The Replacements: PGA Of America's Best Options For 2022

Another edition of The Quadrilateral because, as I forewarned back in Saturday night’s first edition, breaking news would warrant extra editions.

With the PGA of America leaving Trump Bedminster, I look at the options for a venue on short notice. It’s not as easy as you think.

The latest edition of The Quadrilateral. It’s free to subscribe. And if you weren’t here for Saturday night’s big rollout, the website FAQ page should answer most questions.

PGA of America President: "It has become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand"

In a video sent to the PGA of America membership not long after the organization board voted to terminate its contract with 2022 PGA site Trump Bedminster, Jim Richerson read this statement in a video sent to PGA of America members. (Thanks to all who forwarded.)

The key lines should the hostage be rescued and the video taken down:

“It has become clear that conducting the PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster would be detrimental to the PGA of America brand and would put at risk the PGA of America’s ability to deliver our many programs and sustain the longevity of our mission. Our board has thus made the decision to exercise our right to terminate the contract to hold the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster. It was a decision made to ensure the PGA of America and the PGA professionals can continue to lead and grow our great game for decades to come.”

It’s a tad alarming the PGA “brand” was mentioned but we get the drift. Plenty of folks would have suggested the statement was relevant years ago. It took an insurrection attempt against the United States by the sitting president to put them over the edge. This is where we are.

The Trump organization has issued a statement as quoted in this ABCNews story:

"We have had a beautiful partnership with the PGA of America and are incredibly disappointed with their decision," said a spokesperson for The Trump Organization. "This is a breach of a binding contract and they have no right to terminate the agreement. As an organization we have invested many, many millions of dollars in the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster. We will continue to promote the game of golf on every level and remain focused on operating the finest golf courses anywhere in the world."

**CEO Seth Waugh also mentioned the brand and suggested the situation is not of the PGA’s own in comments to AP, as noted here

"We find ourselves in a political situation not of our making," Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, said in a telephone interview. "We're fiduciaries for our members, for the game, for our mission and for our brand. And how do we best protect that? Our feeling was given the tragic events of Wednesday that we could no longer hold it at Bedminster. The damage could have been irreparable. The only real course of action was to leave."

Update on the 2022 PGA Championship from PGA of America on Vimeo.

PGA Of America Searching For Trump Bedminster Replacement

**Well not long after this went up, the PGA of America board voted to rescind the event and posted this statement on Twitter:

"The PGA of America Board of Directors voted tonight to exercise the right to terminate the agreement to play the 2022 PGA Championship at Trump Bedminster." — Jim Richerson, PGA of America President

— PGA of America (@PGA) January 11, 2021

I thought I’d be easing into The Quadrilateral but the beauty of the newsletter format? I could send out news on the PGA Championship and Trump Bedminster.

My reporting is a bit more careful in characterizing the timing and status of the PGA of America’s effort to leave the 2022 PGA site. The situation is still developing, which is news itself for those reading between the lines.

My reporting certainly differs than some fairly oddball recklessness that I note in the item: NJ.com taking a prediction by Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch and making it news.

Signing up to The Quadrilateral is free for now, check out the item here.

In other reporting, Golf.com’s Alan Shipnuck says a few venues have emerged and that Bedminster members aren’t happy, either (Tweet since deleted).

This week in The Quadrilateral I’ll be breaking down these venues and other options that have been mentioned by sources. It’s trickier to find a venue on short notice than you might think.

Just spoke to a key source close to the '22 PGA. They say it's a done deal that it will be moved from Trump Bedminister but the PGA is waiting until post-inauguration to announce. Southern Hills/Liberty National are the top contenders as a landing spot. Shoal Creek making a push.

— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) January 10, 2021

Needless To Say, The PGA Of America Must Find A New 2022 PGA Championship Venue

We just had a violent mob assault the Capitol in an attempt to prevent those from carrying out our Constitutional duty. There is no question that the President formed the mob, the President incited the mob, the President addressed the mob. He lit the flame. pic.twitter.com/nc9WLmtfuv

— Rep. Liz Cheney (@RepLizCheney) January 7, 2021

Trump Bedminster is the host of the 2022 PGA Championship and Donald Trump is the founder and proprietor of the club.

Given the events of January 6th, 2021, there is no way the championship can continue at the venue.

PGA Of America COO Out After Recent Arrest

That’s two executive mugshots in just over two years for the PGA of America.

First it was 2018 with their then-President, Paul Levy, and now COO Darrell Crall is leaving after an assault arrest.

From Brian Wacker’s GolfDigest.com report:

The decision comes a month after Crall, 53, was alleged to have attacked his girlfriend of three years, Angie Jasso, on Nov. 24. An arrest affidavit alleges that Crall pinned Jasso down on a counter and choked her, then threw her to the ground after she had refused to give her car keys to him at an apartment complex in Frisco. Crall was arrested and charged with assault family violence-impeding breath or circulation, which is a third-degree felony. He was released on $15,000 bond the following day and was initially placed on administrative leave from the PGA of America.

Crall was a central figure in the PGA of America’s forthcoming headquarters move to Frisco, Texas where future PGA Championships and possibly a Ryder Cup will be played.

Current PGA President Jim Richerson’s email to PGA of America members announcing the move:

Good Afternoon,

I'm writing to inform you that the PGA of America and COO Darrell Crall have mutually agreed to conclude his employment effective immediately.  We will be providing a further update on operations and staffing in the near future. Please know that the PGA Frisco development continues to be a focus for the Officers, Board and staff and we will continue to move forward without missing a beat under Seth's leadership in collaboration with the PGA of America executive team.

Hoping that all of you have a safe and enjoyable holiday season.

Regards,

Jim

"Construction nears completion on both courses at PGA Frisco"

Golf Architecture’s Richard Humphreys updates us on construction of 2027 PGA Championship host, the PGA Frisco. The Gil Hanse-designed East course and Beau Welling-designed West course are being constructed at the same time near Dallas with a June 2022 opening scheduled after the PGA of America wisely insisted on a year of grow-in.

While the property didn’t look particularly captivating in photos and flyovers, the early images and comments about the course presentation are pretty exciting:

“The property here reminded me a bit of Southern Hills – the topography, along with the creek so prominently featured,” said Hanse. “Of course, Southern Hills is now surrounded by Tulsa. But when Perry Maxwell built it, Southern Hills probably looked a lot like our site in Frisco does today.

“This used to be a ranch, so we focused on that, along with what is some really interesting topography, good rolling ground. But everything has been done in proportion to the broad expanses we’re dealing with here. In that context the bunkers are the calling card, the most visible feature out there – and they are dramatic.”

And this too:

“The shaping team here is phenomenal,” said Blake Smith, project manager for Heritage Links. “We ended up creating a blowout feature from an old oxbow off number eight that is about the coolest feature you’ve ever seen. And that was actually the idea of Kerry Haig, the PGA’s chief championships officer.

“The design philosophy is to create the feeling of being out there in a ranch setting that has been there for 100 years – with all the tall natives waving, the cart paths that turn into ranch roads, the trees that have been planted to create the look of fence roads, even using barbed wire and hog wire in spots to guide the galleries. Working with Gil and his team is the chance to work outside the box. They tell us what they want, and we say, let us try to do that for you.”

MorningRead.com: "Changes at Golf Channel could get a fuzzy reception"

Thanks to all who sent in John Hawkins’s Morning Read look at the pending downscaling of Golf Channel and demise of GolfChannel.com. I held off on posting the story while awaiting comment on the recent building closure and ensuing disappearance of all studio shows. While a network spokesman has not been able to give an answer about what was happening, channel listings do show Morning Drive and Golf Central returning next week. At least, for the time being. (Before a scaling back when the network moves to Stamford, Connecticut for “geographic consolidation” and tax breaks with one studio show covering pre and post games.)

Multiple sources say the headquarters, closed to ensure safe working conditions after a class action suit was filed against the neighboring Lockheed Martin facility, will reopen next week, while GolfChannel.com has received a very slight reprieve from the expected year-end shuttering first reported on by The Athletic.

Hawkins writes:

The layoffs were made public in June, to be conducted in a two-stage process, and that process is still shaking itself out. The coronavirus hasn’t made things any easier. Nor has a class-action lawsuit involving 11 Golf Channel employees and defense company Lockheed Martin, which owns a plant near the GC complex and is accused in a class-action lawsuit of instigating an “environmental nightmare” with its alleged mismanagement of hazardous toxins.

A source with close knowledge of the case confirmed today that the Golf Channel employee portion of the case has swelled to “about 100” plaintiffs from the 11 originally reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

I repeat: about 100 from 11 just since the Sentinel revealed the suit less than a month ago.

Thoughts and prayers.

Anyway, on a lighter note…

At least one industry insider will tell you that the company began reaching beyond its core audience at a time when its TV rights would come at a substantially higher price, which apparently was the case when the PGA Tour completed negotiations with all of its suitors this spring. ESPN was awarded the digital/streaming rights through 2030, a coveted property, given that so many viewers have taken to watching pro golf on something other than a television.

One correction here and it is a mistake commonly made: ESPN+ will have the rights to what is now PGA Tour Live coverage and miscellaneous featured hole and group feeds. GOLFTV, for those who insist it is a real thing, handles international streaming rights.

However, when Golf Channel’s opening round coverage is on cable Thursdays and Fridays, they retain those digital rights through 2031.

When CBS and NBC are televising, their digital platforms own those rights exclusively as well, not ESPN+.

From a fan and business perspective, NBC’s interest currently lies in its Peacock streaming service—home apparently to 30 Rock reruns in case you had not heard 400 times—as it winds down cable channels. Nothing suggests a large part of golf’s core audience is even remotely prepared for such a move.

Golf Channel ended up paying more for something it already had – something that could be worth less in nine years than it is now. Without live golf as the nucleus of its programming, however, the network’s value would be greatly diminished. It had little choice but to meet the Tour’s financial demands.

True. The real question is how the PGA Tour, the R&A, PGA of America, LPGA, European Tour and now the USGA, feel about handing over coverage hours to a channel where they’re barely turning on the lights and have had late-blooming digital strategy?

Then again, the PGA Tour world has shown a belief in their “product” strength that far exceeds common sense wisdom which says viewers invest in players, courses and weeks in part because of the storytelling around those events.

2021 PGA Merchandise Show Moves To Virtual "Experience & Marketplace"

Given the ongoing pandemic, the PGA of America will not hold the 2021 “Show” this coming January.

Instead a virtual show will take place. A cutting edge one at that.

The PGA Show’s Virtual Experience & Marketplace will drive business, education and networking through a cutting-edge, highly interactive virtual platform featuring:

• New product launch events

• Dynamic exhibitor showrooms

• Commerce applications

• Education sessions & industry presentations

• One-to-one meetings

• Group networking

• Special events

• Golf celebrity and influencer engagement programs

• And so much more!

FYI, spellcheck still throws a red dotted line under influencer. Hope for humankind.

On a serious note, the sad irony in losing this show: with a thriving equipment and accessories business, the event would be its most relevant gathering in a while.

Daylight And TV Windows: KPMG Women's PGA Leaders Won't Go Last

A few folks old enough might remember that majors and Tour events did not always put leaders together or out last, so the rescheduled Women’s PGA Championship plan should not be a big deal. Nonetheless it will be odd to see leaders sandwiched in certain tee time slots Sunday to accommodate TV, which has NASCAR to get to.

From Beth Ann Nichols’ Golfweek story quoting Kerry Haigh:

NBC will air the championship on Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. ET and on Sunday from Noon to 2 p.m., ahead of NASCAR. To make that work, the leaders won’t be teeing off last on Sunday. And if play from Friday pushes to Saturday morning, the same will hold true for the third round as well.

“We feel it’s important that everyone watching the telecast will see the leaders,” said Haigh, “see the leaders play all 18 holes, and we think that is important. And although it’s a little different and out of the box, we as partners with the LPGA and KPMG are prepared to make those changes for what we think will be a greater and a better championship for everyone to observe.”

With even less daylight this November and a thrilling NFL match-up to get to, I wonder if the Lords of Augusta might consider something similar to help ensure proper morning golf course preparation? Or split tees? To be continued.

Sneak Preview, Early Photos Emerge Of The Likely 2041 Ryder Cup Venue

I get that they’re excited down in greater Frisco about the forthcoming PGA of America golf complex, but I’m not sure we needed an early look at the 2041 Ryder Cup possibilities given that we’d like to just get 2020’s Ryder Cup under our belt in…2021.

Anyway, Gil Hanse’s design at the PGA complex in Frisco is starting to look like a golf course, and while I wouldn’t let anyone see it looking like this, Art Stricklin gives a Golf.com update on a course slated to host 20 professional and amateur events over the next two decades.

Never before has a U.S. course had more than 20 professional and amateur golf events — including two PGA Championships (the first in 2027) and two Senior PGA Championships (the first in 2023) — destined for its fairways while it’s still under construction. All course work will be done later this fall, giving the site a year and a half to grow in and mature.

The property also will feature a second course, the West Course, designed by Beau Welling; a practice area and a 10-hole short course; an Omni resort; and PGA headquarters buildings.

One event presumed to be headed to PGA Frisco but which has not yet been officially announced is the most anticipated: a future Ryder Cup. It would represent the first-ever Ryder Cup in North Texas and only the second in the Lone Star State. The next available date is 2041, but that hasn’t stopped the planning or dreaming.

Yes 2041, when Rory McIlroy will be too old and out of touch to Captain a second time and Larry Nelson will still be wondering why he was passed over.

Again, let’s just get 2020’s under our belt and talk later but in the meantime, at least see how the Hanse team is turning a cow pasture into something.

Oakland Hills Wrapping Up Ross Restoration, Wants Majors Back

Those of a certain vintage have seen the restoration movement’s amazing rise. Only a handful of classics are in questionable hands, though they are biggies (Augusta National, Pine Valley, Riviera).

The list of classics undergoing successful restorations is much longer and is adding four once-unthinkables to the repaired, restored, rejuvenated division: Inverness, Oak Hill, Congressional and Oakland Hills.

All mangled for tournament golf by unsympathetic mid-century salesmen, the most prominent of all finally takes the Jones monster off its back: Oakland Hills is wrapping up a Hanse Design restoration and wants back on the major rota.

Tony Paul provides this detail-rich update on the cost, assessment approach for members and the club’s desire to not waste its time with regular PGA Tour golf.

That system cost more than a third of the $12.1-million budget for the project, funded by the membership. Members had the option of paying $10,000 up front or $100 a month for 12 years, or $12,000. It was a major financial and logistical commitment from the membership, which has booked the North Course solid for months this year. There will be more sacrifice next year, with carts not allowed until 2022.

The USGA has sites booked for the U.S. Open through 2027, and the PGA Championship is accounted for through 2031. Oakland Hills clearly hopes it gets one or both, possibly a U.S. Open before the end of the decade. A regular PGA Tour event isn't the goal, and never has been.

"We're here to host a major championship," said Steve Brady, the head pro, adding that even if Oakland Hills doesn't get another major, the membership will find the renovation well worth the commitment. "We're not just about making Tour players rich."

2020 PGA Ratings Roundup: CBS Up With Final Round Peaking At 6.8 Million Viewers; ESPN Draws Best Cable Numbers In Decade

The 2020 PGA Championship started a new 11-year deal for CBS and ESPN with a west coast date but without fans in the COVID-19 era. The lack of buzz did not hurt the numbers, however.

According to Showbuzzdaily, the final round on CBS drew a 3.27 average Nielsen rating, and peaked at 6.873 million during the back nine. That’s up from last year’s first-ever May playing but down significantly from the most recent August playing in 2018 when Brooks Koepka dueled with Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, among others.

ESPN’s week was also a big success, with early Sunday coverage up over 60% from last year, a significantly younger audience, and the most-watched cable portion of the PGA Championship in 10 years. From the ESPN press release:

Sunday’s final round coverage, which aired from noon until 3 p.m. ET, averaged 1,965,000 viewers, up 60 percent over TNT’s final-round telecast from 2019 and the most-viewed final round on cable since 2010. Sunday’s telecast peaked at 2.4 million viewers and was above 2 million from 1:15 – 3 p.m.

Across all four rounds, ESPN averaged 1,659,000 viewers and 399,000 viewers in the ages 18-49 demographic, up 35 percent and 54 percent, respectively, from TNT’s coverage last year. In addition to being the most-viewed PGA Championship on cable since 2010, ESPN’s average of ages 18-49 viewers was up 40 percent over the past five years.

Younger viewers helped drive the increases – viewership among adults ages 18-34 was up 76 percent from 2019 and this was the most-viewed version of the championship on cable in the demographic since 2009.

On the PGA downside, only one of Golf Channel’s “Live From” shows appeared in the cable top 150 last week. Saturday’s post-round show drew a .02 and an average of 111,000 viewers, not quite enough to catch an ESPN middle-of-the-night Korean Baseball Organization game between the Lotte Giants vs. Doosan Bears.

Also, only one LPGA broadcast from last week registered a top 150 rating, Thursday’s opening round of the Marathon Classic, which lagged behind even the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Why the LPGA insisted on playing Thursday to Sunday against a men’s major, when fans were not welcome and scheduling should be more flexible, is a mystery only Commissioner Mike Whan can answer.

The numbers from ShowBuzzDaily:

2020 Ryder Cup Postponement Becomes Official (And The Presidents Cup Was Pushed Back, Too)

Guy Kinnings (European Tour), Seth Waugh (middle, PGA of America), Jay Monahan (PGA Tour)

Kudos to European Tour’s Guy Kinnings and the PGA of America’s Seth Waugh for tolerating the Presidents Cup and Jay Monahan’s efforts to put it on the same plain as the Ryder Cup, all while conducting the 2020-Ryder Cup postponement news.

While there were some funny moments related to efforts at making sure the 2021 Presidents Cup postponement was of great interest, not even question-askers from Charlotte could muster up concerns for the PC’s postponement.

The Ryder Cup is just on a different level. And now it’s set for late September, 2021 at Whistling Straits.

I really enjoyed Seth Waugh’s sincere opening remarks about the responsibility entrusted in him and the PGA of America to do what’s best for what is an “exhibition,” but golf’s greatest one by a lot. Enjoy:

SETH WAUGH: Well, thanks, Julius. It's good to be with everybody this morning, this afternoon and be with our great partners Guy and Jay and everyone out there, so thanks everyone for taking the time. I remember literally my first day on the job was about 21months ago in Paris at the beginning of the Ryder Cup,and I was sitting in the stands for that incredible moment of the Ryder Cup, that first shot on the first day, and the flags are waving and people are singing,and jets are flying over. It's one of those incredible, iconic moments in sports, and Michael Jordan is kind of right next to us and I was sitting right next to Darrell Crall, who's our chief operating officer, and he could see that look in my eye and he goes, yeah, it's an awesome responsibility, isn't it.And you realize that that's what we have, right. It's a gift from our forebears, this incredible exhibition tha tbrings out so much passion.So to answer your last question first, it was a very tough decision. I think people think this is -- it might be easier than it is, but frankly since the speculation started a couple months ago in the press and elsewhere that Ryder Cup would be postponed, we've kind of done everything we could to make it one of those kind of Dewey-beats-Truman headlines, that we really wanted to play this, and it's not -- when I say that,not because where the rumors came from. That's great; that's what makes the Ryder Cup so special. It's the passion that it arouses, the tribalism, the nationalism. It's news even when it's not news, and that's the beauty of this incredible event. So we tried everything we could to make it happen because it would have been such a special year given what everybody has gone through to have pulled it off.

And regarding everything they went through before deciding on the eventual postponement:

We hired an infectious disease expert to advise us. We've talked to the CDC. We've talked to the Broad Institute, we've talked to Scientists versus COVID, the governor of Wisconsin, the county of Sheboygan, obviously our great partners constantly with the TOUR, Ryder Cup Europe, our hosts, the Kohlers, our broadcast partners at NBC. We called the captains. We called many of the players. We talked to some fans. I even went and spoke to Mark Murphy at the Packers, who obviously had some what we thought would be pretty good local information to see what they were thinking, and his perspective was, you know, we hope to play and we hope to play with fans at some point, maybe start with 25 percent and go from there,and I said, we actually need to build Lambeau Field between now and September. And he kind of paused and he said to me, he goes, boy, that's really complicated. He said, I think you might have the hardest decision to make of anybody I've talked to since this thing started, and I said, well, thanks very much. That's very helpful.

Guy Kinnings of the European Tour offered not much rear-view mirror analysis about the impact of players, fans or COVID-19 in the decision, but instead of focused on the future:

The announcement is also good for the brand of the Ryder Cup as a whole, as it allows us to plan the match to be played in front of a full house in September'21, creating that wonderful atmosphere that Seth described that he saw in Paris that makes the Ryder Cup the envy of many around the world.It also will allow for a full qualification process for both teams, ensuring the 24 best players will be in action for Europe and for the U.S. in 15 months' time. Indeed the changes to our qualification process have just been announced ahead of the resumption of the European Tour in Austria tomorrow morning.Finally, as regards Ryder Cup Europe, it's great news for our future venues. Although plans in Marco Simone remain firmly on schedule, today's news that the 44th Ryder Cup will now take place in 2023 instead of 2022will give Italy, a country which has an amazing history of staging very special sporting events, extra time toprepare for hosting golf's greatest team event in what will be an extraordinary occasion in Rome in just overthree years' time.

For Jay Monahan, well, there was that phone call that no Commissioner ever wants to have to make: to the International Captain when there is no American captain to even yet call because the Cup is a year away.

So I think this is a really good solution for players. For us, one of the hard conversations that I had was with Trevor Immelman, captain of the international side,recognizing that now it's a year for him, but as we talked and as he said, if the shoe were on the other foot and we were going to these two organizations, you know, they would respond the same way, and that's the beauty of our sport and that's the beauty of the way that we work together, and this is the right decision for the Ryder Cup, therefore it's the right decision for the Presidents Cup, and we're going to be supportive of it.

In the PGA Tour’s press release about the Presidents Cup moving to 2022, Monahan worked in some wheels-up lingo.

“We are confident the move will give us even more runway as we bring the Presidents Cup to Charlotte in 2022.”

Take that, nautical lingo.

While it’s a bummer not to get a Ryder Cup this year, the move is the right one.

Players were not enthused, the idea of playing with no or limited crowds was not preferred by anyone but a few of us, and the European Tour was supportive despite potential business issues with the move. And, don’t forget the perks of that longer runway for Charlotte in 2022.

ESPN.com: 2020 Ryder Cup Postponement To Become Official

One can only imagine the stories they’ll be able to tell about what went on behind closed doors in the 2020 Ryder Cup discussions.

The PGA Tour’s first day back after the hiatus was dominated by Ryder Cup questions.

Almost three weeks ago, the Guardian said we’d soon learn about the fate the event slated for the end of September.

A majority of the readers here thought the event should be postponed but a surprising number were open to some option this year with limited or no fan access.

As has been well documented, players do not feel it’s a Ryder Cup without fans, led by the top two players in the world.

The European Tour has not sounded excited at all about the business prospects of this notion and even Captain Padraig Harrington came around on this front. But others saw the split with players potentially causing unnecessary disharmony.

The PGA Tour does not want to give up its 2021 Presidents Cup date at Quail Hollow and even tried to poll players acting like budging was not an option..

The PGA of America has to manage the above’s needs plus those of media partners NBC/Golf Channel, Sky and host site Whistling Straits.

And suddenly, managing difficult bank clients all looks like child’s play to PGA CEO Seth Waugh!

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig says the decision has been made, the accountants appeased and the 2020 Ryder Cup will be pushed back a year.

"There will not be a Ryder Cup this year," the source said. "The Ryder Cup will go to 2021, the Presidents Cup to 2022, and then they will alternate from there."

PGA of America Board Votes to Rename the Horton Smith Award

Score one for for Wendell Haskins, the PGA of America’s former director of inclusion efforts during CEO Pete Bevacqua’s years, who penned the organization to highlight how little they had done on the inclusion front. One highlight of the letter was his simple sentence noting Horton Smith’s overt racism.

Current CEO Seth Waugh reached out to Haskins and the two apparently had a healthy conversation that has now led to one noticeable change: the elimination of Smith’s name from the award for outstanding contributions to professional education.

For Immediate Release:

PGA of America Board Votes to Rename the Horton Smith Award

PGA of America sheds historic award with racial ties

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (July 2, 2020) -- The PGA of America Board of Directors has voted to rename the Horton Smith Award effective immediately.  It will be replaced with the new PGA Professional Development Award, honoring a PGA Member for outstanding contributions to professional education. 

The PGA Board of Directors announced renaming the Horton Smith Award, which had been presented annually since 1965, based upon review of its namesake. Horton Smith, a two-time Masters Champion who served as PGA President from 1952-54, was a defender of the “Caucasian-only” membership clause, which was regrettably included in the PGA Bylaws from 1934-61.

The PGA Professional Development Award retains the previous criteria that showcases individuals who have demonstrated achievements in professional education.   

“In renaming the Horton Smith Award, the PGA of America is taking ownership of a failed chapter in our history that resulted in excluding many from achieving their dreams of earning the coveted PGA Member badge and advancing the game of golf,” said PGA President Suzy Whaley. “We need to do all we can to ensure the PGA of America is defined by inclusion. Part of our mission to grow the game is about welcoming all and bringing diversity to the sport. With the new PGA Professional Development Award, we will recognize effective inclusion efforts and honor those across our 41 PGA Sections who continue to promote and improve our educational programs. We look forward to doing more of both as we move forward.”

The first PGA Professional Development Award will be presented Oct. 27-30, during the PGA’s 104th Annual Meeting in Hartford, Connecticut.

Some background on Smith’s pretty passionate pursuit of racism during his time as PGA president, Ed Zieralski’s story on the San Diego ties to the Caucasian-only clause taking a hit.

The former Masters champion was given the USGA’s Bobby Jones Award in 1962 and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.