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During Players Championship Week, TPC Sawgrass Kicks into 'High Gear' Under Watchful Eye of Derek Sprague, PGA
By Adam Stanley
Published on
The golf world has it's eyes on TPC Sawgrass this week, where Derek Sprague serves as PGA General Manager.
Derek Sprague will be the first to tell you he has a pretty darn cool job.
And this week at The Players Championship, the spotlight on his job is never brighter.
Sprague, who was the President of the PGA of America in 2015-16, joined TPC Sawgrass as its PGA General Manager in 2018. He was at Malone Golf Club in upstate New York for 26 years before being hired by the PGA TOUR to run Liberty National for two years and then getting tapped on the shoulder to come to Northeast Florida.
Between overseeing a staff in the hundreds – including heaping handfuls of temp workers this week – shaking hands with golf’s top dogs and making time to connect with his fellow PGA pros, this is a busy week for Sprague.
It's a busy week in Sprague's office at TPC Sawgrass during The Players Championship.
But he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love how our employees here really step up this week. They kick it into high gear,” says Sprague. “We’re built for championships. We do a lot of events here, culinary events, golf events, performance center events and then, this week especially, they kick it up a notch with months and months of planning to be on the big stage and they deliver every time.”
TPC Sawgrass is the crown jewel of the PGA TOUR’s TPC network of courses and has been the long-time host of The Players Championship. It is also the global home of the PGA TOUR.
However, despite this being a big week for the TOUR, Sprague – who has served a number of leadership positions within the PGA at both the regional and national level in his three-decade career – said the PGA is well represented. That’s something that he is awfully proud of.
“There are a number of PGA Professionals that we employ here (at TPC Sawgrass), which I’m very proud of, and there are a number of coaches of the best players in the world who are PGA Members, too," says Sprague, who will be working his sixth Players Championship as GM of TPC Sawgrass this week. "It’s great to see them and they’re waving at me and saying hello. It makes me proud that our PGA Members and coaches of the best players in the world are here on our stage this week and it brings it full circle for me."
Sprague said why TPC Sawgrass is such a great host for the best players in the world is because of how it is built for this kind of grand stage. The club does 200 golf outings per year coupled with 500 banquets.
Sprague served as PGA of America President in 2015-16, guiding the Association through its Centennial celebration.
“This is obviously an elevated event for us with the world watching but we have a fantastic team here of employees that do this day in and day out,” notes Sprague of his squad. “We’re doing big events here all the time. Not obviously as big as The Players and we have a lot of temp help this week. But the other 51 weeks of the year this is a busy, iconic place.
“We have a lot of folks from around the world that travel here to play our courses and enjoy our hospitably.”
With a big smile, Sprague said his job is “absolutely” a cool one.
It’s challenging, of course, due to the complexity of the facility, but that adds to the interest. As GM, he’s serving everyone from the best players in the world who live in Ponte Vedra Beach and play and practice at Sawgrass, but also working with the 1,000 social members the club has, plus the people who come to the club just to eat lunch in the clubhouse they see on television every year.
Sprague (far right) and his TPC Sawgrass staff hosted the 2021 PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship, where the final round was contested on the famous Players Stadium Course.
It’s a wide range but that’s what makes it fun.
“There are not too many better places to go to work every single day,” says Sprague. “You come here and look out onto the iconic course and smell the fresh grass and it is definitely a nice office to come to every day.”
And while Sprague is enjoying his job every day, the days this week during The Players Championship are just a little bit extra special.
Sprague shakes hands with 2015 PGA Champion Jason Day, who would go on to win The Players the following spring at TPC Sawgrass.
