Tag: St. Jude Golf Tournament

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Q&A: FESJC Director Joe Tomek

Joe Tomek current official PGA TOUR staff headshot.

Amen Corner. Azaleas in bloom. Jim Nantz and gentle atmospheric music. Golf is in the air as the Masters takes the sports world’s center stage this weekend. Seems like the right time for a visit with Joe Tomek, the new executive director of the FedEx St. Jude Championship. TPC Southwind will deliver its own charms August 11-14.

Memphis Flyer: Welcome to Memphis. What are your impressions of the city, now that you call it home?

Joe Tomek: My predecessor, Darrell Smith, told me, “If you love Memphis, Memphis will love you back.” My wife and I arrived [in December] with open minds, ready to learn about the city. We had certainly heard what national media and outsiders had to say, but it’s been fun to explore the different areas, the food scene, go on hikes. There have been so many people willing to reach out, with no objective. I’m learning different opinions about our golf tournament, the history. We feel very welcome. There’s a connection [to the tournament] everywhere.

And what about TPC Southwind, your new home course?

It doesn’t get the national recognition some of the big-name courses do, but it’s by far one of the most underrated courses on the PGA Tour. Our players will say that. I bet the vast majority would put Southwind in their top-five courses. It’s not because it’s easy; it’s challenging. But it’s a fair challenge. It rewards good shots and punishes the bad ones. When a player is on his game, he can score really low.

After three years as part of the World Golf Championships, the FedEx St. Jude Championship now opens the FedExCup Playoffs. What’s the significance of the transition, and what can Memphis fans expect from the tournament’s new format?

There’s a lot of change, and it can be confusing, misunderstood. But since the FedExCup system was established in 2007, this has been the goal: to host the playoffs in Memphis. We’re at the pinnacle. Our players spend the entire season — from October 2021 to August 2022 — competing to make it to Memphis. That has such a cool storyline. Everyone should be excited about it. We kick off the biggest three-week stretch in golf. You’ll see the magnitude of what this event is. Our field size has doubled: we’ll have the top 125 players [in the FedExCup standings].

NOTE: 70 players will advance to the next week’s BMW Championship.

The tournament’s relationship with St. Jude is profound, and goes back generations. Have you been able to visit the hospital, and what kind of impact does St. Jude make on the PGA, beyond the tournament here?

Rick Shadyac graciously hosted my wife and me for a brief tour recently. Across the PGA Tour, every tournament is set up to benefit charities in their local community. But there is nowhere — not in golf, maybe not in all of sports — a better visual representation or tangible feeling of the impact our sport can have outside the ropes. The fund-raising is amazing. But the personal impact you can make on an individual basis: seeing a child’s face when a top-ranked player bends down to say hi or shows them how to putt. Those are moments that can change a kid’s life.  Everyone has a “St. Jude moment.” I haven’t had mine yet, but I’m excited for it. I know it will bring me to tears.

Do you play golf yourself? What first drew you to the sport professionally?

I play when I can get out, but probably not as much as people would believe. In college [at the University of Dayton], I was an engineering major. But halfway through college, I thought that if I can’t get through a class without being bored, how am I supposed to spend a career pursuing that? Going into my senior year of college, I got an internship running junior golf tournaments. You’d do everything, from setting up the course to awards. Twelve- or fifteen-hour days. And I had a blast. I felt I could make a career out of it.

The Memphis tournament has long been known for two things: St. Jude and the intense heat. What else might distinguish the FESJC from any other event on the PGA Tour?

There’s big pride in Memphis for the tournament. It’s easy for me to feel that pride, being new here. With this new platform, being a playoff event, we’re starting to look regionally, if not nationally, to draw partners and fans to this event. There’s no other opportunity in the Mid-South to see these stars. Everyone we talk to — be it St. Louis or Nashville or Little Rock — it’s about the golf and the charity. But it’s also about the city. Using this platform to show off for a national audience how great Memphis is. All eyes will be on us [in August].

I’ve got to put you on the spot: Who will win the Masters this year?

You know, I really like Rory McIlroy. He hasn’t done it there yet. To complete a career Grand Slam. He’s such a good person. Team Rory.

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To a Tee

CREDIT: Stanford St. Jude Championship

For the 51st consecutive year, the PGA Tour visits Memphis, as this week’s Stanford St. Jude is held at Southwind’s TPC course. Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, Justin Leonard, and defending champion Woody Austin will be among the headliners, competing for a total purse of $6 million in golf’s final tune-up before the U.S. Open. Also scheduled to compete are two-time champ David Toms, Boo Weekley, John Daly, Ernie Els, and 2007 British Open champion Padraig Harrington.

Each year, more than 100,000 golf fans flock to the longest-running annual event on the Bluff City sports calendar. From Jack Nicklaus to Lee Trevino to Greg Norman, the game’s greatest names have been crowned champion in Memphis. And from Al Geiberger’s 59 in 1977 to John Cook’s 26-under-par in 1996, Memphis continues to be the site for record-shattering scores. (Austin’s final-round 62 a year ago was the lowest Sunday score by any champ in Memphis history.)

Since 1970, the tournament’s sole beneficiary has been St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, with almost $20 million donated to date. A new twist this weekend will be Seersucker Sunday, when the new champion will be fitted for a Memphis version of the Masters’ famed Green Jacket. No barbecue stains, please. And hush, y’all.

Stanford St. Jude Championship, June 2nd-June 8th at TPC Southwind. For tickets and more information,
go to stanfordstjude.com.

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Q&A: Phil Cannon,

“Golf is a good walk spoiled,” Mark Twain once famously said. But for Phil Cannon, tournament director of the Stanford St. Jude Championship golf tournament, golf is a good walk, period — especially when it benefits St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. A volunteer with the tournament since 1968, Cannon became tournament director in 2000. Last week, the Flyer spoke with Cannon during the tournament’s 50th anniversary. — by Rachel Stinson

Flyer: What is your favorite memory from the tournament?

Cannon: Working with the volunteers has generated hundreds of memories for me because they’re donating their time and raising money for children. For every five years of volunteering, we award the Volunteer Year Pin. After someone has volunteered for 25 years, we give the gold pin. This year, Gertie Tribo was the first volunteer to get the diamond pin for 50 years of volunteering.

On a more personal level, I’ve loved the opportunity to make friends with Bill Murray; he came to play in the pro-am in 2005. He is the most generous, down-to-earth celebrity in the world. Every once in a while, my cell phone rings, and it’s Bill Murray.

What about the tornado in 1986?

That was FedEx’s first year as title sponsor, and it was then that we really saw FedEx’s “can-do” spirit. The storm came in about 6 p.m. the night before, and it blew down trees everywhere. The PGA tour accessed everything and said we were in jeopardy of not being able to have the tournament. Either we were going to need hundreds of people to clean up, or we were not going to have it.

The next morning at 5 a.m., there were 250 people out there working as human vacuums. They weren’t even trained volunteers; they were just hard workers. That really was an indicator of FedEx and the local community.

Which hole is the most difficult?

The 14th hole is the most challenging. It’s over water, and [with the wind blowing] 15 to 20 mph, it’s difficult.

The slogan for the tournament used to be “Hush, Y’all,” but it changed this year. Why?

Early on in conversations with Stanford, we came to the realization that this was much more global for them than for FedEx; certain things that translated well in the Mid-South didn’t translate well globally. “Hush, Y’all” may have fit the Mid-South and been endearing here, but it wasn’t global. Our new slogan is “Desire Knows No Bounds.”

How long does it take to plan the tournament?

We have 1,850 volunteers this year, and they’ve worked a combined 22,500 hours. They love the family atmosphere, and they love the chance to combine effectively into big teams to raise money for St. Jude children. We also have six full-time staff members year-round. On Monday, June 11th, we start planning the next tournament.