NEWTOWN SQUARE, Penn. — The PGA of America has undergone more leadership changes than a Banana Republic, but there has been one consistent figure over the years and that man is Kerry Haigh.
A native of Dorcester, England, and a scratch golfer before turning his attention to golf administration as a career, Haigh has been at the forefront of every PGA Championship for the past 37 years.
Former PGA CEO Jim Awtrey hired him away from Kemper Sports after he served as tournament director at the 1989 PGA at Kemper Lakes outside of Chicago.
Before becoming the PGA chief, Awtrey was director of operations and oversaw the setup of the championship venue. Once, at the 1986 PGA at Inverness in Ohio, he was called out the seventh green because putts from above the hole weren’t stopping on the second level. That green had been single cut all week but it had rained that night and the superintendent double cut the green thinking it would be slower than the other greens. He miscalculated and both Bob Tway, the eventual champion, and Greg Norman, who finished second, three-putted that green. Awtrey turned over responsibility for the course setup to Haigh after another incident at the 1992 PGA at Bellerive in St. Louis. During one of the rounds, the tee was moved back at the 10th hole, a short par-4 with a sharp dogleg. The only problem with that plan was some players could no longer reach the corner of the dogleg and shoot for the green.
“We had a good talk that day,” Haigh recalled all these years later in the lead up to the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club. “I told Jim that the better route was to put one person in charge and if that person messes up you fire them. We needed someone to take responsibility.”
Awtrey agreed and made an executive decision, telling Haigh to take over and “do it right.”
“I told Kerry I want you to start setting up the course and I will explain it to the Committee. I granted him the authority and he’s done it all these years without any interference. No one steps in his way,” Awtrey said. “The biggest consistency at the PGA has been Kerry, and we’ve never had a problem with the course setup since he’s been in charge.”
After graduating from the University of Leeds, Haigh worked for the Professional Golfers’ Association in Great Britain, organizing events throughout Europe. In 1984, he became a tournament official for the LPGA Tour, working more than 30 tournaments a year.
As chief championships officer for the PGA, Haigh will make sure every blade of grass at Aronimink meets his exacting standards for the PGA Championship. Haigh isn’t a man of many words and don’t even bother trying to get him to reveal the speed of the greens at the PGA Championship. He won’t go beyond stating they are “championship speed.” Asked on Wednesday to share this year’s purse, he replied, “The prize money is announced on Saturday morning.”
His tireless efforts to make sure a winner is declared on Sunday have not gone unnoticed despite unscheduled weather interruptions that routinely pop, up and have earned him a reputation as peerless at what he does.
“I think Kerry Haigh is the best in the business at setting golf courses up,” Rory McIlroy once said. “I’ve said that for a long time.”
Former PGA CEO Seth Waugh once dubbed Haigh the course whisperer and CBS Sports’s Jim Nantz praised Haigh as only he can.
“Kerry Haigh for decades now has had an uncanny ability to present a thrilling down-to-the-wire championship race for the Wanamaker trophy,” Nantz said. “He takes courses that maybe don’t look all that exciting at first glance and turns them into great theater. And I think that in the end is what makes it so much fun. The PGA has given us in some years the very best story of the year in golf.”
Haigh is still based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, one of the few PGA employees that hasn’t relocated to its new headquarters in Frisco, Texas. But even at 67, he hasn’t given any indication that he’s slowing down. Any retirement plans are being held close to the vest, nor has he named a successor yet.
“They know who they are. I’m not going to name names but nobody has been promised anything,” Haigh said. “It all depends how they do.”
A 37th PGA in a row this week has Haigh energized and he still living by the maxim that you’re only as good as your next tournament.
“I still love it,” he said. “It’s a beautiful game.”
