Editor’s note: This story is updated from the print edition.
Pete Bevacqua not only lost a close work companion but also a good friend when PGA of America President Ted Bishop was ousted on Oct. 24 for a gender-based insult he posted on social media.
From Nov. 10, 2012, the day the PGA formally named Bevacqua as its CEO and Bishop as president, they figuratively were arm-in-arm. They talked nearly every day for almost two years.
Bishop told Golf Channel one of the saddest elements of his removal is the loss of his friendship with Bevacqua. Bishop doubted that he and Bevacqua would ever speak again because of the volatile circumstances surrounding Bishop’s removal.
“My sincere hope is that’s not the case,” Bevacqua said. “That day [of Bishop’s removal] was an unbelievably sad day. It was the longest and most difficult day of my professional life. My hope is that Ted and I can have a relationship coming out of this. I understand that might take some time — the emotions are raw — but that’s my hope.”
Bishop was the shoot-from-the-hip vocal leader who brought personality and relevance to the position. He tried to shoot down the U.S. Golf Association’s ban on anchored putters, he challenged the Royal & Ancient’s all-male membership policy, and he advocated for radical new ideas, like taking the PGA Championship outside of the U.S.
If Bishop, 60, was the out-front guy, Bevacqua, 43, is the consummate insider who has remade the culture at PGA headquarters and has emerged as an effective behind-the-scenes diplomat for the PGA, especially in building deeper relationships with the PGA Tour and the LPGA.
By all accounts, Bishop and Bevacqua made a good team, one complementing the other.
“We give each other things to think about, and that’s made us both more effective,” Bishop said in an interview with SportsBusiness Journal last year.
Bishop, who co-owns a golf club in Franklin, Ind., near Indianapolis, called his run as the PGA’s 38th president the best two years of his life. Interim President Derek Sprague will be named the association’s 39th president Nov. 20-22 at the annual meeting in Indianapolis.
The meetings are held in the hometown of the outgoing president every other year. Bishop, who called this era “the most exciting time in the history of our association,” will be allowed to attend.
