Travelers Championship Talk w/ Tournament Director Nathan Grube & Travelers CAO Andy Bessette

Welcome back to the Sports Hub Golf Club. I feel like we got the band back together on this one. This is fantastic. We have the tournament director from the Travelers Championship, Nathan Groove, and Andy Bet who I make up a new title for you every time we speak. Andy, how I'm gonna say CFO of the Travelers Championship and maybe something else. Is that right?

CEO of the Travelers Championship, CEO of the Travelers Championship. I don't care. Whatever. Or or the Travelers, I don't know. He's a big, he's a big hot shot guy with the Travelers. They both are. And I'm honored to speak with you both again. And I especially happy that you decided to speak with me after we spent some time on the golf course together last fall, because a lot of times I'll play golf with someone and oddly I never talk to him again. I don't know what happens. That was that fun. That was that Worcester Country Club. I love that place. My gosh, wasn't that a great experience though? It was a lot of fun. We had a great foursome and it was just a fun golf course to play, knowing that the first what was it? Ryder Cup was ever played there was in 1924 I think it was or something. Yeah, a lot of history there. We went out there for a Golf Fights Cancer event which Travelers Championship is heavily involved with. And Nathan, once again, somebody who's a very good player, that often happens too. If I play with somebody who's a very good golfer, they don't want to play with me again. But at least we're still on speaking terms. Listen, we had a great time. I mean, Andy and I were like, 'Okay, how's this going to go?' But by the second nine, Andy was going to kick me out and he was just going to take you two guys out to play. He's like, 'Group, you are dragging us down.' So I was just lucky to stay a part of the group. I mean, to be honest. So I noticed that calls you out as being a great golfer, not me. Because I don't qualify as a great golfer. I'm just a golfer guy.

Well, listen, we have a bunch of great golfers coming to town once again. Cromwell, Connecticut, TPC River Highlands for the Travelers Championship. I'm just going to bring someone else in here for a moment. And look at that guy. Scottie Scheffler, the returning champion who is going to be there not only for the first day or two of the championship. Nathan, if you would please describe to everybody what the format is like at the Travelers Championship and why they'll be able to see them throughout the tournament.

Oh, absolutely. I love telling our sponsors and our fans this, and this is something that Andy, in his day job, he negotiated this with the tour to be a signature event on the PGA Tour. And what that means is we are one of the top, you know, handful of events on tour where the top guys will play, the top 72 guys in the world, $20 million purse. And to have to know that they're coming here, I mean, that wasn't an easy project, but the Travelers team put it together, and now Scottie is here, Rory's coming, Xander, I mean, you go through the top 10, the top 20, the top 30, the top 40. I mean, they're here, and they're here all four days. And our sponsors love that, the fans love that. And when you set the stage with that kind of talent, some amazing things happen, and we've been really lucky with the champions that we've had. But I mean, Scottie, Andy, Andy doesn't I don't know if I've gotten him to take full credit for this, but I think he should. So, after media day, we had Scottie at media day and Andy gave him a gift. And then Scottie, I think, has won four in a row. So, Scottie needs to be thanking Andy for that media day gift because he has been on a tear ever since. And so, to have the number one ranked player in the world here has been phenomenal and we're excited to have him back.

Andy, are you at liberty to say what the gift was? Because if it's not too special, I could use that gift. I've got a member-member coming up. You know, I've got the club championship in August. I need a little mojo my way. We had a test? Oh, what a good mojo. That's very good.

I'm pretty sure kitchen knives are undefeated in the world of culinary, you know, cooking. Like they're undefeated.

But yeah, he had a little run in, but Andy said it, we sent him all the safety instructions, but he was... we try to make it very personal with the gifts of our champions over the years. We do a lot of research what they're into, what their families are into, and he opened that thing up and the look on his face was awesome. So, listen, Hardy, we'll get you a roaster. You roast your own beans and you're going to win the club championship. It's going to be a streak. I think you want to give him a mini roaster, though, just so he doesn't hurt himself. Yeah.

If anyone's going to hurt themselves, it's going to be me. Um, let's talk a little bit more about the championship and who's going to be there for all four days of the competition. We've got Scottie Scheffler. We got Rory McIlroy. Another fan favorite is Keegan Bradley who of course has the local ties. And I don't know if Keegan's going to be there this year, but being able to see these guys up close and personal for all days of the competition, it's one of the things that makes the Travelers, as you said, a signature event and really unique, just the close access to these players and not just any guys, but the guys that we all want to see. Yeah.

Yeah. And that covers, you know, I guess like the business side of it, getting the players there and how they're going to participate and how that works with the PGA. But, you know, from the tournament side of things, Nathan, and as a tournament director, I know everything kind of falls on you for the overall experience, not just for the players, but for the attendees. And I hear year after year, time and time again from the people that attend the Travelers Championship, what an amazing weekend it is. From it seems silly, but the ease of parking to the access to all the vendors, the things for the kids and the whole family to enjoy, it really is just a top tier sporting experience for the entire day. And I'm not just blowing smoke when I say everyone I speak to who attends this thing, the first thing they say is what a great time it was and how they're going to make it part of their annual tradition just to go back because of the overall experience of what you do at this tournament every year.

Listen, I really appreciate you saying that. It starts 100% with the culture of your title sponsor. And when Travelers took this over, they literally, this sounds so simple, but it's really not. Like they literally said, 'Okay, everybody who comes to this event is our customer and that is going to be our culture.' Like we are not going to take anything for granted from players to fans to media to nothing. Like our culture is everybody is our customer. We're going to take care of them. What do they need? And we tried to set that tone in 2007 when they took over. And Andy and the team at Travelers have given us such amazing resources to go after that. I mean, of our 2,000 volunteers, a thousand of them are Travelers employees that have bought into that culture of like, hey, these are our customers. And then you go beyond that, I mean, we just try to find ways to go above and beyond for people. Like we try to find ways to we look for opportunities to make the experience better for caddies, for players. And we were very fortunate, we actually are still the only PGA Tour event to ever be voted as the players' favorite event two years in a row. We were just voted as the most fan-friendly event on the PGA Tour. Like, we take those things very seriously and we try to get better every single year. But to your point, we try to think of things from parking to how the tickets are distributed to the food to the free water, free sunscreen, cooling benches, viewing areas, shade. I mean, we try really hard. And again, that's the culture of our title sponsor that says everybody who sets foot on property is a customer. How do we take care of our customer? We've been very fortunate to have that. Yeah.

Yeah. And being able to walk the course as I did last year. That's a great example right there of being able to get from one side of a hole to another. And it doesn't have this feel of exclusivity and you can't walk over there, you can't go over there. It really is a welcoming environment. You get closer to the players than you do in any other live sporting event. And once you're there, you're going to see once again the best players in the world. So, June 18th through the 22nd, we're actually going to be there, the Toucher and Hardy Show will be there broadcasting live on Wednesday the 18th for the pro-am and then the tournament begins on Thursday the 19th. You everyone ready to go? Andy, you ready to go? This thing's about to...

The milkshakes? The milkshakes are that's a huge perk to be able to get a milkshake on demand. My god. As tournament director, Nathan, you ready?

I am. Okay. We're ready. What else do you want?

Oh, totally missed. I thought you were gonna ask me a question. Like I'm ready for the question. Am I ready for the tournament? Absolutely not. I need another like 96 hours, Hardy. So like I just give me like 96 hours and then I'll be buttoned up. But I literally thought you were setting me up for a question. That's how dense I am. I'm really sorry about that. I don't believe you. And I've never seen anything there out of place or known you guys to be anything other than ready. Andy Bessette, Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer of Travelers. And I knew the whole time, Andy. And Nathan Groove is the tournament director. I can't wait to see you guys again. Hopefully, we'll see you when we're there on Wednesday. But I know it's going to be another great tournament there at TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut, 18th through the 22nd. TravelersChampionship.com. Does that sound right for tickets and info and all that stuff?

That is perfect. Everything's there, Hardy.

Okay. Andy, great to see you and talk to you again.

My pleasure. And Nathan, good to see you and talk to you as well. And best of luck this year.

Thanks. All right. See you soon.