Tag: Kerry Haigh

PGA of America executives ‘absolutely’ worried about ‘messy’ state of pro golf

“I think the best thing for the game is a deal. And we’ve been very consistent on that front,” said CEO Seth Waugh.

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This week’s 2024 PGA Championship will most likely feature more LIV Golf players – 16, to be exact – than any other major championship this season as the professional game will briefly unite once again at Valhalla Golf Club.

Ahead of the 106th playing of the PGA of America’s flagship event, the organization’s President John Lindert, CEO Seth Waugh and Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh all gathered for a press conference and addressed the “messy” state of pro golf as the PGA Tour and LIV continue to battle for eyeballs and interest.

Waugh said he was “absolutely” worried about the game at the professional level, noting how “it seems to get messier every week.” As an optimist, however, he hopes this is the darkness before the dawn.

“I think the best thing for the game is a deal. And we’ve been very consistent on that front,” said Waugh. “What has been an unsustainable business model has put pressure on other places like the (PGA Tour) that creates some financial dynamics as well as other dynamics that are very hard, and quite frankly it puts some financial pressure on us, as well.”

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“I don’t think the game is big enough for two tours like that, and I think we are diluting the game in a way that is not healthy. We’ve said that, really, from the beginning,” he continued. “I hope there’s a deal. I think both sides are not only committed to trying to find a deal but really need a deal, and in my history of deal making, when both sides kind of need something to happen, it generally does.”

Waugh wouldn’t speak on the timing and noted while he has connections to those in the discussions, he doesn’t have any information the rest of us don’t already possess. Tiger Woods, who is on the subcommittee that will negotiate with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, spoke on the status of the negotiations on Tuesday and echoed what’s been said for months: progress is being made. Jon Rahm, who made the move to LIV late last year, said he thinks a deal will be done but doesn’t want a rushed resolution.

“I hope there’s urgency because I do think it’s doing damage to the Tour, to the game,” added Waugh. “As I said earlier, I hope it’s short-term damage, as opposed to permanent damage, and so I hope there’s some urgency in the timing around it because I just don’t think it’s a healthy situation right now.”

When it comes to players in the field, the PGA of America will invite those in the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking who aren’t already exempt. Of the 16 LIV players on site this week, seven received special invites from the PGA of America. Four were inside the top 100 of the OWGR. Of the three who were not, Dean Burmester and David Puig both tried to earn their way in by playing on the DP World Tour and Asian Tour, respectively, and both won at least once. The outlier is Gooch, who has only played for LIV since he joined the Saudi-backed circuit and earlier this month said he won’t be attempting to qualify for the U.S. Open while 34 of his colleagues will try to play their way in.

Talor Gooch of the United States walks to the eighth tee during a practice round prior to the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on May 15, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Haigh avoided a direct question about Gooch’s invitation being strictly based on his LIV performance – he’s currently eighth on LIV’s season-long standings for 2024 but won the season-long individual championship last year – and gave no hint about LIV-specific qualifying criteria being implemented.

“Well, our invitation process has been pretty much the same for many years. You know, we have 15 criteria that are pretty much set, and then there’s an opportunity for us to invite those players who may not be in those 15 criteria,” said Haigh. “That process over the years has made us be able to have what we feel is a field we are really proud of. It brings the best players in the whole world together to compete on a great golf course for a major championship, and that’s what we pride — we are very proud of the field that we have, and we feel they are the best players in the game.”

“We have the most flexibility of any of the majors, right. We are not bound to World Rankings. We are not bound to special invitations,” Waugh added. “But Kerry has the ability, we all have the ability, to kind of lean in and really pick the best field in golf, and that’s never been, frankly, more important than it is right now.”

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Seth Waugh doubles down on LIV Golf’s flawed strategy and 4 other things from the PGA of America presser

“I struggle and I have since the beginning, even before the beginning, with understanding how it’s a sustainable business model.”

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — PGA CEO Seth Waugh had some fiery takes — literally — about LIV Golf ahead of this week’s PGA Championship.

“Their logic about the team play being something significant that people can get behind I think is flawed,” Waugh told The Times. “I don’t think people really care about it. And I don’t see how it’s a survivable business model.

“They can fund it for as long as they want to, but no matter how much money you have, at some point, burning it doesn’t feel very good. I don’t see they are accomplishing much. It seems logical to me, then, that you would work towards some sort of agreement. I hope the game comes back together in some form.”

On Tuesday, Waugh spoke during the PGA’s annual state of the association press conference ahead of the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill, and he didn’t exactly walk back his previous comments.

“We don’t think division is in the best interest of the game,” Waugh said. “As a former businessman who looks at things, I think disruption is a good thing. I think good things have happened from that. Certainly, the players are better off in a lot of ways from what it was. I think having more the fans deal with — get to see more of the great players together more often is a good thing. I think there’s more interest in the game frankly as a result of all this disruption.

“But when asked, I struggle and I have since the beginning, even before the beginning, with understanding how it’s a sustainable business model.”

Waugh and PGA’s Kerry Haigh, chief championships officer, addressed a wide assortment of questions. Here are five more things to know from their press conference.

Fleece or flip-flops: The weather is greatest unknown for 105th PGA Championship in May at Oak Hill, as seen in the 2008 Senior PGA

Only Mother Nature knows for sure whether fans will be dressed in fleece or flip-flops.

“Bring some nice warm clothes,” advised Kerry Haigh, chief championships officer for the PGA of America.

Then he added: “And bring some warm weather so you won’t need your warm clothes.”

Such is the conundrum of hosting the 105th PGA Championship at Oak Hill’s East Course in Rochester, New York, where only Mother Nature knows for sure whether fans will be dressed in fleece or flip-flops May 18-21.

“Oak Hill is a hard enough course in beautiful weather,” said Jay Haas. “Heaven forbid if they have a late spring.”

Haas, now 69, should know. Fifteen years ago, he survived windy, wet, bitter-cold conditions to win the 2008 Senior PGA Championship. The first few days of that event the temperature dipped into the low 40s, an example of the worse-case scenario for Haigh come May. And this year’s PGA Championship is being staged one week earlier than the senior version that has some of its competitors still thawing out. It has some concerned that the weather at this year’s PGA could be something the pros want no part of, especially if it snows. (The 7-day forecast predicts temps ranging from 40-71 degrees, with a high of 56 on Wednesday but hitting 70 on Friday.)

MORE: PGA Championship live updates

Veteran pro Leonard Thompson, who made more than 1,000 starts combined between the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, remembers teeing off on the 10th hole at Oak Hill in 2008, his first hole of the championship, and it was sleeting.

“I missed the cut there and I wasn’t that upset about it,” he recalled. “None of us could figure out why they went there in May. That’s not prime season in Rochester.”

2008 Senior PGA Championship
Jay Haas at the 69th Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on May 22, 2008, in Rochester, New York. (Photo: Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

There’s a reasonable explanation for the decision to host the PGA Championship on Lake Ontario’s southern shore this May: it wasn’t part of the original plan.

When the PGA of America signed a contract in September 2015 to bring the PGA Championship there a decade after Jason Dufner won what has proved to be his lone major, the PGA still was held in its customary August date and was dubbed “Glory’s Last Shot” as the final major of the season. But that was before the PGA Tour decided to revamp its schedule and bump the FedEx Cup Playoffs into August so that its season concluded before college football and the NFL kicked off and dominated the attention of sports fans.

To do so, the Players Championship shifted to March, opening a window for the PGA Championship to have the spotlight in May. The first spring PGA was held in 2019 at Bethpage Black in New York and the weather cooperated. Last year, the temperature the week of the PGA was warmer in Rochester than in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Justin Thomas won the Wanamaker Trophy for the second time.

“Low 60s will be a beautiful day,” Haigh said of the weather at Oak Hill. “From an agronomy standpoint, the question is will they be able to grow the grass? They just need a minimal growing season.”

That’s a big if.

In 2008, the Senior PGA Championship dealt with frost delays during the practice rounds. An Eastern Mountain Sports store in a nearby shopping plaza had a run on gloves, performance undergarments and stocking caps. The lemonade stands and ice-cream carts at the course? They never opened for business. Too chilly. One look at the 10-day forecast led to a wave of pre-tournament withdrawals, including the likes of Ben Crenshaw, Fred Funk and Lanny Wadkins. And even those who showed up had second thoughts. Nick Price cited a back injury in withdrawing after shooting 3-over 38 for nine holes in the second round while Jerry Pate cited no reason after carding a 14-over 84 in the first round, which wasn’t even the highest score in the 156-player field.

“It was unforgiving, one of the hardest weeks we’ve had,” said Haigh.

Craig Harmon, who retired in 2013 as Oak Hill’s head pro after a distinguished 42 years at the club, said he was glad to see Oak Hill play tough in 2008, although the rough may have been too thick, heavy and wet for the 50-and-over set.

“You don’t want your historic golf course to play like a pitch-and-putt and 22 under wins,” Harmon said. “I remember when Johnny Miller shot 63 at Oakmont in the final round of the (1973) U.S. Open, the following year the Open was at Winged Foot and my dad (Claude) was the pro there and he said to the superintendent, ‘No one is shooting 63 next year on our watch.’ They grew the rough up and it was called the Massacre at Winged Foot.”

Hale Irwin famously won the 1974 Open with a score of 7 over par. After a loss at the 1995 Ryder Cup at Oak Hill, Haas found redemption by winning the 2008 Senior PGA with the highest winning score in championship history at 7 over. Haas played the first two rounds alongside Irwin, who missed the cut at Oak Hill’s massacre. But before he departed for warmer climes, Irwin left a note in Haas’s locker encouraging him that his game was sharp and to go take the title.

“Hale wasn’t one to throw around bouquets,” Haas said.

The mercury rose enough on the weekend to be tolerable, but scoring kept rising too. In the third round, Haas hit a low, drawing 8-iron from 172 yards at the 17th hole that rolled in for eagle and catapulted him into a tie for the lead. At Sunday’s trophy ceremony, Harmon watched from nearby, and as soon Haas finished his various duties he made a beeline to Harmon and said, “I’m on the wall baby,” a reference to joining an impressive roll call of the winners of majors at Oak Hill who are pictured in the club’s Hill of Fame.

2008 Senior PGA Championship
The 69th Senior PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on May 24, 2008 in Rochester, New York. (Photo: Hunter Martin/Getty Images)

In preparation for hosting the 105th PGA, Oak Hill superintendent Jeff Corcoran handled normal spring maintenance practices such as aerification to the course in the fall, knowing that any recovery time would be limited for a May championship. In another new twist, the PGA instructed its tent company to build out the scaffolding of its three largest structures ahead of time. That should allow them to do the rest of the decking and flooring even while snow still is on the ground.

What will the move to May mean for future championships? The PGA still has Aronimink in Pennsylvania (2026), Baltusrol in New Jersey (2029) and Congressional in Maryland (2030) on the docket in coming years, but the May date could eliminate the traditional great courses of the northeast from future consideration. It very well could be that Oak Hill’s fourth PGA Championship since 1980 could be its swansong.

“As long as the weather is halfway reasonable it can be our greatest championship yet,” said Haigh, trying to put a positive spin on the biggest unknown of staging this major. “Let’s talk in June about future PGAs at Oak Hill.”

By then, it might even be flip-flop weather.

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Kerry Haigh Q&A: The PGA of America’s setup man on setting up Oak Hill for the 105th PGA Championship

As chief championships officer for the PGA of America, he’ll make sure every blade of grass at Oak Hill meets his exacting standards.

Kerry Haigh has been at the forefront of every PGA Championship since 1989 at Kemper Lakes outside of Chicago.

As chief championships officer for the PGA of America, Haigh will make sure every blade of grass at Oak Hill meets his exacting standards for the 105th PGA Championship.

Haigh, a native of England and a scratch golfer before turning his attention to golf administration as a career, is a straight shooter with perhaps one exception: he won’t reveal the speed of the greens at the PGA Championship beyond stating they are “championship speed.”

But, nevertheless, his tireless efforts to make sure a winner is declared on Sunday despite unscheduled weather interruptions that routinely pop up, have earned him a reputation as peerless at what he does.

Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y., should serve up a splendid setting for a major yet again, and as Haigh told Golfweek, “As long as the weather is halfway reasonable it can be our greatest championship yet.”

MORE: PGA Championship live updates

Here are six things Haigh shared with the media ahead of the 2023 PGA Championship.

PGA Championship tournament officials defend prices of concessions at Southern Hills

Said Kerry Haigh, Chief Championships Officer of the PGA of America: “We’re comfortable with where we are.”

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TULSA, Okla. — There has been severe sticker shock at the prices on concessions this week at the 2022 PGA Championship, with the prices on the cans of beer reaching almost $20 a pop.

Michelob Ultra is going for $18, Stella Artois $19. A glass of wine is $13. Souvenir and signature cocktails are $19. Some of the food prices: $16 for the chicken Caesar salad, $14 for the Butcher’s Grind Cheeseburger is $14, $8 for a hot dog.

Justin Thomas saw the news and reacted on Twitter to the high prices.

“Gotta treat the fans better than that,” he said.

Brooks Koepka, who counts Michelob Ultra among his many sponsors, defended the prices.

“Yeah. Michelob Ultra is 18 bucks, but it’s a tall boy,” he said, referring to the fact that the cans of beer at Southern Hills are of the 25 oz. variety. “It’s bigger than the normal 12 ounces, 16 ounces. It’s bigger than the normal ones, so you’ll be all right. You drink enough, you’ll be fine.”

Tournament officials were asked about the prices as well Tuesday.

“We do have a new concession area, but we also have a new ticketing pricing offering for all the spectators this year, which includes basically as much food and non-alcoholic beverage as they want included in the price of the ticket,” Kerry Haigh, Chief Championships Officer of the PGA of America, said. “Starting Thursday, spectators will be able to drink non-alcoholic beverages and as much food as they want for the price of their ticket. For those on the practice days, all spectators can bring in bottled water, and starting Thursday we’ll have refills on water.

“The pricing of the product is sort of comparable to stadium events. We’re comfortable with where we are, and we hope spectators will come out and have a great time and a great experience.”

Seth Waugh, CEO of the PGA of America, admitted things may need tweaking.

“It’s a new model for us, right, so at the end of it we’ll go back and, like we always do, try to figure out if it worked or didn’t work and what we can do better and raise the bar.”

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