Henry Hughes, who guided The Players into 21st century, passes away

Hughes was the first paid director of the PGA Tour’s flagship event and also was instrumental in the development of The Presidents Cup and evolution of the Tour Championship into the FedEx Cup series

• Henry Hughes, the first full-time executive director of The Players Championship, has died at age 78.
• Hughes held several leadership roles within the PGA Tour, including Chief of Operations and Chief Executive Officer.
• Colleagues and friends remembered Hughes as a dedicated leader, a mentor, and a consummate professional.

Henry Hughes, who became the first full-time executive director of The Players Championship and helped lead the PGA Tour’s flagship event into the Tiger Woods Era and then the 21st century, passed away on Sept. 19 at his Ponte Vedra Beach home at the age of 78 after a long illness.

Hughes, a native of Wethersfield, Conn., got his start in golf as the tournament director for PGA Tour stops in Boston and Hartford, Conn., and was hired by the Tour in 1988 to run The Players.

He served in that capacity until 1996, then became the head of the Tour’s Championship Management division, which ran the Players, the Presidents Cup, the Tour Championship and the World Golf Championships.

Hughes later became Executive Vice-President and Chief of Operations for the Tour, then Chief Executive Officer. He was instrumental in launching the Presidents Cup and the WGCs, and enhancing The Players and the Tour Championship. He also was involved in the creation of the Tour’s Business Affairs Department and upgrading security and on-site operations.

”Henry was a very special guy,” said former PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman, who hired Hughes from his previous job as the tournament director of the Greater Hartford Open. “He was one of the best leaders we ever had from a tournament operations aspect. He had knowledge of local development of a tournament and he shared that with everyone. We were extremely impressed him in Hartford and he came down here and was a terrific member of our staff.”

“Henry was a trusted colleague and a dear friend,” in a statement by PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, who also followed Hughes as a Players Championship executive director. “We shared a unique bond through The Players Championship, where his leadership laid the foundation for much of what the event represents today. He helped shape the Tour’s relationship with players, partners, fans and the community in lasting and meaningful ways.”

Hughes described as ‘consummate professional’

Hughes was good at his job, friends and co-workers said, because he loved the tournaments and the impact they had.

”I’ll never forget the hug I got from Henry when I won the Tour Championship at the Olympic Club in 1994,” said Mark McCumber, the 1988 Players champion. “He was the first one to let me know I was the first to win both The Players and the Tour Championship and he got the biggest kick out of that.”

Former co-workers with Hughes said he ran the Championship Management division with a firm but fatherly hand, and worked smoothly with all the moving parts: Tour staff, volunteers, charitable organizations, tournament sponsors and tournament directors.

”Henry could be in negotiations with sponsors or tournament directors and might have to give them bad news about scheduling or other issues,” said Sid Wilson, a former director of player relations for the Tour. “But you never heard anyone say anything bad about Henry. He’d deliver the message professionally and they knew that he was doing what was best for the Tour in the end. He had to keep a lot of balls in the air. He was fun to work with and work for and when you had a job and responsibility, he would trust you to do the job.”

Wilson said Hughes always stressed something he was told by Beman.

”The players come first,” Wilson said.

Hughes had a close relationship with staff

Ana Leaird, who was the head of communications for Championship Management, said Hughes treated his staff like family.

”He was such a dedicated and devoted leader to the Tour and to his staff,” Leaird said. “He also was very supportive to the charities that The Players helped. I cherished the time I worked with him and I’m grateful for the friendship. He was a very special person with tremendous leadership skills.”

”When we started at the Tour it was a small staff and it was like a family,” Beman said. “We shared the work with each other, shared our talents with each other and Henry fit right in with that.”

Hughes also had a way of spotting talent. He hired Leaird from the Women’s Tennis Association and gave his successor as The Players executive director, Brian Goin, his first job in tournament operations.

“He was my mentor,” said Goin. “I never ran a tournament until I worked with him, but he had the belief in me to send me to Detroit and run the Senior Players. He coached me every second, helped me to a great career. It was all Henry. He was one of the best I’ve ever seen a building relationships. We were close, not just a bunch of co-workers.”

Henry Hughes worked well with volunteers

When Hughes was brought in to run The Players, the tournament still had small-town elements of the Greater Jacksonville Open days. It was Hughes’ job to help continue the progress of the event from a regular PGA Tour stop to a tournament seeking status on a par with golf’s major championships.

”We could always talk out any situation with Henry,” said Anne Nimnicht, the 1997 Players Championship chair. “He was always willing to listen. We’d tell him that we didn’t always want to do it like he did in Connecticut and he would listen to our reasons for doing things and understand. He was a great friend to The Players and the volunteers.”

Goin said Hughes stressed that to him when he took his place.

”Henry made sure that I maintained relationships with the Redcoats [past Players chairs] and kept them involved,” Goin said. “No matter how big The Players got he said we needed the volunteers.”

Beman said Hughes never talked down to volunteers, who were working at PGA Tour events on their own time, without pay.

”When we were dealing with volunteers, we had to have all the patience in the world to help them do their job and help them move forward,” Beman said. “Henry was a gem at doing that.”

Services for Henry Hughes pending

Funeral services for Hughes have not yet been finalized but friends say a gathering at the TPC Sawgrass is almost a certainty.

Hughes is survived by his wife Patty and two children, Jennifer and Brian.