It’s been more than three months since Seth Waugh announced he was stepping down as CEO of the PGA of America. Little has been said since about the progress in finding a new hire.
All that we know is that Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh stepped in to serve as interim CEO, but the PGA made it clear that Haigh wouldn’t be part of the candidate pool for Waugh’s replacement, and Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm, was chosen to help in the process.
Golfweek has learned that the PGA of America interviewed 10 candidates and narrowed its list to two or three finalists, who were interviewed in New York City while the search committee was there for the Ryder Cup “One Year Out” press conference and associated events on Oct. 8. The search committee is believed to consist of seven members – three officers and four other board members – including Gideon Yu, one of its independent directors and a former COO at Facebook and YouTube.
With the PGA’s annual meeting being held in a few weeks in Grand Rapids, Michigan, from Nov. 4-8, it is expected that a decision on a new leader could be imminent so that a new CEO could be introduced to the membership during their national gathering.
“That would be a missed opportunity if that didn’t happen,” a source said.
Who will fill those fancy loafers (sans socks) of Waugh remains a mystery.
“They’re pretty tight-lipped about it, and I didn’t hear who made the finalists,” an industry insider said. “Culturally, they’re really looking to have someone who can connect with the PGA membership and bridge the gap between these guys making seven figures in their Ivy Tower in Frisco and the club pro who is working 12-hour days six if not seven days a week. How can they make the average PGA professional’s life better? So I think they’re trying to bridge that gap with whoever they choose as a leader.”
Finding the right person for the job is doubly hard for this very reason because the position demands multiple skillsets.
“One of the perennial challenges that the PGA has had is you got two very different businesses going on. You’ve got the championships, which is the golden goose, and they feel a strong need to future-proof those assets in some way, so, they’re probably going to want a CEO who has experience with those kinds of leadership and management decisions on $100-$200 million businesses, and then they’ve got the 30,000 members in the association side. It’s a very different business serving the members. And how are you helping them better the profession and advance the game of golf so that it can be a healthy place for the profession to thrive?” a source said.
Among the likely internal candidates would be Craig Kessler, who came from Topgolf and has served as COO for the last two years. Some sources say he was being groomed for the CEO role but as one source put it, “He doesn’t command a room when he walks into it.”
John Easterbrook is the chief membership officer and a PGA Class A pro, but he’s in his 60s and it is believed that he missed his window. Jeff Price, the chief marketing officer, chose not to be under consideration.
Golfweek hears that several PGA members were encouraged to apply for the job and that finding a candidate with that distinction was a priority but the role may have become beyond the scope of their background. None of the last three CEOs of the PGA – Waugh, Pete Bevacqua and Joe Steranka – were Class A members.
“I would hate to see the PGA go back to hiring a member,” a longtime PGA member said. “I just feel like that’s what you’ve got a board for.”
“You have to have the gravitas or the leadership to be able to handle the championships and all that, especially with LIV Golf, and the impact happening on everybody in that ecosystem. Then you have to experience negotiating $100 million deals, but culturally the pendulum is swinging where they want leadership that really understands the PGA member and can be in touch with the membership side and really serve and lead them,” an industry insider said.
While the PGA declined to comment for this story, we feel confident in saying that the next CEO of the PGA will be expected to relocate to Frisco, Texas, home of the association’s new headquarters. Other than that, we haven’t run into any loose lips yet so did the next best thing and asked several industry insiders who they’d target for the job. Here’s a look at some of the names to emerge:
Chip Brewer
Brewer, the president and CEO of Topgolf Callaway Brands Corp., would be a tremendous choice for the job. Brewer has been in his current post since 2012 and has done a great turnaround job at Callaway but the acquisition of Topgolf hasn’t worked out and the company announced plans to spin it off or sell it. Brewer previously turned Adams Golf into a leader in hybrids and lived in the Dallas area when he ran that company. Brewer’s father was a former independent director at the PGA, too. Chip is incredibly well-connected and has the pulse of the industry, understands the business as well as anybody and is forward-thinking.
“He would be a real CEO figure,” an industry source said. “There’s no better person as far as knowing the industry than Chip.”
The big question would be is he ready to move on from the equipment world that he’s lived in for the last few decades and is he willing to take a big pay cut?
Jon Podany
Podany has served as the CMO at the USGA since 2021. Having already worked in high-ranking posts at the PGA Tour and LPGA, he’s certainly qualified, well-connected and respected — and could fill another spot on his association bingo card. Podany also had a short stint heading up Arnold Palmer Enterprises. He was a finalist for the LPGA’s Commissioner position and it’s possible he’d still like a chance at calling the shots at one of golf’s premier associations.
Dave Pillsbury
Golfweek hears that Pillsbury passed on interviewing for this role, but his name came up repeatedly. He’s the CEO of Invited and probably has more PGA professionals under his employ than anyone in the country. He once was considered a contender to replace Tim Finchem as PGA Tour Commissioner but that job ended up going to Jay Monahan.
Jim Richerson
Richerson has run the golf operations for Kohler Co., and currently is the general manager at Riviera Country Club, so he’s run some big golf businesses before. He’s a past PGA president and sources say he expressed an interest in the position. If the PGA truly made having a PGA Class A card a top requirement, he would rise among the candidates. But during his term as president, he was known for an abrasive personality and one source said, his hiring would be deemed “polarizing.” “Half the staff would leave before he started,” a source said.
Dan Rooney
Lt. Col. Rooney is the founder and CEO of Folds of Honor. Sixteen years ago, Rooney founded the non-profit that raises money for scholarships to be given to children and spouses of fallen and disabled servicemen and women, as well as first responders. It’s had a long relationship with the PGA. Rooney and his family also own and operate a PGA facility. He’s got relationships with both players and industry types and is a charismatic leader/natural-born salesman, who can relate to the club pro and also handle the bright lights during Ryder Cup and PGA Championship press conferences. One source called him “a name out of left field,” but at closer examination, he might check a lot of boxes.
Suzy Whaley
Whaley became the ninth woman ever to obtain PGA Master Professional certification and is the PGA Director of Instruction for the Country Club at Mirasol in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. In 2014, she became the first woman elected to serve as an officer of the PGA of America, and she became the first woman to serve as the organization’s president in November 2018. She’s devoted her entire professional career to the game and it would only be fitting if she was the PGA’s first female CEO, should they choose to go in that direction.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Six speculative names to be the next PGA of America CEO (and what we’re hearing about the hiring process)
