It’s an annual tradition at Golf World. Our “Newsmakers of the Year” package has helped cap the year in golf now for more than two decades. From our former print magazine to our current digital publication, readers have been treated to a thoughtful review of the previous 12 months, our writers returning to the players, events and moments that helped define our sport in hopes of offering a hearty encore to the season. During the next two weeks, we’ll continue the tradition by unveiling the top 25 Newsmakers of 2018—Nos. 25 to 11 from Dec. 3-7 and Nos. 10 to 1 from Dec. 10-14. There will be a few no brainers—spoiler alert: U.S. Open and PGA champion Brooks Koepka makes our list—but also some storylines that are less obvious but, we think, no less worthy of our collective appreciation. So come back each day to see who makes our list as we countdown to our No. 1 Newsmaker of 2018. —Ryan Herrington

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Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images

No. 20: Backstopping

Backstopping as a routine isn’t entirely new on the PGA Tour, but it became more out in the open in the fall of 2017. That’s when Justin Thomas confessed his right to play faster even if it means taking advantage of a ball near the hole and not waiting for it to be marked. The previously little-spoken occurrence gained more attention in June when Jimmy Walker found himself at the center of a firestorm after saying, “If you don’t like a guy you will mark anyway. If you like the guy you might leave it to help on a shot. Some guys don’t want to give help at all and rush to mark their ball. To each his own.” Fellow tour pros—Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Luke Donald among them—took issue (rightfully so) with Walker’s stance. The most notable examples of the practice took place at the 2017-’18 season opener when Tony Finau hit a greenside bunker shot from a plugged lie as playing partner Jason Kokrak didn’t mark his ball that was next to the hole. At this year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, there was a similar situation involving Thomas and Brian Harman. The latter led to Paul Azinger blasting the idea of helping a fellow competitor—and in turn hurting the rest of the field. There have been other occurrences as well. But given the genial relationships between many of today’s young players, and with no rule in place for something that is almost entirely intent-based, don’t expect this controversy to die down anytime soon. —Brian Wacker

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Montana Pritchard/The PGA of America via Getty Images

No. 21: Pete Bevacqua

A golf executive switching from one big organization to another doesn’t always register with the general public, but Pete Bevacqua’s impact on the game has been bigger than most. The PGA of America CEO announced in July he would be taking a new position as president of NBC Sports Group, but only after presiding over several bold moves during his PGA tenure. In moving the PGA Championship from August to May, Bevacqua was giving the so-called fourth major a chance at a new identity. He helped secure a lucrative future for the Ryder Cup by establishing a 15-year rights deal between the PGA and NBC Sports, and set in motion a lucrative deal to move the PGA of America headquarters from South Florida to Texas. All were efforts to distinguish the PGA of America from the PGA Tour, two easy-to-confuse golf bodies with distinct missions. Bevacqua didn’t see all of those efforts come to their finish—the first May PGA is not until 2019, and the move to Texas is pending local approval—but if there’s a reason NBC wanted the charismatic Bevacqua on its team, it’s because of a proven ability to get big ideas off the ground. —Sam Weinman

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No. 22: Tiger Woods biography

The ambitious biography, Tiger Woods, by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian, delivered its share of juicy nuggets regarding the 14-time major champion—notably about his infamous sex scandal, his father’s infidelities and the particulars behind his decision to turn professional. But really what set this 512-page tome apart from the countless other profiles of Woods is how it created a three-dimensional picture of Woods’ curious existence—how he became arguably the greatest golfer of all time, but also someone who felt increasingly isolated at the height of his stardom. Of course there were elements of the book that Woods’ camp didn’t like—they cited a few small factual errors. Yet the book’s impact wasn’t so much in what it said, but in convincingly explaining why Woods ended up the way he did. —Sam Weinman

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Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

No. 23: Shubhankar Sharma

Shubhankar Sharma’s first true introduction to golf fans on the world stage involved an actual—and awkward—introduction with one of his heroes back in March. Sharma, the surprising 36-hole leader at the WGC-Mexico Championship, approached Phil Mickelson on the practice green before the third round and was initially blown off by the five-time major champ, who mistook him for a member of the media. Mickelson wound up winning that week, but Sharma was the event’s breakout star with a performance that helped him earn a Masters invite two days later, making him just the fourth Indian golfer to tee it up at Augusta National. By year’s end, Sharma had collected the European Tour’s rookie-of-the-year award for a two-win campaign and finished 28th in the Race to Dubai. During the Open Championship, Sharma was surprisingly serenaded by a packed restaurant in Carnoustie for his 22nd birthday. Expect even more people to know who he is in 2019. —Alex Myers

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Getty Images

No. 24: Joel Dahmen/Sung Kang

Cheating is golf’s biggest taboo. It engenders a code of omerta, a cognizance of the scarlet letter that comes with the slightest assertion. It all made Joel Dahmen’s accusation that fellow competitor Sung Kang had knowingly broken the rules at the Quicken Loans National in July the talk of the tournament. Kang, Dahmen’s final-round playing partner, found a hazard at TPC Potomac’s 10th hole. Kang believed his ball passed over the stakes; Dahmen disputed the account, alleging Kang failed to cross the water. The argument continued so long that the group behind played through. Though a rules official eventually sided with Kang—whose T-3 finish earned an Open Championship invite—Dahmen, 31, remained steadfast, taking to Twitter to air his grievance: “Kang cheated. He took a bad drop from a hazard. I argued until I was blue. I lost.” Speaking at Carnoustie, Kang defended his actions. “I did the right thing,” the 31-year-old from South Korea insisted. One silver lining from the thorny incident: Dahmen, a career journeyman, seemed galvanized by the matter, reeling off four consecutive top-15s to keep his card for 2019. As did Kang. —Joel Beall

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Robert Laberge/Getty Images

No. 25: Bernhard Langer

Bernhard Langer, such is his consistency and resistance to aging, has turned the PGA Tour Champions season into an endless loop. For the fourth time in the last five years (and the fifth time overall), the World Golf Hall of Famer won the season-long Charles Schwab Cup and its $1 million bonus. His 14 top-10s led the tour for the seventh straight year. His earnings ($2,222,154) also led the tour for a seventh straight year. In those seven years, he’s led the tour in scoring average four times, and finished second three times, including this year. At 61, he is spotting the competition as many as 11 years in age, and is still dominating. His 38 career senior wins are seven shy of Hale Irwin’s all-time record, which seems distant, if it weren’t Langer doing the chasing. The one honour that Langer walked away with in 2018 for the first time? The PGA Tour’s Payne Stewart Award for quality of character and philanthropy. —John Strege

The post 2018 Newsmakers of the Year appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

“When I graduated college, I had three jobs, two of which were coaching and teaching. The other was trading commodities,” Waugh recalled. “I made the decision to go into the business world because I figured I’d go back to teaching and coaching at some point, and that it’s probably easier to go from business to teaching instead of teaching to business. And here I am some 35 years later, feeling very fortunate knowing my path is connecting with an organisation of 29,000 club professionals who are business people but also, really, teachers.”

RELATED: Enter the Golf Digest Middle East Amateur Golf Series TODAY!

Waugh, 60, was appointed on Tuesday as CEO of the PGA of America. He succeeds Pete Bevacqua, who left Aug. 13 to become president of NBC Sports Group. John Easterbrook Jr. continues to serve as interim CEO until Waugh formally takes over on Sept. 24.

Former CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas, Waugh comes to the head of the PGA with impeccable business credentials, a later-in-life immersion in—and love for—the game, a close-knit relationship with many of the sport’s power brokers, and five years in the organisation as an independent member of the board of directors and as a member of an advisory board to Bevacqua.

He also comes in with a personal mission to improve the lives of the organisation’s 29,000 members.

“We all have our stories, the pros that we grew up with, the ones we met later in life who had an impact on us,” Waugh told Golf Digest during a 20-minute telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “It’s a noble profession. The average club pro is probably not seeing a lot of the benefits of the growth of the game at this point. You think of the business side, which has created great benefits for the association, but how do you pass that on and create value for the member? I think that’s the biggest problem that we have.

“I’d like to sit back 10 years from now and say, ‘We really made some lives better, made their livelihoods better.’ That turns me on. That’s how I’m wired. And that’s the largest reason why I want to do this.”

RELATED: Waugh, PGA commish say no substance to merger talk between PGA of America and Tour

Waugh, who lives in North Palm Beach, Fla., is a native of Ayer, Mass., and a graduate of Amherst College, where he earned degrees in English and economics. His son Clancy, who played golf collegiately at Wake Forest and SMU, recently turned professional and is entered in one of the three Web.com Tour pre-qualifying tournaments that begins Wednesday. Waugh met his wife, Jane, about 2½ years ago on a practice range in Eugene, Ore., while caddieing for Clancy in an amateur event.

He was with Deutsche Bank Americas for 13 years, including 10 as CEO, during which time he oversaw the creation of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoff event in Boston now known as the Dell Technologies Championship. The tournament, which begins Friday, is in its final year as the tour transitions into a schedule that will allow the playoffs to conclude by this time next year, before the start of college and NFL football.

“When I say that the game matters and that I want to give back to it, that’s because it has meant a lot to me and has given me so much,” said Waugh, a member at Seminole Golf Club and Cypress Point, among other clubs, who carries an 8.9 handicap index. “Somehow, it’s become a huge part of my life, even though I came to it much later in life than a lot of people. My son’s game, and the time we’ve spent playing, caddying for him, the Deutsche Bank Championship … threw myself into that. I’ve gotten very entrenched in the game. And if I think about the last 25 years … the best relationships have come from golf.”

One of those relationships is with IMG vice chairman Alastair Johnston, whose organisation worked with Waugh to get the Deutsche Bank Championship off the ground.

“I have known Seth for a long time, and I can certainly understand why the PGA of America would select him as its new chief executive,” Johnston said. “First of all, he brings to the table amazing respect within the golf industry. His business acumen and understanding of how the various institutions and federations within the golf world integrate and relate to one another will be paramount to the ongoing status of the PGA Championship and with broader horizons, the Ryder Cup.

“There will be some people who say he doesn’t really understand the membership,” Johnston added. “But in my opinion, Seth’s selection will also benefit the grassroots membership of the PGA of America as more and more of the club professionals seek support at HQ in terms of their own business ambitions.”

Roy Zipstein
Waugh, who carries an 8.6 handicap index, came to the game later in his life, but was quickly hooked.

Johnston pointed out that not only does Waugh enjoy a close relationship with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan after working together at the Deutsche Bank Championship—Monahan was executive director of the event for two years—but he also is fast friends with Martin Slumbers, the chief executive of the R&A. They were colleagues at Deutsche Bank for several years.

In addition, Waugh has known Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, for more than 20 years, and he reached out to Ridley for advice before accepting the PGA job and leaving his post—not an easy decision—as managing director at Silver Lake, a technology investment firm. He will continue to assist the firm as a senior advisor.

“Already Seth has been a big part of the progress in that organisation the last several years, and I think he’ll come in and he’ll continue the great work that Pete has done,” Monahan told Golf Digest during a phone interview Tuesday. “I have great respect for Seth as a leader, but, more importantly, as a person who is a really thoughtful and caring guy who loves this game and who is now in a position to make a big impact. He has a way of relating to people and inspiring people that is remarkable. He has an ability to move things to a better place—even if they’re already in a great place.”

Waugh certainly will have to hit the ground running. His first official day is Monday of Ryder Cup week in Paris. Television negotiations for rights to the PGA Championship already have commenced. He hopes to have them completed within the next few months. And then there’s the proposed move of PGA headquarters to the Dallas area that is estimated to be worth around $40 million and would include not only a new office complex but also golf courses that could host future PGA Championships or a Ryder Cup. A decision was supposed to come down in May, but it is still pending. Waugh wants to see the organisation make a decision soon, because “there is in a sense of what we need to do on behalf of our employees,” he said. “I don’t think it’s really fair that we haven’t made a decision. Not from lack of effort on anyone’s part. It’s a complicated situation with many moving parts.”

It’s these types of business challenges, Waugh said, “that scratches an itch for me.”

But what motivates him most, beyond helping the membership, is what the PGA of America can do for the game.

“I’ll have a really interesting seat at the table as far as how golf evolves,” he said. “The PGA, in my mind, is the organisation in the best position to be solely of the game and for the game. We have a pure mission through our membership to grow the game, and that puts us in a position of neutrality, to some degree, if you will. We can bring people to the table to enhance the game as a whole as opposed to a particular slice of the pie.

“I believe the game is worthy and hugely important in all its values. Societally, I think it’s important,” Waugh added. “We all talk about growing it, but how do we make it into our kids’ game as opposed to our parents’ game or our game? I don’t pretend to know what the answers are. But I look forward to being a collaborator and partner with the other leaders in our game to work in the best interest of the game.”

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I, for one, was eating a chocolate chip cookie.

No, really, Huggan said again, “What are we doing here?”

Here being Bellerive Country Club. It’s a nice enough golf course, on the western edge of a nice enough city, St. Louis. It wasn’t so much that Huggan had no affection for Bellerive, though the curmudgeonly Scotsman can find a fly in most soups. More to the point, he asked why the golf world has convened at this nice-enough golf course for the 100th PGA Championship? For the centennial edition shouldn’t we be somewhere wonderful? One of the giants, an Oakmont, a Winged Foot, Olympic.

The PGA of America’s CEO, Pete Bevacqua, will have none of such talk. He has said “the reception we’ve already received from this community has been really off the charts. . . . The level of support from not only the club, but the city of St. Louis, has been amazing.” CEOs talk that way, of course, or they wouldn’t be CEOs, and then Bevacqua went off-script with a tidbit intriguing to any golf history addict.

Related: Bellerive Country Club hole-by-hole

“I was lucky enough, when I lived back in New York,” he said, “to be a member at Siwanoy Country Club for years. At the 18th hole at Siwanoy, they have this rock with the last few rounds, the brackets of the first PGA Championship. So you think, 100 years later, we’re here at Bellerive. It is really special.”

Wait. Wait one minute. No, Pete. As special as Bellerive might be, what would be really special is to play the 100th at Siwanoy with hickory sticks, featheries, and fairways mowed by hungry goats.

Sam Greenwood
ST. LOUIS, MO – AUGUST 07: Tiger Woods of the United States looks on during a practice round prior to the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club on August 7, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Anyway, here we are for not only the 100th PGA but the last scheduled to be played in August. Next year it moves to May. There it will follow the Masters and precede the U.S. Open. The move gets the tournament out of the Olympics’ way every four years and makes more room in late summer for the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs. More important in terms of prestige and media attention, the PGA will become the second major of the season rather than the fourth and last, too often an anti-climactic event struggling to be noticed after the history-makers have made their history.

The first of those May PGAs will be played on New York’s Long Island, at Bethpage Black, a confluence of events that suggests a question to be answered by the weather gods. Long Island in May? If we identify St. Louis in August as a blast furnace disguised as a city, might not Long Island in May be a gathering gloom of icy rain?

“In terms of May,” Bevacqua said, “… we’re about as close to 100 percent confident in that decision as possible. That doesn’t mean there’s not going to be difficult situations, but there’s difficult situations whenever you conduct a major championship.” He added that the “stars aligned” to make possible a decision that would “hopefully continue to elevate the PGA Championship.”

The night before lunch with my friend Huggan, I attended a musical at St. Louis’ famous Municipal Opera Theater. In “Meet Me in St. Louis,” a family in 1904 faces a decision: Do we stay in sleepy St. Louis or move to New York with its infinite possibilities?

Well, if that’s not a precise parallel to our conversation about sleepy, unnoticed Bellerive as opposed to say, the famous Bethpage Black monster, it’s close enough that maybe we can make sense of Bellerive by knowing what the Smith family decided in 1904. Though the father had a big job waiting in the big city, the family chose to stay in St. Louis because they believed that anything New York could do, St. Louis could do better.

So I’ll cut Bellerive some slack. We’ll see how the week goes. Maybe Fate has a musical comedy trick up her sleeve. Tiger reborn? Jordan Spieth completing the Grand Slam? Tommy Fleetwood getting a haircut? Shubhankar Sharma on a roll? Dustin Johnson hitting a fairway?

Before we left lunch, I noticed a banner for the 2022 PGA to be played in New Jersey at a golf course that has been in the news of late, Trump Bedminster.

“The second year of Trump’s second term,” I said.

John Huggan said, “Oh, no.”

I ate another cookie.

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NBC Sports Group announced on Tuesday that Bevacqua has accepted a new role as its president. As such, he will step down as CEO of the PGA, effective Aug. 13, the day after the 100th PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis.

The move comes at a curious time, with the PGA weighing one of the most consequential decisions in its history—a potential move of its headquarters from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to Frisco, Texas—and with Bevacqua barely into a contract extension that was to run through 2024 and paying him more than $1 million annually, according to sources.

The PGA of America was expected to make a decision on a new home in May after fielding not only the estimated $40 million offer from Frisco, north of Dallas but also 11th-hour bids from a few undisclosed South Florida locations.

Darrell Crall, the PGA of America’s COO, is considered among the potential candidates to fill the CEO post. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

John Easterbrook, the PGA’s Chief Membership Officer, has been tapped to serve as interim CEO, a selection that raised a few eyebrows from observers in and out of the organization. It was thought that Darrell Crall, who has served as Chief Operating Officer since Bevacqua came on board in the fall of 2012, would be the logical choice. Crall, sources say, was runner-up behind Bevacqua among the six candidates interviewed for the CEO post when a retiring Joe Steranka vacated six years ago. However, Crall also is believed to be deep in the woods on the PGA’s prospective move to Texas, given his longtime role as executive director of the Northern Texas PGA Section prior to joining the PGA in 2011.

Both Easterbrook and Crall would have to be considered candidates to succeed Bevacqua. Past presidents Roger Warren and Jim Remy, who also interviewed for the post in the last search, might get another look.

“I’d be shocked if Darrell Crall isn’t hired into that position,” said one past PGA officer. Still, another countered, “I don’t think that’s necessarily what we need.”

It’s not that Crall isn’t qualified, “but he’s probably best in the position he’s in now,” the source said. “We need someone who is going to be the face of the PGA of America. You look around at other golf organizations, and they have a strong leader who is really the face of it, whether it’s Mike Davis at the USGA or Fred Ridley at Augusta.”

Whoever gets the call, he or she will face a myriad of challenges. One of the more pressing is that the association’s contract with CBS Sports for broadcast rights to the PGA Championship expires after next year’s tournament. That will be the first year the championship is played in May (at Bethpage Black, in New York) thanks to Bevacqua accommodating the PGA Tour’s wishes to condense its season for a late August conclusion. Without the PGA of America agreeing to move its oldest championship from August, the tour’s grand plan doesn’t materialize.

Last year, Bevacqua finalized an extension of domestic television rights for the Ryder Cup with NBC, his new employer, for an estimated $440 million. The deal runs through 2030. (“Say what you will about Pete, he was a hell of a negotiator,” said one PGA past president.) It’s only natural to deduce that NBC and Golf Channel, which also owns the broadcast rights to two other PGA of America properties—the Senior PGA Championship and the KPMG Women’s PGA—might be better positioned to acquire the rights to the PGA Championship with Bevacqua at the network.

PGA of America president Paul Levy (right) said Easterbrook (left), the chief membership officer, will be interim CEO until a replacement is named. (Phil Inglis/PGA of America)

Further to that, Bevacqua’s strong relationship with the PGA Tour and commissioner Jay Monahan—did Bevacqua execute a clever chess move when he agreed to move the PGA to May?—could be a boon for NBC and Golf Channel when the tour’s television rights deal with all domestic broadcast partners expires in 2021.

Of equal importance is maintaining and improving services to the nearly 29,000 PGA professionals who comprise the largest sports organization in the world. Despite Easterbrook’s hiring in 2017 as the PGA’s first chief membership officer, there is concern among the rank-and-file that not enough is being done on their behalf.

Said one longtime member: “The PGA really has gotten away from growth-of-the-game and member-education initiatives that used to be real staples. It almost makes the PGA more unrelatable to its membership than they ever have been at any time in its history.”

So there’s that. Furthermore, when rumours were confirmed that a migration of the PGA headquarters to Texas is on the table, many members questioned how that would benefit them and what would become of key PGA affairs like the annual Merchandise Show and the Winter Series.

A new leader will have to guide the PGA through those issues and others, issues that could take several years to resolve. Bevacqua is leaving some big shoes to fill. And some big holes as well.

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By Joel Beall
PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua announced on Tuesday he is leaving his current position to join NBC Sports. Bevacqua, who has been with the organization since 2012 and whose contract with the PGA of America was extended to 2024, will leave the organization for the newly created role of president of NBC Sports Group.

“The opportunity to join NBC Sports Group, and the larger company of Comcast NBCUniversal, which holds media rights to the world’s biggest events and an incredible assortment of assets, was too good to be true,” Bevacqua said in a statement. “I am also deeply grateful to the membership, leadership and staff at the PGA of America. Professionally and personally, for me and my family, these have been the best six years of my life. Leading the PGA of America and the 29,000 PGA Golf Professionals will always mean a great deal to me.”

Bevacqua had just steered the move of the PGA of America’s flagship enterprise, the PGA Championship, from August to May. He was also instrumental in establishing a 15-year rights deal between the PGA of America and NBC Sports that locked up the Ryder Cup through 2030 and was said to be exploring relocating the PGA’s headquarters from South Florida to the Dallas area.

In his new role, Bevacqua will manage several facets of NBC Sports’ business ventures, including programming, marketing, digital, the group’s regional networks and all of its golf operations.

“With the expansion of NBC Sports Group over the last seven years, and our continuing investments in new and existing businesses, adding Pete to our already strong management team will help us organize for future growth,” said Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBC Broadcasting and Sports, in the release. “We are thrilled to have someone with his experience and reputation join our organization.”

In a statement to Golf Digest, the PGA of America wished Bevacqua the best in his new endeavour.

“We are grateful to Pete for his nearly six years of visionary leadership,” said PGA of America president Paul Levy. “Under Pete’s guidance, we advanced our mission to grow the game and serve our members in many ways.

“With the PGA of America well-positioned for continued success, Pete departs with our gratitude and best wishes for continued success in this new chapter at NBC Sports.”

In a memo to PGA members, Levy said that Chief Officer John Easterbrook will serve as interim CEO. “During this time, we will look internally and externally to find a long-term CEO,” he added.

Before joining the PGA of America, Bevacqua served as Global Head of Golf at Creative Artists Agency (CAA Sports). He was also Chief Business Officer for the USGA and served as the first Managing Director of the U.S. Open Championship. He began his career at a New York City law firm. Bevacqua will join NBC Sports starting in September. He is the latest figure to use golf as a training ground for bigger jobs in sports, as USGA executive Sarah Hirshland was recently tabbed to lead the beleaguered United States Olympic Committee.

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By Dave Shedloski
Last August, while the PGA of America was revealing its plans to shift its oldest event, the PGA Championship, from August to May starting in 2019, leaders of the organization were deep in the planning stages of another move—one potentially far bigger in scope and impact.

In the coming weeks, the 100-year-old association is expected to announce that it is moving its national headquarters from its longtime home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to new environs, most likely in Texas, though the location still is in doubt. A Golf.com report last month indicated that the PGA was eyeing Frisco, Texas, near Dallas, but PGA of America spokesman Julius Mason told Golf Digest that a couple of bids are under consideration, including others in South Florida.

Mason said the PGA of America would not comment about a possible move beyond a previously released statement: “Last year we issued a request for proposal to a number of markets that are potentially well suited and interested in developing a new headquarters campus for us. The due diligence phase is ongoing and no decisions have been made.”

Regardless of where the PGA of America ends up, it’s undeniable that the organization is seeking to upgrade its physical infrastructure and project a higher profile in golf—and in the sports marketplace in general.

Stated or not, part of the logic for moving the PGA Championship to May was to improve the stature of what some consider the fourth of the four men’s championships. Likewise, officials no doubt are striving to distinguish the PGA of America from the PGA Tour—still a confusing difference to many casual golf fans—as well as golf’s other major stakeholders.

It’s probably no coincidence that consideration of a move comes at a time when some of those same U.S. stakeholders—the USGA and PGA Tour as well as Augusta National Golf Club—also are making dynamic changes to their respective home bases. (Though in the case of Augusta, change, particularly expansion of its footprint, has been ongoing for years.)

Traci Edwards/PGA of America Bevacqua hasn’t been afraid to shake things up the PGA since becoming its CEO in 2012.

The move is a venturous one for PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua but comes at an appropriate time in his tenure with the association. Since taking over as CEO in 2012, Bevacqua has settled into a position as one of the game’s leading voices. His contract with the PGA has been extended twice already, and he is viewed by many as the best chief executive in the association’s history. He has not been afraid to consider bold actions, once talking about taking the PGA Championship overseas (an idea since tabled) before shifting the dates to May as well as working with the LPGA to facilitate the creation of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and he has positioned himself and the association to take another significant step.

“Some members probably think this is just Pete looking to build his own little kingdom,” said one former PGA board member. “But the truth is, we should have done this 15 years ago. If you’re not being proactive, you’re not doing your job. Anyone who questions why we would do this isn’t looking objectively at the big picture.”

• • •

Having moved to Palm Beach Gardens in 1965, the PGA of America, with a membership of nearly 29,000 golf professionals, long ago outgrew its current facilities. According to knowledgeable sources, the PGA pays around $1 million annually to rent a second building close to the main, association-owned headquarters that houses its rules staff and other support personnel. Furthermore, the association has no control over the nearby golf courses at the resort that bears its name—PGA National.

Sam Greenwood
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk greeted the PGA of America staff at the association’s Palm Beach Gardens headquarters in March.

While the particulars of the offers being assembled from up to a half-dozen sites in South Florida are unknown, they would be hard-pressed to match what officials from Frisco, an upscale suburban community about 30 miles north of Dallas and close to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, have reportedly put forth. In addition to a new headquarters in what is known as the Panther Creek development, the “campus” could include an office park, two new 18-hole courses, a nine-hole short course, clubhouse and an instruction academy. According to Golf.com, Gil Hanse has been retained to design one of the courses with the purpose of making it a championship-caliber layout that could host the PGA Championship or the Ryder Cup. (Reached via text, Hanse declined to comment.)

Related: The big picture on the PGA Championship’s move to May

Among the benefits of moving the PGA Championship in May was the ability to take it areas of the country that an August date makes troublesome—with a Texas often mentioned. The PGA Championship was last held in the Lone Star State in 1968 at Pecan Valley Country Club in San Antonio. The first opening for the championship is 2024, and it wouldn’t be a surprise, if the PGA filled it or one soon after with a stop at its new home. Meanwhile, Champions Golf Club in Houston hosted the lone Ryder Cup in Texas back in 1967. Domestic sites for the biennial match between the U.S. and Europe are locked up through 2032.

A PGA official with knowledge of the Frisco proposal estimates the deal is worth $30 million-$40 million for the PGA of America. Another said it might be closer to $50 million, “if everything pans out” in terms of the land and infrastructure development that are believed to comprise the bulk of the offer from Frisco. It’s also worth noting that like Florida, Texas has no state income tax and generally viewed as being business-friendly.

• • •

The response to the PGA’s request for proposal was “an eye opener,” said one longtime PGA official. More than 100 municipalities responded when the RFP was disseminated in mid-2017. “It’s obvious,” said another, “that our brand is very valuable, based on the interest the RFP generated. And whatever decision is made is going to bring more value to the brand.”

Alastair Johnston, vice chairman of IMG, agreed with the assessment of the PGA of America’s marketability. “The proof is in the pudding, obviously,” Johnston said. “If communities are willing to step forward with lucrative financial packages, they must feel that the PGA of America is well worth the investment and will be an asset to them.”

A past PGA officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a move is not universally popular, but believes it’s the right call, saying: “I applaud the current leadership for thinking outside the box. … This is going to make us stronger in a variety of ways. And I believe it’s a huge win for the membership.”

‘Anyone who questions why we would do this isn’t looking objectively at the big picture.’ —A past board member on moving PGA headquarters

The central question arising from a prospective address change—which could come as early as 2020—is what benefits would it bring to the thousands of club-professional members? And in turn, would those benefits impact every day golfers?

Among them is that the PGA can further separate itself from the PGA Tour, based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., both geographically, and in terms of its identity. It is 50 years ago this year that tour players broke away from the PGA of America to form their own organization. But the lay sports fan often still confuses the two entities.

Johnston says the PGA of America has an inherent difference from the tour, and other golf stakeholders, that if leveraged can help in its efforts to distinguish itself. “More than any other organization, the PGA interfaces directly with the average golfer, either at a private club or a public course, at the grassroots level through its members,” Johnston said. “Commendably, this includes both male and female professionals, which is very important for a brand in this day and age.”

Shifting headquarters to the center of the country also would afford more travel convenience for officers, staff and section leaders. For a sport historically managed on the East Coast, a move west positions the association for growth. A West Coast club professional pointed out how much more direct interaction western sections could have with headquarters.

Conversely, the association will have to deal with likely turnover among PGA of America staff. One veteran club professional who did not want to be identified on the record but was familiar with the discussions, noted: “In the near term, we’re hearing about a 70 to 80 percent turnover in the staff [who would not move from Florida], which could impact member services until new personnel get through a learning curve.” Even if the rate of attrition weren’t that high, there would be a significant number of staffers who would not be making the move, and it would require the association to address how those staffers would be replaced.

Other club pros Golf Digest contacted also did not want to speak on the record, “because of the high sensitivity of the situation,” said one. “They want to get this right after some past missteps.”

Jeff Greenberg/UIG via Getty Images
The PGA of America opened PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in 1996, but the resort/training facility has struggled as a business entity.

One of those is PGA Village in Port St. Lucie, Fla., which features the PGA Golf Club, a 54-hole resort facility that opened in 1996. Despite the original two Tom Fazio courses and a third, Pete Dye design added in 1999, the project “hasn’t quite lived up to its billing” according to one source, noting that anticipated local area development never materialized. The Village also includes a 35-acre learning center, a six-hole short course. The resort, open to the public, offers PGA professionals and their guests discounts on golf, but pros often bristle at the course conditions, and it requires a subsidy of about $1.5 million annually from the association to make up for budget shortfalls. Its remote location 40 miles from PGA headquarters also is a minus.

Another club pro pointed out that the PGA “has a history of poor decisions when it comes to this very subject, though, obviously, you can’t lay any of that at the feet of people currently in charge.”

He cited the opportunity to purchase the 54-hole golf complex that is now named BallenIsles, just to the east of PGA headquarters. Built in 1964, that property constituted the original PGA National Golf Club and hosted, among other events, the 1971 PGA Championship won by Jack Nicklaus. “We’re still paying for that mistake, and then we compounded it by buying cheap land [in Port St. Lucie] that has never been the destination that it was supposed to be,” he said. “We have never really used our expertise to make it into something special.

“If their intent is to really put the money into doing something great in Dallas, then I’m all for it, but it has to be first-class all the way. We are the biggest sports organization in the world. We have $140 million in the bank. But even then, I have reservations.”

The PGA of America declined a Golf Digest request to talk to an official about member issues in relation to its relocation. One past president, however, noted, “It would be hard for me to believe our leadership hasn’t thought this through from every angle, on every issue.”

• • •

The prospect of a new 36-hole complex, plus a teaching academy all in one location (as opposed to the current setup with Port St. Lucie, which has to be used for PGA Apprentice program training), is exciting to every member who was reached for comment, especially because, said another pro, “the PGA would own it, manage it and most likely promote it in a way that would attract a lot of interest and, obviously, allow us to host our big events.”

Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
Moving the PGA Championship to May starting in 2019 will allow the PGA of America to help re-brand the event, and by extension the association.

Which leads to the subject of optics. It’s hard not to see the PGA of America as appearing to be a more dynamic organization when, if it were to move its headquarters to Frisco, it would share a zip code with one of the NFL’s top franchises, the Dallas Cowboys, along with the NHL’s Dallas Stars and the FC Dallas soccer team of the MLS. Liberty Mutual, FedEx Office and Toyota are non-sports companies who recently have moved to North Texas, in nearby Plano. Two other companies with golf connections—AT&T and Topgolf—are also deeply connected in the metro area. Having such impressive neighbors could afford the PGA of America more commercial and economic opportunities, which could be poured into member benefits and grow-the-game initiatives.

“When you look at the social aspects, the potential business opportunities, the corporate environment there, in my mind the pros outweigh the cons,” an east coast pro said. “It’s simply a step up from what we have now—a big one.”

Added another member: “I am confident that who we have in office will make the best possible decision for everyone invested in the organization. I have no doubt about it. This is an exciting time for the PGA of America, something we can all embrace.”

The post The PGA of America’s Next Big Move appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The decision by the PGA of America to move its championship from August to May is a win for golf, writ large. An accounting of all the ripple effects that come from altering the intricate mosaic that is the modern schedule of big-time, competitive golf shows that there is relatively little, if anything, that is lost by this move.

True, some solid venues in the northern reaches of the United States—think Brookline, Whistling Straits and Hazeltine National—will be lost as hosts sites for the PGA because of colder climate and unfavorable agronomical conditions in May.

And in the event that a player wins the first three legs of a calendar professional Grand Slam, which hasn’t been done since 1953, the PGA will forfeit its position as the dramatic stage where golf’s ultimate prize could be attained.

But as PGA of America CEO Pete Bevacqua has stated, the move to May presents much to be gained. And while Bevacqua insists that his overriding priority was making sure that any change would be a benefit to the PGA Championship, the overall professional game is the biggest winner.

In several ways:

• Because the decision was made in conjunction with the PGA Tour moving the Players from May to March, the schedule will now present a symmetrical and uninterrupted succession of four months in which a  major championship is played—the Masters in April, the PGA in May, the U.S. Open in June and the Open Championship in July.

• Because the golf competition in the Summer Olympics will no longer cause the PGA Championship to move its date every four years, the professional golf calendar will not be as compressed in an Olympic year as it was in 2016.

• Leaving August to the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs so that the season-ending Tour Championship is played before Labor Day allows the tour to put on its climatic series free of the interest- and audience-draining interference that comes when professional and college football start to dominate the televised sport weekend.

• There is now a strong possibility that players (and fans) will get essentially a month-long break from official tournament golf, a period in which players worn out from the intense end of the season can adequately recharge and fans can rebuild their eagerness for the game and the next big events – the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup in late September.

• The PGA Tour now gets to move the Players back to March, where it was played for 30 straight years before moving to May in 2007. That tournament, always a rung below a major even as it has aspired to be considered one, will now once again be the climax of the Florida swing and the appetizer for the start of the major season. It will benefit from a return to the Spring Break atmosphere of March, by consensus a more energized setting for the competition than in May.

The moves from Monahan (left) and Bevacqua seem to set up a lean, strong schedule of big-time golf events.

All of which PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan had in mind when he began publicly endorsing the double move right after taking the job in January. Tuesday’s news signifies mission accomplished.

“We are thrilled to announce these two significant changes, which will greatly enhance the professional golf calendar starting in 2019,” Monahan said. “Our thanks to the PGA of America for its partnership in what will allow both organizations to meet our short- and long-term objectives, while delivering incredibly compelling golf to our fans around the world.”

As for the PGA Championship, it’s likely that the PGA of America will be give more serious consideration to big-market sites in the southeast and the Sun Belt. In Florida, Trump National Doral is probably the best-equipped facility in that state to host a major. The new Trinity Forest in Dallas, a highly praised Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw design that will host the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson event, has unabashed ambitions to host a major.

When Monahan began beating the drum for the move, Bevacqua was more cautious in his comments, professing that the PGA was happy where it was. “We don’t need to do anything,” he said.

But after closer analysis, Bevacqua said he began to see the merits in a move to May.

“As with most important decisions, the key question we posed to ourselves was rather simple,” Bevacqua wrote in an op-ed piece for GolfDigest.com. “It all came down to this: Over the course of the next several decades, would the PGA Championship be better positioned to thrive and grow if we stayed in August or moved to May? Our answer: May.”

As Bevacqua emphasized, the PGA of America and PGA Tour worked closely in leading the ongoing process of refining golf’s year-long schedule so that it better fits the games of the best worldwide players, the attention of its fans and the business interests of television and its other corporate partners. By moving the PGA to May and the Players to March, with all its well-considered ripple effects, the professional game has been condensed into a leaner and more logical product.

The post The big picture on the PGA Championship’s big move appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.