GOLF: U.S. Open: USGA news conference (Whan, Bodenhamer)

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John Bodenhamer says he wouldn't be surprised if Phil Mickleson completed the Career Grand Slam at the US Open

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00:00A couple of weeks ago at the U.S. Women's Open, I made a comment that I want to make to this group

00:04as well, which is 10 years ago, some people challenged maybe the robustness of this game

00:09and how strong golf was going into the future. And I think that was a fair challenge. We had

00:13lost about 5 million participants from the decade before. About a million of those five were women.

00:18And so if you were questioning 10 years ago the future of golf, maybe that was a fair question.

00:22Today, those questions are off the table. Over 47 million people playing the game,

00:2620 million playing the game off courses, and participation that's up in the last five years, 38%.

00:32And maybe most importantly, rounds of golf up 55% in just the last five years.

00:38And with all that growth, and we've seen a ton of it, 24 million Americans say they're extremely

00:44interested in starting to play the game right now. And among those 24 million, 40% are black and

00:50Hispanic. So what's really amazing about our game right now, we've gone through what I call the

00:53great swing, the greatest swing upward in our game in a long time. But it's been driven by juniors,

00:58women, and people of color. And what a great time that is for the game. And it's a great time for

01:04us to double down and invest in championships and the future of the game. Well, just to rephrase a

01:09couple of things. So for the rest of the world, we test what we call CT creep, characteristic time

01:16creep, which is I assume what you're talking about, right? So, and that's essentially how long the ball

01:20stays on the face. Think about a kid jumping on a trampoline. And the longer they're on the

01:24trampoline, the farther they bounce off. So we set a limit with manufacturers in terms of

01:29how long that ball can stay on. And it's tested in terms of microseconds. So, you know, there's a

01:35test, there's a tolerance. But at the end of the day, if it's on there for more than 258

01:39microseconds, we consider that club out of tolerance. And so as a service to the players,

01:44to the tours, and we do it here as well, we do random testing pretty regularly. So, I mean,

01:50sometimes when we say random testing, people think it, you know, but if you're playing on

01:53tour, you're going to get tested a couple of three times a year. And we think the testing

01:58that we're doing is commensurate with both the degree of failure that we see, which is

02:03pretty minimal. And quite frankly, when we see failure, at least currently, we're seeing

02:09clubs just literally creep over the line. And it's, you know, it's a line we draw. We

02:13aren't seeing when we're taking drivers off drivers that are, oh my gosh, look where that

02:17one went. So I think sometimes in the media and the fan space, you think, I just took

02:2220 yards off that player. I mean, we're literally talking about an extra microsecond. And if

02:27you get within, I think it's 18 microseconds of the line, and we test you, we give you

02:31what we call a yellow warning, which is, hey, be careful, that club is starting to, because

02:35at the velocities and at the frequency in which they hit these clubs, they will just, you

02:40know, relax over time. So as a service to manufacturers, to the players, and to the

02:44tours, we provide that. If I'm being honest with you, I think in terms of kind of what

02:47happened at the PGA Championship, it made us more committed to, you know, not wanting

02:52to have this be the topic of town. Because I don't, I think when you talk about a rules

02:56violation or somebody who's playing with a hot driver, that gets so much more sensational

03:00than the reality. And I can tell you as a rules body, if we had concerned about this

03:05incredible advantage, we would change the degree in which we test. But we think the testing

03:10that we're doing now is commensurate with the size of both the issue and the size of

03:15the reality of the issue. So it's, and if, I mean, probably shouldn't admit this, but I'm

03:20not even in the, like, I know we tested this week. I couldn't tell you if we had failures

03:24and if so, what those failures were in the time. I could probably go ask, but I stay out

03:29of that mix. I know that if we saw a trend that was alarming in terms of either how many

03:33or how far they were moving beyond, we would change the way we approach it. But with what we're

03:38experiencing today, it would, it'd be a greater interruption. The juice wouldn't be worth the

03:42squeeze. Well, to JP's point, you know, with the, with the anchor site agreement with us

03:47working together with the clubs, we've created a lot of fan space here that may not have been

03:51here always before. And that's great. Not just in terms of corporate, corporate opportunities,

03:56but fan space as well. I would, I would tell you that this weekend when we're, when we're

03:59all in here, I mean, there's a, as Fred knows, there's a ticker in our office that every time

04:03somebody comes through, we see the number change and we got to move it because, you know,

04:06he's, it just keeps going all day and you got looking at it, but I'll bet all in, we'll

04:10have about 40,000 people on site here on Saturday, 40,000 people on, on Sunday, probably similar

04:15tomorrow and Friday. That was a good prompt because I walked in here and Beth said to

04:19me, Hey, can you do me a favor and just mention the purse? And I totally failed on that. So

04:23sorry. Our purse is $21 and a half million. Winner's check is 4.3. We didn't raise our purse

04:28this year. We'd been, you know, when I started at the USJ just four years ago, our purse was

04:3212.5. So we, uh, I feel comfortable that we've been a leader in, uh, in moving fast

04:37and bigger. We, we're not really a fan of small, but you know, when we go, go, uh, go

04:41a little bit bigger. Uh, same by the way has happened on the women's side where we've gone

04:44from five and a half to 12 in a similar period of time. Yes. Uh, listen, does that make it

04:49hard when you talk about the Fred's point, all the investments we make in the game? And, um,

04:52but at the same time we understand, you know, we want to be relevant. We understand the

04:55competitive set. Um, we know that this, this probably isn't really about the money for the

05:00person to put you there, but at the same time, we want the money to be commensurate

05:03with the, with the achievement. And, uh, so yeah, we, we feel, you know, we feel

05:07comfortable. I, I, I don't really know the other four majors, but I think we, if, if

05:12we're not the top, we're, we're close to the top and, um, and we'll continue to

05:16evaluate that both on the men's and women's side, because, um, it's, it's part of

05:19creating what we want to be the greatest championship in the game.

05:23Well, I, you know, it's, uh, there's been a lot of talk about the weather. I don't,

05:26I don't need to belabor that, but, uh, it's, um, we're

05:30very hopeful. We understand that, uh, the golf course from everybody here, that

05:34the golf course can turn around very quickly. Um, uh, we'll see this afternoon.

05:40I can't answer that because I don't know. We, we, we've seen some of it come to us

05:43with, with a little bit of firmness and a little bit of green speed. Um, candidly,

05:48we'd like to see more and it, uh, you know, as we like to say, mother nature has a

05:53seat at the table and, uh, we can only, uh, we can only make a water evaporate only

05:57so quickly. Um, but, uh, we're hoping for a good afternoon of a little bit of

06:01breeze, a little bit more dry.

06:02The, the, the rough will be a little over five inches and it is dense. Uh, Oakmont

06:11just day in and day out has dense rough. Um, but, uh, we have plenty of spotters,

06:18uh, but, uh, no guarantees we won't lose a golf ball or two, but we're gonna do

06:22everything we humanly possibly can, uh, you know, not to do so, but we feel good

06:27about that. Um, but, you know, as I said, I think, uh, the rough, if you, if you,

06:33players that drive the ball in the fairway will have an advantage, no, no question

06:36about it. But, you know, I think thinking about the rough, I'll, I'll be honest.

06:40I, you know, I, I gave, we, my, we gave that a lot of thought and I, looking back and

06:44doing research at, uh, Oakmont, you know, it's interesting. You go back and, uh, most every U.S.

06:50open here, all nine of them had at least one day or at least a day or so in advance

06:55of it that we got some rain. So when I, when we thought about that and we thought

07:00about the restoration and the restoration made the fairways, I don't know, two to

07:04four yards longer, some more, some a little bit less, we just, uh, we just felt we

07:08needed, uh, the rough that we have and, uh, we think it's appropriate for the driving

07:13corridors and, uh, we're looking forward to seeing how it, uh, unfolds.

07:16Uh, well, listen, um, you know, I, the answer to that is Phil did receive one, uh, in 2021

07:24and, um, I'm a little sleep deprived, Doug. So, but, um, counting my years backwards,

07:31but, uh, you know, it, it's like, uh, every, it's like anything, uh, we, uh, we would, uh,

07:37review, uh, things for Shinnecock ahead of, uh, ahead of next year and, and, uh, look at all

07:43of those possibilities, um, and, and, uh, evaluate it from there. Um, you know, I, I think the way

07:50that we would, uh, also think of Phil is we hope he earns his way in and I think he'd tell you the

07:54same thing and that's what he did last time. We gave him one and then he went out and won the PGA

07:58championship so wouldn't put it past him.

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