talk about it and figure out if it made sense to make an alteration.

 

But the chance of scattered showers, scattered storms, was not necessarily reason to do that.

 

Q. This is going to incur additional expense to the PGA as far as a Monday finish. Is there any way to estimate, are we talking five figures, six figures? What might we be talking about in that circumstance? And Kerry, for you, as you move forward, will you revisit this circumstance and look for greater flexibility in the future?

 

KERRY HAIGH: With regards to the cost, I think it's too early to tell. Obviously we're making arrangements now for the additional buses, the additional security and all of the other factors. So it's too difficult or too early at this point to give you an accurate or fair assessment of what that dollar amount would be.

 

And the second question?

 

Q. Is there a significant amount?

 

KERRY HAIGH: Certainly.

 

Q. And the second question is, will you revisit the circumstances for the future to create greater flexibility in this circumstance?

 

KERRY HAIGH: In the circumstance of?

 

Q. Being able to move tee times and adjust according to circumstances as they arise. It seems like you said this was set a year ago and that sort of suggests a very rigid kind of environment, and maybe a more flexible environment might serve everybody a little better.

 

KERRY HAIGH: No, I think as I said earlier to the previous question, I think, you know, if there was a pretty sure chance that we were going to get hit, then certainly we would talk about it and discuss it. But the chance of scattered showers and eight miles to the south, we would have been just fine, doesn't necessarily mean we should make that decision and change it for all of the people who have already made their plans for a 7:00 finish.

 

Q. After the first suspension, did you really honestly believe that you could have gotten play in and also have room for a playoff? Do you actually believe that?

 

KERRY HAIGH: We absolutely could have got play in, yes. I think we may have been tight on the playoff, but we could certainly have got play in, yes.

 

JULIUS MASON: Kerry, Andy, thank you very much for coming down. I know you guys have a lot of work to do tonight. Thanks.

 

End of FastScripts.