Baltimore, Md – Ted Bishop of Franklin, Ind., was elected the 38th
President of The Professional Golfers’ Association of America at the
Association’s 96th Annual Meeting in Baltimore. Bishop previously served as Secretary from
2009-2010 and as Vice President from 2011-2012.
Bishop, 59, succeeds Alan Wronowski
of Bel Air, Md., who will serve on The PGA Board of Directors as Honorary President.
Succeeding Bishop as Vice President is Derek Sprague of Malone, N.Y., who
served the past two years as Secretary. Paul
Levy, of Indian Wells, Calif., was elected Secretary.
As the
President of the largest sports organization in the world, Bishop follows in
the footsteps of two other Indiana PGA Professionals to serve as PGA President;
Don Padgett (1977-78) and Mickey Powell (1985-86).
“It’s an exciting time for Indiana
golf and we are honored to have the President of the PGA hail from our Section,”
said Mike David, Indiana Section Executive Director. “Ted’s communication skills are outstanding
and his knowledge of PGA issues is extensive. I think there will be some
positive changes as he takes over as President and I think he will make a
tremendous effort to include the grass roots professionals in the governance
process.”
A native of Logansport, Ind., Bishop
graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Agronomy in 1976
and began his professional career as a PGA Professional and superintendent at
the Phil Harris Golf Course in Linton, Ind. He was elected to PGA membership in
September 1985, and has served in a leadership capacity at either the Section
or National levels since 1989. From 1997-98, Bishop served as president of the
Indiana PGA Section, and was the 1998 Indiana PGA Golf Professional of the
Year. He is the 1991 recipient of the Horton Smith Award and a two-time
(1996-97) Section Bill Strausbaugh Award.
He has twice been awarded the
prestigious Sagamore of the Wabash by the Governor of Indiana for service to
the communities that he has resided in.
Bishop is the General Manager at The
Legends Golf Club in Franklin, Ind., where he oversaw construction and
development in 1991.
Well-versed in virtually every
aspect of Association governance, Bishop has served on the PGA Board of Directors
since 2006, and the PGA Board of Control from 2002-05 where he evaluated
hundreds of membership cases. He later served as Chairman of the BOC while
Secretary of the PGA.
He and his wife, Cindy, live in
Franklin, Ind., and are the parents of daughters, Ashely Davidson, a membership
director at The Legends of Indiana Golf Club; and Ambry Bishop, a PGA assistant
professional at St. Andrews Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and the head
women’s golf coach at St. John’s University.
Ted and Cindy are proud grandparents
to Reid and Remy Davidson.
During his first address to the PGA
membership, Bishop expressed thanks to his family, Mike David and the Indiana
Section including the current officers Todd Firestone, Keith Clark, Tony
Pancake, Tim Frazier and outgoing Past President Jack Barber.
Bishop admitted there was no sense
of euphoria at becoming President.
“The only thing I can equate it to
is when I opened the golf course. There
is all this build up and then you turn the key and open the door and there are
a whole new set of worries,” said Bishop. “Now you’re worried about whether
people are going to like the course, how much revenue you will generate, if
you’ll have players.”
Although, Bishop said he understands
and is ready for the task at hand.
”We will celebrate in two years but
right now we have a lot to accomplish.”