Fred Klauk, GCSAA Class A golf course superintendent, hosts his 23rd and final Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass’ Players Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., this week, before retiring after 25 years with the PGA Tour. The 32-year GCSAA member announced his retirement last fall and will take on responsibilities as a project manager for the PGA Tour, consulting with his successor, Tom Vlach (pronounced vlack) on the 2009 and 2010 Players Championships, and assisting with the renovations planned for TPC Sawgrass' Valley Course. Vlach, a GCSAA certified golf course superintendent, comes to TPC Sawgrass from Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. He previously worked at TPC Sawgrass as Klauk's assistant.

Klauk says that the setup for the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium Course will have more teeth in it for the 2008 tournament. Although the rough will be nowhere near the 4-to-6 inches it was when the course was overseeded for a March playing date prior to 2007, it will be a bit deeper than the two-inch bermudagrass that was grown for the first May Players.

An accomplished golfer and former club champion, Klauk is a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture. Among the numerous awards he has received over the years, Klauk earned Golfweek's 2000 Golf Father-of-the-Year award, having passed his love for golf down to his three sons, all of whom are excellent players. His son, Jeff is a player on the Nationwide Tour and is currently ninth on the money list; son John, a former NCAA All American golfer at Texas, works for Merrill-Lynch in Los Angeles; and son Jason works as an investment banker for FBR in Washington, D.C.

Built in 1982 on a marshland, TPC Sawgrass is a unique golf course in both design and philosophy. Klauk played an integral role in the $60 million renovation following the 2006 Players Championship. It is a fully-certified golf course in the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program. Klauk is a 2007 GCSAA/Golf Digest Environmental Leaders in Golf Awards chapter resort winner.

Meanwhile, the LPGA Tour swings into Kingsmill Resort & Spa’s River Course in Williamsburg, Va., for the Michelob Ultra Open. GCSAA member Brad Pegram, director of golf and landscape, reports that the greens are in fine shape, holding up well despite five inches of rain over the past two weeks and that the rough is jumping. The River Course is one of three courses at Kingsmill that is Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program certified and his staff maintains purple martin, bat and bluebird houses throughout the property. Pegram explains that No. 15 could be a key point in each round as a fairly reachable par 5 with a flat green that could be a last chance for a birdie, considering the rigorous remaining three holes.