Kerry Haigh has held one of the most quietly powerful jobs in professional golf for nearly four decades, and almost no one outside the sport's inner circle knows his name.
As chief championships officer for the PGA of America, Haigh is responsible for the setup of every PGA Championship course, a role he has held for 37 years through multiple leadership changes at the organization. This year, he turns his attention to Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, for the 108th PGA Championship.
According to a report by Yahoo Sports, Haigh's path to the role began at the 1989 PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes outside of Chicago, where he served as tournament director. Former PGA CEO Jim Awtrey hired him away from Kemper Sports shortly after. But it was a specific incident at the 1992 PGA Championship at Bellerive in St. Louis that handed Haigh full control of course setup. During one of the rounds, a tee was moved back at the 10th hole, a short par-4 with a sharp dogleg, and 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 in the lead up to this year's championship. "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, telling Haigh to take over and do it right. Awtrey later reflected on that decision plainly. "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."
The concern over course setup at that level was not new. Even before Haigh took over, Awtrey himself had encountered problems. At the 1986 PGA Championship at Inverness in Ohio, he was called out to the seventh green because putts from above the hole were not stopping on the second level. The green had been single cut all week, but it had rained overnight and the superintendent double cut it, believing it would play slower than the other greens. He miscalculated. Both Bob Tway, the eventual champion, and Greg Norman, who finished second, three-putted that green.
Haigh grew up in Dorchester, England, played to a scratch handicap, and later shifted his focus to golf administration. After graduating from the University of Leeds, he worked for the Professional Golfers' Association in Great Britain, organizing events throughout Europe. In 1984, he joined the LPGA Tour as a tournament official, working more than 30 tournaments a year before eventually landing with the PGA of America.
His demeanor on the job is as controlled as the courses he sets up. Haigh does not discuss green speeds publicly, describing them only as championship speed. When asked earlier this week to share the prize money for this year's championship, he offered a short answer: "The prize money is announced on Saturday morning."
The 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club gets underway this week.
