Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Beware of a Tiger Bearing Gifts

Aired July 11, 2003 - 07:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A note to amateur golfers out there, beware of a Tiger bearing gifts this weekend. When Mike Freeman beat Tiger Woods in a closer to the pin competition, he won a new SUV. Not bad.
Freeman says, though, he did not know at the time that he would be part of a new ad campaign for Buick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM BUICK COMMERCIAL)

TIGER WOODS: All you have to do is hit the green closest to the pin and you get one of those.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: There's the spot from Buick. And Freeman says his prize comes at a price, though. He's been stripped of his amateur status for one year by the USGA, the U.S. Golf Association.

Mike Freeman is live with us today in Longwood, Florida on the same course where this all went down.

How are you, Mike?

Good morning.

MIKE FREEMAN, WON BUICK IN CONTEST WITH TIGER WOODS: I'm doing great.

How are you this morning?

HEMMER: Yes, I'm doing OK.

You know what I want to know, and I think amateur golfers want to know, what was your reaction when Tiger Woods pulled up in a golf cart and hopped out and said hey, you guys want to play?

FREEMAN: Well, the first reaction was oh my god, what's he doing here? And honestly the second reaction was come on up, let's play.

HEMMER: Yes. Did you know, at what point did you know you were playing for prizes?

FREEMAN: After he had pulled out the keys from his car. He let us...

HEMMER: And was that before you teed off, Mike -- I'm sorry -- or was that at the conclusion of the hole?

FREEMAN: No, it was after but if we watch the video of the commercial, you can hear Tiger say let's play closest to the pin and why don't we play for a Buick SUV? Well, nobody actually took him serious that we were playing for an SUV. We just thought he was kidding. And somebody in my foursome says, Tiger goes, "What do you guys want to play for?" And somebody responded, "Well, let's play for paychecks." And we were kind of laughing at that. And Tiger responds with, "Well, let's play for an SUV."

And you would, number one, you wouldn't play him for an SUV. And number two, you wouldn't expect him to be doing a commercial out there to get an SUV. So that was kind of the issue that I have brought up is that if I enter into a golf tournament and the prize in that golf tournament is to win some monetary value, that's a clear violation of losing your amateur status if it's over $500. And that's the particular essence of...

HEMMER: So let me get this right. You got a Buick. It's an SUV. It's 42 grand. Why not give back the car, then? Do you get your status back or not?

FREEMAN: Yes, I could do two things. I'd have to decline the car and also let Buick know that I did not want to be in any of their commercials, as well. Both of those are violations. If you're promoting a product on TV and I'm representing myself and I'm noted as a golfer, then that would be a clear violation of the USGA rules, as well.

So on both counts I would have lost my amateur status. So I'm not complaining about it. I wouldn't trade places with anybody in the world. I'm glad to do it. I just think the rule is probably being stretched a little bit here and the intent of the rule is to prevent golfers from competing as professionals, and I don't believe that's what I did.

So that's really my only issue with that.

HEMMER: So you're going to keep the car, right, and get back the amateur status...

FREEMAN: Absolutely.

HEMMER: ... maybe in a year or not?

FREEMAN: It will be a year from the last date that the commercial runs, and I know it's a very, very successful commercial for Buick, so it could be a year and a half, almost two years by that point, by the time it's done.

HEMMER: Got it. I get your point, though. You're saying that you didn't sign up for this, but you walked into it, essentially. They found you, you did not find them.

FREEMAN: Yes, I just see the difference is in the intent of my actions. Did I go out to win a prize as if you do in any golf tournament or is this more like an award after the fact? And I thought there might be some leeway in the rules with intent. But evidently intent doesn't have anything to do with it.

HEMMER: Hey, Mike, congratulations.

FREEMAN: Thank you very much.

HEMMER: Enjoy the next year with that Buick and the money that comes with it.

FREEMAN: Thank you very much.

HEMMER: Mike Freeman live in Florida with us today.

FREEMAN: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 11, 2003 - 07:24   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A note to amateur golfers out there, beware of a Tiger bearing gifts this weekend. When Mike Freeman beat Tiger Woods in a closer to the pin competition, he won a new SUV. Not bad.
Freeman says, though, he did not know at the time that he would be part of a new ad campaign for Buick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM BUICK COMMERCIAL)

TIGER WOODS: All you have to do is hit the green closest to the pin and you get one of those.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: There's the spot from Buick. And Freeman says his prize comes at a price, though. He's been stripped of his amateur status for one year by the USGA, the U.S. Golf Association.

Mike Freeman is live with us today in Longwood, Florida on the same course where this all went down.

How are you, Mike?

Good morning.

MIKE FREEMAN, WON BUICK IN CONTEST WITH TIGER WOODS: I'm doing great.

How are you this morning?

HEMMER: Yes, I'm doing OK.

You know what I want to know, and I think amateur golfers want to know, what was your reaction when Tiger Woods pulled up in a golf cart and hopped out and said hey, you guys want to play?

FREEMAN: Well, the first reaction was oh my god, what's he doing here? And honestly the second reaction was come on up, let's play.

HEMMER: Yes. Did you know, at what point did you know you were playing for prizes?

FREEMAN: After he had pulled out the keys from his car. He let us...

HEMMER: And was that before you teed off, Mike -- I'm sorry -- or was that at the conclusion of the hole?

FREEMAN: No, it was after but if we watch the video of the commercial, you can hear Tiger say let's play closest to the pin and why don't we play for a Buick SUV? Well, nobody actually took him serious that we were playing for an SUV. We just thought he was kidding. And somebody in my foursome says, Tiger goes, "What do you guys want to play for?" And somebody responded, "Well, let's play for paychecks." And we were kind of laughing at that. And Tiger responds with, "Well, let's play for an SUV."

And you would, number one, you wouldn't play him for an SUV. And number two, you wouldn't expect him to be doing a commercial out there to get an SUV. So that was kind of the issue that I have brought up is that if I enter into a golf tournament and the prize in that golf tournament is to win some monetary value, that's a clear violation of losing your amateur status if it's over $500. And that's the particular essence of...

HEMMER: So let me get this right. You got a Buick. It's an SUV. It's 42 grand. Why not give back the car, then? Do you get your status back or not?

FREEMAN: Yes, I could do two things. I'd have to decline the car and also let Buick know that I did not want to be in any of their commercials, as well. Both of those are violations. If you're promoting a product on TV and I'm representing myself and I'm noted as a golfer, then that would be a clear violation of the USGA rules, as well.

So on both counts I would have lost my amateur status. So I'm not complaining about it. I wouldn't trade places with anybody in the world. I'm glad to do it. I just think the rule is probably being stretched a little bit here and the intent of the rule is to prevent golfers from competing as professionals, and I don't believe that's what I did.

So that's really my only issue with that.

HEMMER: So you're going to keep the car, right, and get back the amateur status...

FREEMAN: Absolutely.

HEMMER: ... maybe in a year or not?

FREEMAN: It will be a year from the last date that the commercial runs, and I know it's a very, very successful commercial for Buick, so it could be a year and a half, almost two years by that point, by the time it's done.

HEMMER: Got it. I get your point, though. You're saying that you didn't sign up for this, but you walked into it, essentially. They found you, you did not find them.

FREEMAN: Yes, I just see the difference is in the intent of my actions. Did I go out to win a prize as if you do in any golf tournament or is this more like an award after the fact? And I thought there might be some leeway in the rules with intent. But evidently intent doesn't have anything to do with it.

HEMMER: Hey, Mike, congratulations.

FREEMAN: Thank you very much.

HEMMER: Enjoy the next year with that Buick and the money that comes with it.

FREEMAN: Thank you very much.

HEMMER: Mike Freeman live in Florida with us today.

FREEMAN: Appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com