Director of Professional Golf isn’t a position that a normal golf club has space for on its organizational chart, but Quail Hollow isn’t a normal club.
From the 2022 Presidents Cup to the 2025 PGA Championship, the renowned club in Charlotte, North Carolina – home of the PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo Championship since 2003 – found itself in a unique situation when it was tasked with hosting four events that are run by three different organizations in a 2 ½ year span.
It’s rare for a golf course to host an annual PGA Tour event as well as major championships, and the club identified the challenge as an opportunity to continue to expand its footprint in the game and created the new position that you won’t find anywhere else.
Adam Sperling is the first to self-deprecate his own ability on the golf course and still can’t help but laugh when he thinks of his new position’s title.
“I think the biggest thing with the title was making sure that nobody can confuse me for a director of golf or a head professional,” said Sperling, who was named for the position on Jan. 31, 2023, following his successful stint as the PGA Tour’s executive director for the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club last fall.
The event saw record ticket, hospitality and sponsorship sales under Sperling’s leadership, and the 41-year-old will now be tasked with charting the future of pro golf at the club.
‘How do you get better than what’s best?’
John J. Harris founded Quail Hollow after a little encouragement from none other than his good friend Arnold Palmer, and the course was opened in 1961. Less than two years after the clubhouse opened in 1967, Quail Hollow hosted the PGA Tour’s Kemper Open, which remained in Charlotte until 1979. The club then hosted the World Seniors Invitational from 1980-1989 before the PGA Tour returned in 2003 with the Wachovia Championship, now known as the Wells Fargo Championship.
What makes this week’s annual Tour stop in Charlotte special is its status as one of 17 designated events on the 2022-23 PGA Tour schedule, which will offer a total purse of $20 million and feature PGA Tour stars such as defending champion Max Homa, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and more. While the tournament’s future as designated event is unknown, Quail Hollow is contracted to host the event through 2024, before it welcomes the PGA Championship, May 15-18, 2025.
Quail Hollow has a motto – Good to better, better to best – and events at the…
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