DETROIT — A little more than two weeks ago, on June 13, Tyler Dennis officially became a person of interest when he was named to co-lead day-to-day operations of the PGA Tour along with COO Ron Price in the absence of Commissioner Jay Monahan, who is recovering from an undisclosed medical situation.
So who is Dennis and why was he selected for this lofty role?
Dennis, 46, serves as the Tour’s executive vice president and president of the PGA Tour. Before being asked to handle this critical new role, Dennis’s duties included being responsible for the day-to-day operations of Tour events and overseeing the areas of Rules/Competitions, Membership Services, Tournament Operations, ShotLink, Tournament Business Affairs and Agronomy.
“He’s one of the smartest if not the smartest person I’ve ever met,” said Stanford men’s golf coach Conrad Ray of his former Stanford teammate.
Growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah, Dennis learned the game at the nine-hole par-3 Cottonwood Club. There, he also developed a keen and unusual interest in the rules and longtime pro Brad Beutler took him under his wing and showed him the basics of operating tournaments. At 16, Dennis posted a perfect score on the US Golf Association rules test and helped administer his first professional event at his local Korn Ferry Tour event.
“He’s got a photographic mind,” said former PGA Tour vice president of competitions Mark Russell.
One summer later, Dennis signed on as an intern with the USGA at the 1994 US Amateur Public Links at Eagle Bend Golf Club in Bigfork, Montana. He assisted Ron Read, then USGA Western Region Director, in placing holes early one morning. At breakfast, he confided in Read that the pro shop guys had invited him to the bar the previous night. There was a tuba on the wall and a sign that said, ‘Blow the bugle and win a pitcher of beer.’ Dennis kept telling the guys at his table that he could blow the instrument. But the guys ignored him. Finally, after he told them he played trumpet in the band, they encouraged him to go for it.
Dennis grabbed the tuba, blew hard and out popped a cloud of five pounds of baby flower. When the pitcher arrived, he was an instant hero.
Dennis begged Read not to tell the USGA’s director of competitions Tom Meeks, who he feared would punish him and potentially spoil his future career aspirations working in the game. Just then Meeks called to speak to Read.
“I told Tyler that Tom had read (about him) in all the Montana newspapers,” Read recalled in an email. “Tyler jumped out of his chair, went to the cashier and got a roll of quarters. He went to the paper machine and started feeding it. Came back with The Missoulian(Billings) Gazette and one other (local paper) and started reading. He found nothing. I just laughed. Later, I shared everything with Tom. We both laughed.”
Tyler Dennis, head of operations from the PGA Tour, at the 2017 World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. (Photo: Ramon Trevino, Agencia EL Universal via AP Images)
Dennis attended Stanford as an undergraduate where he received a BS in Mechanical Engineering in just three years. He and Tiger Woods were teammates during the 1995-96 season. Wielding his trusty Bullseye putter, which he still uses to this day, Dennis qualified for nine events and recorded a T-14 as his best result.
Dennis started at the PGA Tour in 2000 as a Rules Official on the Korn Ferry Tour, later moving to the PGA Tour.
“We laugh about the awkwardness of that first time he had to give Tiger a ruling,” Ray said.
Dennis took a sabbatical to attend the University of Cambridge, where he received a master’s degree in business administration. In his Stanford golf bio, Dennis proclaimed his career goal was to be an engineer. When it came time to decide whether to return to his position at the Tour or pursue other opportunities arguably better suited for his advanced-degree skill set, Dennis, an only child, listened to the advice of his father, Leland, a former golfer at Tulane, a ski instructor and free spirit who rode motorcycles across the country.
“This sounds corny, but my dad told me to do something you wanted to do,” Dennis said. “I think this is a great job. I love the PGA Tour and what it stands for.”
Beginning in 2007, Tyler transitioned to overseeing the competition area as well as many of the other Tour functions which manage on-site operations. He spearheaded the Tour’s return to golf after the global pandemic in 2020 and is now in the most visible and critical role of his career. In a profile in Fairways magazine, the official publication of the Utah Golf Association, author Kurt Kragthorpe wrote that “it would not surprise me if Dennis someday becomes the Tour commissioner.” Those in the know describe him as a steady hand, the person you want shaping policy but not necessarily the public face of the PGA Tour. “He’s a good No. 2 or 3 people,” one veteran player said.
With Monahan sidelined indefinitely, Dennis and Cross, who joined the Tour in 1994, are left to steer the ship through the formation of a new for-profit entity with the Saudis, which could have numerous hurdles in getting approval from the Tour’s board of directors to the Department of Justice.
“Last night’s news was a jolt. Our priorities don’t change. We are full steam ahead as a business,” Dennis told Golf Channel on June 14 following Monahan’s medical situation. “Our No. 1 focus will always be our players. That is front and center as we think about the business. We are going to continue to lead the day-to-day operations of the Tour. We have a lot of exciting things ahead.”
And if needed, he can always play the tuba.
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Story originally appeared on GolfWeek