PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- The PGA TOUR announced today that TPC Sawgrass Golf Course Superintendent Fred Klauk will retire after 25 years of service. Klauks retirement will take effect following the 2008 PLAYERS Championship, but he will remain involved with the TOUR as a project manager to help with the transition of his successor and assist with the 2009 & 2010 PLAYERS Championship. The announcement was made by David Pillsbury, President of PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties.
‘Freds numerous contributions to the TOUR during his 25 years of dedicated service will be dearly missed, said Pillsbury. Fred leaves an extraordinary legacy of superb golf course maintenance and tournament agronomy excellence. We wish him the very best as he begins this next chapter in his life and we are pleased that he will remain a valued and integral part of the PGA TOUR family.
During his more than quarter century career with the PGA TOUR, Klauk prepared golf courses for 27 PGA TOUR tournaments, including 22 PLAYERS Championships and the 1996 U.S. Amateur Championship. His crowning achievement was to spearhead last years renovation of THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass and the elevation of THE PLAYERS Championship through numerous competitive and fan enhancements.
I am personally indebted to Fred for his outstanding leadership, willingness to help and consistently positive attitude, said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem. Freds contributions to the elevation of THE PLAYERS Championship have had and will continue to have a dramatic and lasting effect.
An accomplished golfer and former club champion, Klauk is 31-year member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture.
Among the numerous awards he has received over the years, Klauk earned Golfweeks 2000 Golf Father-of-the-Year award, having passed his love for golf down to his three sons, all of whom are excellent players. His son, Jeff is a player on the Nationwide Tour; son John, a former NCAA All American golfer at Texas, works for Merrill-Lynch in Los Angeles; and son Jason works as an investment banker for FBR in Washington, D.C.
Klauk looks forward to trading in his signature straw hat for a fishing cap and to traveling with Peggy, his wife of 34 years.
