PGA Tour info 'one-man show' passes away at 97

AI-assisted summary
• Tom Place, the PGA Tour's Director of Information from 1971 to 1992, passed away on Christmas Day at age 97.
• Place was known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the PGA Tour and his dedication to assisting media members.
• He fostered strong relationships with both media and players, serving as a key link between them.
• Prior to his time with the PGA Tour, Place was a respected sportswriter, notably covering golf and skiing.
• Place received numerous awards for his contributions to golf journalism, including the Memorial Golf Journalism Award in 2009.

Tom Place, whose encyclopedic knowledge of the PGA Tour and engaging personality facilitated media coverage for more than two decades, passed away on Christmas Day at the age of 97 at his Ponte Vedra Beach home with his wife Jean at his side. 

Place, a former sportswriter who served as the Tour's Director of Information from 1971 to 1992, didn't have ShotLink and computerized scoring to assist in his job. He was a one-man show at many tournament sites, running the media centers at nearly 40 events a year. 

Transcripts for the media of interviews with Tour players were copies of his notes, in Place's meticulous handwriting, that he distributed within minutes after a news conference ended. 

But the stories still got told, and Place helped the media do it. 

"He was always willing to help the media, get an answer for any question and most of the time he did it all by himself," said former Florida Times-Union sports editor Fred Seely. "You talk about computers and the information store in them. Tom had everything stored in his head. And he was a class act in every way, a true gentleman, a true professional. He knew our issues and what we needed." 

Sam Kouvaris, former sports director of News4Jax, said Place saw his job as a facilitator, never a roadblock. 

"Tom did everything he could on whatever stories we were working on to get us the information and the tools we needed to get it done," Kouvaris said. "He was a special guy who set the standard for the people who followed him at the Tour. He was the most professional, most thorough guy I ever knew in a position like that and he made our job so much easier and so much better." 

Kourvaris said he would never forget the day at his first Masters Tournament in 1979 when Place gave him a personal tour of the media center and introduced him to the legends of sportswriting he had read for years.

"He took the time to help a young TV reporter meet all the guys he had looked up to," Kouvaris said. "Tom was always a very kind, personable guy."

Tom Place had strong relations with players

In an era before many players had agents or their own communications representatives, Place was often the only link between players and the media and his relationships with players were just as strong as with the media. 

"I just loved the man," said former Tour player Steve Melnyk. "He was so gracious, so courteous, and had to do his job without a lot of the resources they have now." 

Melnyk said Place spent a lot of his time during tournaments fielding phone calls from players' wives and parents who didn't have streaming apps to get up-to-the-minute scores. 

"My wife Debbie would call the press room and Tom would tell her, 'Steve's playing well ... he just shot 34 on the front,'" Melnyk said. "A good person, a really solid guy." 

Jeff Adams, who worked in media relations for the LPGA and PGA Tour, said Place was "a guiding post" for younger P.R. employees. 

"We looked up to Tom as a mentor," Adams said. "He was very approachable and was a huge help when I was at the LPGA, which carried over to the PGA Tour. He understood and appreciated the media's job and respected their needs." 

Tom Place was a native of Scotland

Place was born in Gairloch, Scotland and his family moved to Pennsylvania when he was a child. 

Place graduated from Grover City (Pa.) College, where he was the school newspaper's sports editor. Place then became a sports editor just after graduation in 1949, at the Oil City Derrick, then moved to the sports staff at the Cleveland News and Cleveland Plain Dealer where he covered golf and became a nationally known skiing writer, earning the Harold Hirsch Award in 1964 as the outstanding ski writer in the U.S. 

After his retirement from the Tour, Place served as the press officer for the World Cup of Golf for five years. He was also on the board of directors for the Gerald R. Ford Pro-Celebrity Golf Invitational in Vail, Colo., for 19 years and served on the board for the Jerry Ford Celebrity Ski Classic. 

Place received The Memorial Golf Journalism Award in 2009 and in 2010 he received the Grove City College’s Athletic Heritage Award and special commendations from the United States Golf Association and golf journalist’s associations of Europe and Japan. 

Services will be private and plans have not yet been made.