Exclusive interview with Herbert Kohler

SAT DOWN WITH THE MAN WHO BROUGHT THE RYDER CUP TO WISCONSIN. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BUILD THIS GORGEOUS PROPERTY? HERBT:ER OH, HEAVENS. WE RAN OUT OF TEE TIMES. WE HAD A THREE MONTHEAD L TIME FOR A TEATIME. THAT IS RIDICULOUS FOR A FIVE ARST HOTEL. WE GOT TO FIND SOME GROUND WHERE. WEAN C BUILD SOME MORE GOLF. I HAD TO GO AND FIND A FARM NEARBY AND BUY IT. TRADE THAT FOR THIS. WE GOTT I DONE. TWO MILES ON LAKE MICHIGAN. THIS LAND WAS PRETTY DAMAGED. IT HAD 43 WASTE DUMPS. TWOFO WHICH WERE TOXIC. IT ALSO HAD RIGHT IN THE HEART OFHE T OPERATION WAS A TRANSACTNIO POINT FOR THE DRUG LORDS BETWEEN GREEN BAY AND CHAGICO. PRETTY SCARY CREATUR.ES THE COMBINATION OF WASTE DUMPS AND DRUG DEALERS, AND GROUND THAT WAS PERFECTLY FLAT. WE TOOK A GOOHAD RD LOOK AT IT. I SAID TO H,IM PETE, LET US THIS. BYIS. GOSH, IF HE DID NOT GO A LONG WAY IN DOING THAT. STEPHEN: WHEN YOU BUILT THIS COURSE, DID YOU ENVISION HOSTING AN EVENT OF ISTH MAGNITUDE? HERBERT:HE WN WE GOT INTO GOLF, WE DECIDED THAT WE WEER ONLY GOING TO BUILD FOR MAJORS. THAT IS THE WAY WE STARTED OUT. IT WAS LIKE A RIDICULOUS ASPIRATION. THAT WAS OUR INTENT. STEPHEN: WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT THE LAND YOU PURCHASED INITIALLY AND YOU BUILT THIS CREATION AND YOU SEE SOME OF THE TICKETS BUILDSND A CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY HAPPENING AROUND U,YO WHAT COMES TO MIND? HEERT:RB IT’S PTTREY AWESOME, EVEN FOR ME. AFTER SEEING A FAIR NUERMB OF WRITER CUPS. ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU FOLLOW PISAR AND WHAT IS FOLLOWING US IS AROMA. — ROME. AND THE WNE YORK AND THEN HEAR IS WISCONSIN HOSTING A RYDER CUP CARED — CUP. IT ISUR O CHALLENGE AND INTEREST TO GENERATE AS MUCH INTEREST IN RSONPE AND TELEVISION AROUND THE WORLD AS THESE OTHER SITES WILL DO. STEPN:HE CAPTAIN STEVE STRICKER SAID YOUUT P WISCONSIN ON THE MAP. HOW MUCH PRIDE DO YOU TAKE IN THAT? HERBT:ER IT IS EXCITING. LEOPPE OF WISCONSIN ARE A GREAT SPORTING CROWD. CONTINUING TO STAMP THIS STATE IN THE LEADER — ITHN E WORLD AS A LEADER OF GOLF. THERE HAVE BEEN A NUMBER OF OTRSHE WHO PUT SOME FIRST-CLASS COURSES IN PLACE IN THIS STATE. I THINK THIS REEMPHASIZES WHAT A GREAT SPORT THIS .IS STEPHEN: I SEE THE WIND BLOWING PRETTY NICELY RIGHT NOW. THE LOOG, WHAT TYPE OF CONDITIONS ARE YOU HOPING TO SEE FOR E THRYDER CUP? HERBERT: HELP BLOWS AS MHUC TODAY, IF NOT MORE. THIS COURSE EVEN WITHOUT WIND IS THERE COULD BE 30’S BUT THERE COULD BE SOME — BIRDIES BUT PAIN IN THE PROCESS. MY FORAVITE PART OF THIS GOLF COURSE IS THAT THERE ARE 1000 BUNKERS OUT HERE. THERE ARE PROBABLY 100 ACTUALLY IN PLAY. THEY CREATE A LITTLE APPREHENSION. EVEN FROM THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD. HERBERT: WHAT DOES THE RYD CERUP MEAN TO YOU? STEPHEN: IT IS THE GRANADDYDDF O GOLF TOURNAMENTS. YOU DON’T GET MUCH BIGGER AND BETTER THAN THE RYDER CUP. IT IS THE BEST. STEPN:HE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE TIME. HERB

‘You don’t get bigger or better than the Ryder Cup’: Exclusive interview with Herbert Kohler

In a rare, exclusive interview, Herbert Kohler sits down with Stephen Watson to discuss Whistling Straits hosting Wisconsin’s first Ryder Cup.

Updated: 1:01 PM CDT Sep 19, 2021