PGA of America’s Seth Waugh stepping down from CEO

After six years of serving the PGA of America because the group’s Chief Govt Officer, Seth Waugh has determined to step down.

Waugh, who beforehand served as CEO of Deutsche Financial institution Americas, turned the CEO of the PGA of America in September 2018, the identical month Le Golf Nationwide in Paris hosted the 2018 Ryder Cup. After all, the PGA of America facilitates each the Ryder Cup and the PGA Championship.

However now, a month earlier than Le Golf Nationwide will host the Males’s and Ladies’s Olympic Golf Competitors, Waugh introduced in a assertion that he won’t renew his contract with the group.

“I not too long ago knowledgeable the board that I might not be renewing my contract that’s set to run out on June 30, however I’m honored to proceed to serve the affiliation as a Senior Advisor,” Waugh stated.

Photograph by Michael Reaves/Getty Photos

“It has been an absolute privilege and honor to function the CEO of the PGA of America for the previous six years.”

Waugh has had fairly a tenure. In Might 2019, he helped lead the group at Bethpage Black, which hosted the PGA Championship in Might for the primary time as a substitute of its conventional August date.

Then, a worldwide pandemic disrupted your complete world, which consequently led to a {golfing} increase amongst newbie gamers. Individuals from all walks of life have begun to play the sport as the game continues to develop amongst youthful, extra numerous populations.

However the males’s skilled sport has been divided over the previous few years because of LIV Golf’s prominence. Waugh and the PGA of America have largely stayed out of the PGA Tour-LIV Golf fray, however he did say at Oak Hill in 2023 that “division is just not good for the sport.”

Nonetheless, the PGA of America invited quite a few LIV Golf gamers to compete at Valhalla this 12 months, hoping to create the strongest subject in all golf.

On prime of that, Waugh has repeatedly opined about rolling again the golf ball, which has sparked controversy over the previous decade. The US Golf Affiliation (USGA) and the R&A—the 2 governing our bodies golf has—needed to create a rule the place skilled golfers would use a limited-distance golf ball to fight the preposterous size gamers now have.

“We concern that the proposed modifications might significantly interrupt the present momentum within the sport and be essentially damaging and detrimental in the long term,” Waugh wrote in July 2023.

“It’s one thing that we really feel might result in division and trigger us to lose a really precarious attribute of golf; the truth that all of us play on the identical course with the identical golf equipment and balls. In our view, this dynamic must be preserved as a basic tenet.”

To reply, the USGA and the R&A determined that, as a substitute of making a unique ball for professional circuits, all golfers should play with a more moderen limited-distance ball that can be instituted in professional occasions in 2028 and among the many newbie sport by 2030.

“The easiest will determine this new ball and learn how to hit it farther than I actually do,” Waugh stated at Valhalla in Might 2024.

Photograph by Darren Carroll/PGA of America through Getty Photos

“I believe our largest concern is for that a part of the sport that’s rising, are you going to form of disrupt that for one-half of 1 % which are on the market, proper, and the place do you draw the road of what’s elite and what’s not? Is a membership championship elite or not? And so, we’re glad it’s one rule, and the sport can be greater than any of this. We are able to all argue about it, however the sport can be superb each recreationally and, I believe, professionally, as properly.”

Waugh has witnessed some unimaginable occasions play out throughout his tenure, too.

He noticed Phil Mickelson develop into the oldest main champion at Kiawah Island. He additionally witnessed Justin Thomas win his second Wanamaker Trophy at Southern Hills in 2022. Then, Michael Block turned an web sensation at Oak Hill, jarring a hole-in-one on the fifteenth gap that golf followers will keep in mind endlessly.

Plus, he watched the Individuals win the Ryder Cup on residence soil in 2021, when Steve Stricker captained Crew USA to victory in his native Wisconsin.

Nonetheless, a captain has but to be introduced for the 2025 competitors at Bethpage Black. Luke Donald, in the meantime, will return because the chief of Crew Europe after their resounding victory in Rome final fall.

Nonetheless, Waugh feels assured in his work and can proceed to seek the advice of the group as an advisor. PGA of America Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh will function CEO within the interim.

“The objective from the beginning was to depart the room higher than we discovered it, and I consider that collectively, we have now carried out simply that,” Waugh added.

“I wish to thank the membership, my colleagues, all the varied board members, previous presidents, our extraordinary companions, my friends in any respect the opposite golf our bodies, in addition to everybody who performs and loves our lovely sport for all of the assist and friendship throughout this journey. What a present this has been.”

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By means of. You’ll want to take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.