TEE TOPPER!(NC GOLF)

• Author: King, Brad

Identifying 15 key people behind golfs big impact in North Carolina is a question we posed to a dozen veteran golf industry executives and journalists. They came up with this list that includes touring and club professionals, course designers, fashion innovators, event organizers and industry titans.

They share a passion for golf and have used their significant expertise to cultivate the game throughout North Carolina and beyond.

MARK BRAZIL

CEO

Wyndham Championship

Greensboro

Brazil has been CEO of the Gate City's PGA Tour event since September 2021 after serving as tournament director for two decades. The Asheville native previously was executive vice president at the American Junior Golf Association. He is on the PGA Tour's Tournament Advisory Council. Though not one of the tour's new elevated events, the Wyndham continues to enjoy an enviable calendar spot as the final tournament before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin.

SCOTT DAVENPORT

PGA Head Professional

Quail Hollow Club

Charlotte

Davenport has extended North Carolina's influence in golf in his role at the exclusive private club that has hosted the Wells Fargo Championship since 2003. Quail Hollow also held the PGA Championship in 2017 and the Presidents Cup competition last year. He has mentored many young golf professionals including Charles Frost at Winston-Salem's Old Town Club, Eric Williamson at Charlotte Country Club and Kevin Reardon at Providence Country Club in Charlotte.

TOM FAZIO

Golf course architect

Hendersonville

The acclaimed course designer arrived in Western North Carolina in the mid-1980s to design Wade Hampton Golf Club in Cashiers. That jump started a 20-year run of prolific design that resulted in 17 Fazio designs in the Tar Heel State, ranging from the mountains to the coast and more than 200 layouts around the globe. No living architect has more credits on Golf Digest's list of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses and that magazine's poll for Best Modern Day Golf Course Architect was discontinued after Fazio claimed it three straight times.

JOHNNY HARRIS

Chairman, CEO

Lincoln Harris

Charlotte

The Charlotte developer and civic leader is also well-known as the leader of Quail Hollow Club, the elite course built on his family's land in south Charlotte. He has been president of the PGA Tour's Wells Fargo Championship since 1988, and is a longtime member of Augusta National Golf Club. The Charlotte club will host the PGA Championship in 2025. Harris' son, Johno, was...