Richerson elected PGA president, Tim Rosaforte honored

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Jim Richerson was elected the 42nd president of the PGA of America on Thursday at a virtual annual meeting that included Tim Rosaforte becoming the first journalist to be awarded honorary membership.

Richerson, the senior vice president of operations for Arizona-based Troon Golf, succeeds Suzy Whaley. He previously was general manager and director of golf for Wisconsin-based Kohler, where he first was elected a PGA officer.

The PGA of America, which has some 29,000 members, held the annual meeting virtually for the first time in its 104 years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the final acts of Whaley, the first female president in PGA history, was to bestow honorary membership to Rosaforte, whose career spanned newspapers, magazines and television.

He is the 12th person to be appointed a PGA Honorary Member, joining a list that includes former Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, and nine-time major champion Gary Player.

Rosaforte, 65, retired last December and is battling early onset of Alzheimer's Disease. He worked at three newspapers in Florida, Sports Illustrated and Golf Digest, and most recently was part of the NBC-Golf Channel reporting team.

John Lindert of Grand Ledge, Michigan, succeeds Richerson as vice president, while Don Rea of Gilbert, Arizona, was elected secretary.