Intro:

The R&A (Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews) held a news conference at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Wednesday - the eve of the 2014 Open Championship's first round.

Script:

SOUNDBITE: (English) Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of the R&A (on the construction of the golf course for the 2016 Rio Olympics):

"Progress on the golf course has accelerated massively in the last few months. Grass is going down now - being sodded on the fairways. If we can get grass down, which we confidently expect to by November of this year - which will give us two growing seasons prior to the Olympic Games. And that will allow us, in that climate, to have a golf course right up to the condition that we are looking for. So much still to do but progress is much more encouraging."