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Editor's note: On Tuesday, PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem announced that Barclays, an international financial services group, signed a six-year agreement to serve as title sponsor of the PGA Tour's tournament at Westchester Country Club, the former Buick Classic, beginning with the June 2005 event. Following are excerpts from the press conference announcing the deal.

PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM [via video]: On behalf of the PGA Tour, I'm absolutely delighted to announce that Barclays will become our new sponsor at Westchester for our annual PGA Tour event in New York.

I think it's particularly appropriate that in the New York area, the largest media market in the world and a great sports town, that we have as our new partner a company that is recognized as one of the leading financial services companies anywhere in the world, and has a brand recognition that is second to none.

I want to thank Bob Diamond, the CEO at Barclays, and all of the team at Barclays have worked so hard to do the analysis, do the work and put together a plan that should really help us build our presence in New York, and provide a first-class PGA Tour experience.

I should note, I guess, that Barclays is no stranger to professional golf. Barclays has been sponsor of the Scottish Open for the last several years at Loch Lomond, and during that period of time, that event on the European Tour has really escalated in its quality. In addition, Barclays has as one of its representatives, Darren Clarke.

Darren is one of the top players in the world, a member of the PGA Tour from Northern Ireland, an outstanding player. He and Barclays have had a very fine partnership.

Let me just say in conclusion that this is an exciting day. Buick has been our sponsor for the last 15 years. We are very pleased with our relationship with Buick, and our relationship will continue.

But today we are particularly excited that this new partnership is going to create a new energy, a new excitement for our tournament in New York. And Bob, again, I want to thank you personally, and on behalf of everybody at the PGA Tour, I just want to tell everyone there how excited we are about where this tournament will now go.

Thank you, and have a good day.

BOB COMBS [PGA Tour Senior VP/Communications and Public Relations]: I think it's worth pointing out that Barclays is going to take this tournament to another level and achieve a full integration with their marketing and sponsorship plans. Bob [Diamond], who is not only a member of Westchester Country Club, he's agreed to take on more. He's going to serve as the tournament's general chairman beginning in 2005, showing you a commitment right from the top that Barclays is making PGA Tour golf a priority in this market.

ROBERT DIAMOND [CEO of Barclays Capital and and the chairman of Barclays Global Investors]: This is a very important day. This is a very important event for our firm. Barclays is the ninth largest financial institution in the world. And yet when I look at the connectivity with clients, the branding the name recognition, there's clearly a need for more of this type of event. We have three of our most important businesses are prospering here in the States.

To give you a very, very quick rundown, our asset management division, Barclays Global Investors, is No. 2 in the world in assets under management, $1.2 trillion, No. 1 in the world in indexing, No. 1 in the world in market share in exchange-traded funds in I-share, a leader in active equity management.

And BGI, Barclays Global Investors, has had the fastest rate of growth of any asset management firm over the last four years in net new assets; so a business that's very important to us in the group.

Barclays Capital is doing a terrific job here in the States. It's a business that is, since its formation in 1997 has met with very, very strong success in the U.K. and in Europe and in Asia. We have really been pushing on the development and we see the U.S. as a tremendous area of growth for our investment banking business as well.

You may have read that recently Barclay Card, our card division, Barclay Card is the No. 1 credit card in the U.K. and throughout Europe, has just agreed to purchase Juniper Financial Corporation. We hope that is the beginning of a Barclay credit card business also building a presence and expanding here in the U.S.

So then why golf and why this event? We recognize the need to increase the branding and the sponsorship. I think in terms of why golf, I think we have had some pretty good success over the last three years with the Barclays Scottish Open, with our partner, Lyle Andersen, and Loch Lomond in Scotland, and the work we have done with Darren Clarke both at Loch Lomond and the Barclays Scottish Open and beyond.

But we like to think of golf, also as a sport that all of us try and master, and I think it's the mastery of the sport for those of us not sitting right there, it's the fun of trying to become masters of the sport. Very few of us can do it. But it's also a sport that we think is consistent with the values that we have. It's a sport about honor and integrity. We have to take the cue from the pros in this sport as amateurs that we have to referee ourselves, and I think all of us that play this game have an incredible respect for the rules, for the fact that we are out there alone; and for the fact that if we lose our honor and our integrity, we've lost it in the game of golf.

Finally, and also importantly about the PGA Tour here in the U.S., since 1938 when they first started keeping records on this, the PGA Tour has given back over $800 million in charitable contributions, most of them in the areas that they operate. So a very strong sense of giving back to the community.

And so why this event? You know, this is the only regularly scheduled Tour event in the greater metropolitan area. And this is an area where some of our biggest, our most important clients operate. So it's a great opportunity in the metropolitan area, and it's a venue that both the pros and the amateurs really look forward to showing up at every year. So with our third partner, the Westchester Country Club, this whole opportunity gets even better.

I think two other things I'd like to say. One, it has been a real pleasure so far, and it's going to be a lot of fun going forward, working with Tim Finchem and his team at the PGA Tour. This is a real group of professionals. We just look forward to a terrific time over the next six years in continually improving the tournament.

And lastly, in introducing Darren Clarke, we've had three years with Darren, not just in the branding and our name on the cap, not just at our tournament in Loch Lomond, but Darren has worked with our clients in area, on the Continent and here in the U.S. after many of the tournaments that he's played in.

Most importantly, I just came from a weekend in Scotland where Darren and I were partners in the Dunhill [Cup Championship], and the fact that I'm still his friend is great success. (Laughing.)

DARREN CLARKE: Thank you, Bob. I spent most of last week following Bob around in Scotland. The way he started off on Thursday, we got confused who was the pro and who was the amateur, but I think that progressed all week, and I managed to get a few holes better than he did.

The Barclays Scottish Open is a huge tournament back in Europe. It's one that we all look forward to and the Barclays Classic here I have no doubt is going to become even bigger and even better. Westchester is one of best venues on the PGA Tour, and I'm sure it will develop and become one that we all want to play and want to win. One of these days, we are going to win the Pro-Am, so hopefully you have no excuses, on another one of your home courses next year at Westchester. So I think it will be a great event and it's going to get bigger and better every year. Thank you. (Applause).

HENRY HUGHES [COO of the PGA Tour]: As the Commissioner says, it's a very exciting day for us. This concludes our announcements of corporate sponsorships for our schedule going forward. We'll, in fact, announce our 2005 schedule later today.

But I want to thank Bob Diamond and everyone at Barclays for their commitment. As you've heard, this is their first venture into the sports market in the United States, but they are no stranger to using golf and sports to market their products. What they have done at the Scottish Open and their association with Darren Clarke speaks volumes about that. One of the first steps that's going to happen with this new name and this new tournament is that in 2005, the purse for our professionals will be $5.75 million, so this will significantly escalate the purse.

We already have a great golf course. The Westchester Country Club is one that does not cater to a particular type of play, long hitter, short hitters. If you look at the list of former champions, starting with Jack Nicklaus in the mid 70s and all the way through Sergio Garcia who will be defending, it's virtually a who's who -- other than Darren, virtually a who's who of golf, and I know Darren has very great interest in adding his name to that list.

Bob mentioned the charitable aspects. This tournament has contributed over $32 million in the New York area to charities in the local market, many of which are represented here today. And Bob mentioned we have exceeded over $800 million, and we are very quickly approaching in the very near future $1 billion in charitable giving results from our PGA TOUR events.

So on behalf of everyone at the Tour, Bob, Barclays, we welcome you to the TOUR family and we look forward to it being a long and prosperous relationship. Thank you.

Q.: I guess this would go to Bob or Henry. Buick was synonymous with Westchester Classic for 15 years; obviously aware of the market, was there any reason they didn't re-up? Was there an offer made to them or a right of first refusal? How did that play out?

HENRY HUGHES: Buick is our longest standing sponsor, original corporate sponsor, and they will continue to be involved with the Tour. They will continue to be our Official Car of the PGA Tour, and they have three other title sponsorships in San Diego, Flint and in nearby Hartford. This was a decision on their part to concentrate their efforts; not to reduce their effort, but to concentrate their efforts on the events they currently have.

Q.: Also for Henry, the prize money, traditionally one of the problems with the Westchester classic is it comes the week before or after a major and a lot of people, Tiger doesn't play the week before the U.S. Open, is upping the prize money a way to get some of those who might have qualms on playing a week before a major to commit to the tournament?

HENRY HUGHES: I should let Darren answer. (Laughs). But what we really do is we work with our sponsors, now here with Barclays, we try to attack all aspects of the tournament. We have a championship golf course, and we have a very favorable date surrounding the United States Open, and the way the players are handled when they get to the golf course. But yes, purse is an important piece, but it's not the only piece.

DARREN CLARKE: Do you want me to add to it? Westchester, as I just said, is a fantastic venue. Some people choose to play the week before and some don't, Tiger being one that usually doesn't play. But you know I think he may start playing the weeks before. He's not quite playing the way that he would have wanted to, the way he wants to at the moment, so maybe he'll rethink things. (Laughter.) I think Westchester, whether it's the week before or the week after, is certainly going to be a big enough tournament that everybody is going to want to play.

HENRY HUGHES: And I would also point out, if you talk to, you just heard Darren's comments, you talk to any of our players who frequent this tournament, they will tell you it's one of the top four or five tournaments in the schedule all year. He has played, and I'm sure he will continue to support the tournament, but it's a very, very important event to our membership.

Q.: What will Barclays bring to the tournament that the fans will notice? What will be different, will there be a more international field, for instance? What things will Barclays bring that will make the tournament different than it has been in years' past?

ROBERT DIAMOND: I think if you look, you can look at what's happened in the Scottish Open in the last three years since we've taken over that sponsorship. The fan attendance has been absolutely at record levels. I think there's a little bit of this, which is the harder you work, the luckier you get; and I hate to make it that general, but it's a true partnership.

This is going to come down to the Tour, Barclays, and Westchester all working together. It's been recognized that Westchester is absolutely one of best places for the pros to play, but there's still a lot of things that can be done by the three of us working together to make it more and more appealing to get even a better and better field.

So it comes down to the quality and how we run the pro-am. It comes down to the marketing that we're willing to put into this around the event to get more and more fans to come. There's a host of things that the three of us can do working together, and at the end of the day this is only going to work for us as a sponsorship event if it's highly successful, and I think it is very important to us for the reasons that I mentioned. So we don't plan to, you know, sit back and assume that the club or the TOUR run there it. It's going to be an awful lot of work that we put in 12 months of the year.

Q.: This is for Bob Diamond. How long of a process has it been since the day you began the thought of being involved this big on the PGA Tour to get you to today; how long has this process been going on?

ROBERT DIAMOND: I can't remember the exact days. It's not that long. But there was the point of which, you know, we were aware that it was possible that the current sponsor was going to pull out -- pull out is a poor phrase. I think you phrased it right, Bob.

Buick is very, very committed golf. They are concentrating it more. But when we first heard of that and talked internally, the fact that this was available was almost perfection for us; and I gave you some of the background, I won't repeat it. Our businesses are growing very quickly here. We don't have the big retail bank here that we have in Spain and Europe where you get the natural brand recognition and marketing. We've had huge success with the Scottish Open, and we just completed our third year, and, quite frankly, our clients absolutely love it. They really like to come. We bring clients for the Pro-Am beforehand, we tend to take the course for the day after so clients can play the same pins the pros just played. They love to come to the event, they love to bring their kids. So many aspects have been positive; that when this event became available months ago, it was a great opportunity for us, and I guess you would measure it in months, without being anymore exact than that.