Nicklaus leads Hall of Fame roll call
to usher in new Champions Skins Game

Moderator: Greetings, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to jump on this call today. My name is Brian Robin and I'm with Brener Zwikel & Associates here in Los Angeles. We are very pleased and honored to have Mr. Jack Nicklaus joining us and taking some time out of his busy schedule to talk about the Wendy's Champions Skins Game. Just for your knowledge, the 2006 Wendy's Champions Skins Game is slated for Monday, February 6. It will be preceded by a pro-am on Sunday, February 5. It will be televised on ESPN Television 6:30 to 11:00 PM in the Eastern time zone, 3:30 to 8:00 in the Pacific time zone, and 1:30 to 6:00 in Hawaii. We have a new format for the Wendy's Champions Skins Game this year, along with a increased purse of $770,000. There will be four 2-man teams playing in alternate shots Skins game format. Mr. Nicklaus will be joining his longtime friend and friendly rival, Tom Watson, for one team. Another team will feature Arnold Palmer and Peter Jacobsen. Gary Player and Hale Irwin will comprise a team. And the fourth team will be made up of Ray Floyd and Dana Quigley. As I mentioned before, the prize money was increased $170,000. It is now up to $770,000, and each hole one through six is worth $30,000 each. Seven through twelve are worth $40,000, and thirteen through seventeen are worth $50,000, with hole number eighteen, the Wendy's Super Skin, worth $100,000. Just a couple of notes, Jack Nicklaus is the defending champion of this event. He won a career high for him - $340,000 - in the 2005 Wendy's Champions Skins Game. He won 11 Skins, boosting his total Skins in this event alone to 78, and his total winnings in this event alone to $2,005,000. He holds or shares 10 Wendy's Champions Skins Game records and is the leading money winner in the history of this event. Mr. Nicklaus, we really appreciate you joining us today and why don't you talk a little bit about how you have been playing, if you have been playing, and what the state of your game is coming into this event?

Nicklaus: Well, actually, I played yesterday. I opened up the Concession Golf Club over in Sarasota and that's my fifth round of golf since the British Open. So I have not played much golf, but I am actually playing all right. But I enjoy the Skins Game and when they called me earlier this year and, I don't know whether I had any influence on the format change, but they were trying to put some spice in it and I suggested the alternate-shot for them to consider and I don't know whether they felt like I had much influence on that or not, but that's what they ended up with. Anyway, I think it's kind of an interesting format. It's kind of fun and I think what it will do, it allows somebody like myself who is really not playing a whole lot of golf to have some fun, play with some of my old friends, and have a little competition which I always yearn for and a pretty darn nice place to do it at.

Moderator: It absolutely is a very nice place to do it in and obviously one that you are very fond of given your history there. Talk a little bit about the back. I remember last year watching you Friday, it was almost painful for me to watch, and I know it's painful for you to participate during your practice round, your pro-am round on Friday, and then you come out Saturday and it's like summoning the gods of the past and the pain was inflicted on everybody else. Talk about your physical state right now and are we going to be able to see a revamped Jack Nicklaus out there?

Nicklaus: Well, I don't really see anything revamped about it. I'm 66 years old. I'm not going to revamp a whole lot right now. But no, I am physically fine. I feel fine and I have not played a lot of golf. I am a little heavier than I should be from the Christmas holidays. So hopefully I'll get most of that off by the time I get out to the Skins Game. But I feel fine. I shoot my 75 and move on.

Moderator: One last question before I turn it over to the press. Talk about playing with Tom Watson. You guys going back, probably even before the "Duel in the Sun" at Turnberry have had just a remarkable relationship and a competitiveness between the two of you that kind of transcends the game. Talk about what it's going to be like to play with him.

Nicklaus: Oh, I am glad that I have somebody that can carry me. Tom is playing pretty well and has been playing well. I think that Arnold and Gary and I all have somebody to carry us. Raymond is still a little bit in there. So I think that is going to be a pretty tough team with Dana. But I think it will be fun and I think it will be great having Tom as my partner. Tom and I have had a great relationship through the years. For those who don't know, I first played with Tom in Topeka, Kansas when he was 15 years old. Saw a good, young player then and we have competed a lot through the years against each other, with each other, and we had a great obviously couple of days at the British Open last year, which I was delighted to have Tom with me sharing my retirement moment with me. To have him as a partner in the Skins Game, we're going to have a heck of a lot of fun.

Moderator: I'm sure you guys will. Denise, at this point, let's open it up for questions.

Begin Press Questions.

Question: Jack, I was just wondering how much does this team aspect, how much excitement do you think it is going to add to this Skins Game and was it time for a change like this?

Nicklaus: I don't think it's for me to answer whether it's time for a change. I think they wanted to make a change and they were asking for suggestions of formats. And, you know, I'm sure that other people besides myself suggested alternate-shot. But I think it's kind of fun to do that. What was the other part of your question?

Question: How much spice do you think it's going to add to this event?

Nicklaus: Well, I think you're adding four more players. You're adding a format that the public is not used to watching, and certainly has never seen in a Skins Game. So it's a first from that standpoint. And it's on a golf course where a lot of birdies should be made, and I think it's going to add a lot of spice.

Question: Jack, I want to ask you about Tom, just what you came to admire about him as a champion and just your assessments of his qualities as a champion?

Nicklaus: Well, I always said when Tom was growing up, I always felt like he was a golfer with a pair of blinders on. You know, he knew where he was going, he knew where he wanted to get to, and he didn't care who was in the way. I was sort of that way when I was younger and I sort of admired that in Tom. And he has always been any time it gets down to the nitty-gritty, Tom has always been tough to beat. He was always tough for me to beat and he was tough for everybody to beat. But he was and still is a very good competitor.

Question: I have heard you say in the past that some of the duels that you had, the great duels you had with him, that they were almost more fun than some of your runaways. Why was that? Did he draw the best out of you? Is that what it is?

Nicklaus: Well, I don't know. You sometimes look back at the ones you ran away with and you don't really have a lot to say about them except that you played well. I like competition. That, to me, has been the real strength of what I like. It's the fun of the game. And when somebody else is playing well and you are playing well, and you are coming down the stretch, that to me is the fun of the game. People say what about the pressure? I say, well, that is what we all practice for and play for. I hope that we have an opportunity to be in pressure and to get down to where you can do that. I mean, that is the fun of any sport. Tom was very good at getting down to the end and being in the middle of that and I enjoyed our duels. I think he probably got me a couple more times probably than I got him, but that does not make any difference. I think the fun of it and the way we went at it was in the spirit of really what I think competition should be.

Question: Jack, who is going to tee off first? You or Tom?

Nicklaus: I don't know. We have not discussed that. One fellow will tee off the odd holes and the other guy will tee off the even holes. And I have not really looked at the golf course and thought much about it yet, but I think we will probably play a practice round and we will probably, my guess is on Saturday probably - I guess we play Monday - so we will probably play a pro-am on Sunday. So Saturday we will probably figure out who should play on the even holes and who should play on the odd holes. Generally speaking, you are going to take the holes that are the par fives that you really want the longest tee shot and that is probably Tom would be on number two. Tom would be - well number seven is a par five. Thirteen is a par five and fifteen is a par five. So maybe - I don't know. It depends on what we think we can get home or what we can do and we will have to figure that out. And then maybe you have to figure out who is probably the best middle iron player for the par threes. And that is sort of the way you figure it out for alternate-shot, and that is part of the fun of it.

Question: What is your golf schedule like this year other than the Skins Game?

Nicklaus: At this point, nothing. I've been invited to play the Canadian Skins and I think I will probably play the Father-Son at the end of the year, and I will open up some golf courses and I don't know if there's anything else that I've got or not. Maybe I might have an outing or two that I play. But very little golf really. I spend most of my time working. I told my wife the other day, I said, "I'm doing this totally backwards, Barbara. Most people work all their life to be able to retire to go play golf. And I'm doing it backwards. I've played golf all my life to retire to go work." And I kind of enjoy my work. I love going around and I love doing my golf courses and I love being involved in projects and things. I know I can't play golf like I used to play. So I don't fight it too much. I just sort of enjoy the few rounds that I do play, but I do enjoy the golf course work and being able to work on some properties that are very exciting and of course will be here long beyond my golf or even my lifetime.

Question: Jack, with news that Tiger's moving to Jupiter Island, I was just curious to hear you revisit your choice to make South Florida the North Palm Beach area your home. There are many places you could have picked. Why did you choose that area?

Nicklaus: Well, when I first came to Florida, I was in Fort Lauderdale. But I went up to Coral Ridge to play golf, and during the season that was a long run. It was too hard to get there for a golf course. So I looked elsewhere and when I went up to play the Lost Tree pro-am, in the early 60s when they first did the golf course, they just said, "Hey, Nick, why don't you come up here and build a house here. It's a great place to practice and easy to get in and out of West Palm Beach." So that's what I did. I think it was more by accident than anything else, and I did want to be in Florida where I had the ability to practice in the wintertime and we kept our home in Ohio, we went back there in the summertime, but then once the kids started school, they said, "Hey, dad, why are we going to Ohio in the summertime? All our friends are down here." So the kids sort of dictate what you do to a large degree. So that's how we ended up here in Florida and it was just, I suppose, more of an accident that I ended up in North Palm Beach than anything else except that Lost Tree was a really nice community that I moved into and it's still a nice community. So I have had no regrets from that standpoint.

Question: It certainly has changed since you moved there. You have your Bears Club there. It is amazing the number of high end courses there. Did Tiger get an invite to the Bears Club? Or have you talked to him at all about that area?

Nicklaus: Tiger and I talked, yeah. I told Tiger that he is more than welcome. He may choose to come to the Bears Club and he may choose not to come here, and may not want to feel like he's imposing on my situation while he's trying to break my record. I don't know what he wants to do. He has certainly been invited and he is certainly welcome.

Question: I am doing a look back at La Costa through the years because the match play is leaving after this year. Obviously, you had an incredible record there as a tournament champion, five wins, against all of your great contemporaries. I just wanted to get your thoughts or key memories of your times at La Costa.

Nicklaus: Well, I always enjoyed La Costa. It was kind of funny because La Costa, generally speaking, sat right on the heels of the Masters. You know, many times that I got done with the Masters and my wife would say to me - or I'd say, "I really don't want to go play this week. I am really tired." She says, "You get out of here. You get out of this house and you get out there and play." And so she'd kick me out of the house and make me go out there and rightfully so because I always had my good preparation from the Masters and it carried over many times into the Tournament of Champions. It's a golf course I like. The golf course was fun for me to play, a golf course that I seemed to do well on. And even when I got to senior golf, you know we had the Senior Tournament of Champions there one year, and of course I won that too. So I had some great success at La Costa. I had some great times there. It is always nice to get some nice weather and some good golf in at that time of year.

Question: They always talk about the wives loving it. Did Barbara go to La Costa very much?

Nicklaus: Barb always went with me to La Costa. She's not a spa gal. She's not big on that. She just enjoyed, as did I, enjoyed being with each other at a tournament.

Question: Is there one of those wins that stand out? Any of them stand out more than another?

Nicklaus: Well, I don't remember. The first two years was not at La Costa. The first two years was in Las Vegas at the Desert Inn and then I think after that it was at La Costa. But I don't really remember them standing out too much except that I played well and shot some good scores on that golf course. Probably the one that stands out the most is when the seniors played out there with the regular tour there at the same time. And I don't remember whether I beat everybody or maybe beat everybody but one or something when I was a senior, and I got a kick out of that.

Question: I bet you did. You were probably looking at scores the whole weekend.

Nicklaus: Yeah, I don't remember. I don't remember whether I beat everybody or lost by a shot or what. I don't remember. But it was kind of fun. It was kind of are we going to beat the regular guys or the senior guys? You know?

End Press Questions.

Moderator: Jack has been nice enough to give us 20 minutes of his time and we will let him go at that point if there are no more questions. Once again, we would like to thank Jack for jumping on this call and gracing us with his time and his comments. To remind you again that the Wendy's Champions Skins Game is going to be televised on ESPN on Monday, February 6, and there will be a transcript of this that will be put out and I will distribute that. If you have any questions, call me at 818-344-6195, ext. 110. Thank you very much for participating.