What they said: Randy Watkins

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RANDY WATKINS: Play today has been canceled. The hospitality is open and available. So if you made plans to come out for any of those events, please come do that. The weather will not alter that at all.

That's one of the beauties of our event. That's one of the things that distinguishes us over some the other event, that we don't rest entirely on golf. We have the power and the clout of the finest culinary company in the world based here in Mississippi. They bring in some of the greatest talent and greatest shows anywhere, any time, so please come do that.

We are looking forward to everybody making an appearance for that.

THE MODERATOR: Any questions?

Q. Randy, as far as the tournament and moving forward, there is an open date on the PGA TOUR schedule next week.

Any thought process on, if we get an inch and a half rain today, you can't play Saturday, you probably can't play Sunday, suspended indefinitely, play next week, are you guys talking about that?

Have you been in contact with Commissioner Finchem, any thoughts about playing next weekend?

RANDY WATKINS: Decisions beyond today and tomorrow have gone way above me, and all of the talk the PGA TOUR, those are still being discussed.

The golf course playability is day by day thing. If we get a bunch of rain, it will be unplayable at all. Any time next week is probably unlikely. But that's still to be determined.

We've discussed altering the golf course, changing par 4s to par 3s. Every possible scenario that you can imagine, and then there is extra. Those that you can't possibly imagine. We've discussed those. All of those are in place based on the forecast, but we are still hoping to play at 7:20 tomorrow.

Q. As of yesterday, Randy the play was scheduled to be pushed to upon Monday, how far into next week will it be pushed now as it stands?

RANDY WATKINS: Well, the amount of rainfall, if any rain falls, will dictate what happens for next week. Actually the rain, and the amount of rain, will dictate anything passed tomorrow morning at 7:20. So really until it either does, or does not rain, next week is just a viable option and many days next week will be looked at.

Q. Is it a possibility that the golf tournament can be canceled all together?

RANDY WATKINS: That is a possibility, it is. To be comfortable with that, the golf could be canceled, but the culinary and the food shows will not be canceled. So if you want some good food we are going to have that no matter what happens.

Q. This is such a big economic impact for the area, it's the second big event in the Metro area that's been affected by weather this month. What kind of impact on the area surrounding the golf tournament could this have, just the postponement for two days and even the possibility of it being canceled?

RANDY WATKINS: Actually, I'm not so sure the economic doesn't improve. The longer they stay in town, the more they spend. It may be to our benefit if we keep them a little bit longer.

The other beauty of our event, like all other TOUR events, our charity money will not be affected period. As a matter of fact, we might get more money. We have a loyal supportive group of sponsors that mandate to us that we make significant financial contributions to charities. We won't miss that. It may even exceed that. That's part of our marriage with us and the PGA TOUR. What they do is what they ask of us, is what our sponsors ask of us.

Q. Randy, you have a good relationship with all of these players, what has their attitude been through the postponement?

RANDY WATKINS: Most of them have been through this many times before. They are veterans most of them. They are very understanding. These guys need to work. This is what they do for a living. This is not fun and games to them. This is their job. They want to work. They want us to allow them to work, but they want us to allow them to work where it's safe, where it's fair, where it's playable, where the competition is a real competition. This is professional sports at its highest level.

It would be unfair to us to put them in a position to not compete fairly, where the playing field is level.

Unlike some sports where a football field is 50/100. And a baseball field is a diamond. This is 250 acres worth of grass. To have a level playing field really depends on rulings and decisions and regulations. The TOUR is very prepared for that. They are very good at it. They will make sure that their players have the best conditions. If they're not the best conditions possible, if they're impossible, they won't make them play.

Q. In your opinion, what's the probability that we'll play tomorrow at 7 or 10 or at all tomorrow.

RANDY WATKINS: I read (sic) the GOLF CHANNEL just like you do. It's 90 percent chance of rain this afternoon and tonight. That 10 percent gives me great hope that it not going to rain. I have seen it miss before. It goes across the Mississippi River. That can happen. I will hold out great hope that it will miss.

THE MODERATOR: Any further questions?

Q. Anymore withdrawals that you know about, Randy, or anymore names that left or decide to leave from the tournament?

RANDY WATKINS: There have been some withdrawals. I do not know the names. I know some guys are preparing to go on for a day or so to see what decisions come from behind that. But The TOUR has policies and regulations in place for that as well. If they withdrawal there are players to take their place. Our field will play with 132 PGA members regardless of who stays and who comes in.

Q. Randy, are the volunteers prepared if you went into Tuesday and even Wednesday, would you have enough people to run the tournament?

RANDY WATKINS: We will run a skeleton crew, the logistical burdens are great. Anything past Monday we will make a contingency plan for that in the event it does take place. We have the deepest volunteers for any tournament. We have the most committed.