JACK NICKLAUS PRESS CONFERENCE

　　What is the difference between the first course and the new Nicklaus course? What is your relationship with Pine Valley?

　　There’s not a whole lot of difference, there’s a bit of difference in look, little difference in green contours, in length, they are just different courses.

　　What is your relationship with Pine Valley?

　　I have had a long relationship with Pine Valley, it’s been a good relationship. It’s nice to come here to see the golf course for the first time. It’s my first time here in Beijing and the Ruoy Chai hospitality has been superb and this afternoon I’m going to see the Great Wall. If I don’t that, I am missing a great bit of history. Normally I just see a golf course and a hotel

　　What do you think of the performance of the children in the Kids Clinic and do you think that China will produce a Major champion one day?

　　Some of the kids had amazing swings, especially that seven-year-old (boy). The question is not if you will, but when. You have a great number of people and there are great number of people who will play golf. So there will be some who will be very successful.

　　This year’s Beijing Open is played on a Nicklaus-design course, any tips for the players and which hole do you think is the toughest?

　　This is a course where players can score. Of course, there will be some difficulty but it wasn’t meant to be. As far as which is the toughest hole, if you look through the books, the toughest hole should be the one you are playing.

　　What do you think of John Daly and who is your favourite golfer on the US PGA Tour?

　　First of all, John Daly is a very talented golfer. He’s won 2 majors and several other events. I think John Daly has not maximized his ability. He’s been a big draw at every tournament he played in. He’s a very exciting player to watch. When he wants to be, he can be a big good player to watch. Who are my favourite players? I don’t have any favourite, I enjoy watching them all, but obviously Tiger (Woods) is the best of the bunch. I can’t imagine not saying that.

　　As one of golf’s biggest name, what do you see as your contribution to Chinese golf?

　　What I enjoy from golf from a design stand-point – I can’t play the game anymore, I just too old to play, I don’t have the ability – is to design golf courses in emerging golf markets like China, Russia, Greece, Croatia, Czech Republic. These are places where the game of golf hasn’t been played very much. It is good to help shape the future of the game by putting in golf courses and helping people to learn the game of golf. What’s important for the future for China is for the youngsters to play on good golf courses as they grow up. And they will learn from that. To be able to help shape that future is important for me.

　　How do you feel after watching the video of your past accomplishments?

　　I have seen it before (smiles). I’m proud of my record and my accomplishments had set the stage for allowing me to do what I do today. Without it, I won’t be sitting here talking about a golf course and everything else. It has allowed me to do a good many things in the game of golf.

　　What do you see of the development of the game of golf and where it is going, especially in China?

　　A lot of golf courses have been built in China in the last 20 years and there are a lot of people here who will want to play the game and be doing what other people in the rest of the world are doing. Golf is a very good sport for the Chinese as golf does not depend on size. The Chinese do many well in many sports and there’s no reason why they can’t well on a golf course, it just takes time. Some of those kids I saw at the clinic today, a few of those golf swings are very special. The 7 year old, he popped the ball out some ways, that kid is going to be a good golfer. It’s a working sport in this country and we want to be part of that.

　　JACK NICKLAUS II ON THE NEW NICKLAUS COURSE

　　We’ve actually designed 3 nine-holes and 18 of them will be used for tournaments. My dad and I both went around to look around and it will be a very strong test of golf. Very strong. I was very impressed. The third nine is more mature and the greens are softer. But they will be very good 9 holes.