CC of Darien’s Tim O’Neill Receives Sherwood Moore Award

RYE, N.Y. (January 15, 2009) - CBS Sports commentator Jim Nantz, the voice of The Masters since 1988, received the Metropolitan Golf Course Superintendents Association’s 19th John Reid Lifetime Achievement Award at the Association’s Winter Seminar on January 14 at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. Also honored at the meeting was Country Club of Darien superintendent Timothy T. O’Neill, who was given the 2008 Sherwood A. Moore Award, the Met GCSA’s highest honor.

Nantz, who learned the game as a member of Bamm Hollow Country Club in Lincroft, N.J., and as a caddie at Battleground Country Club in Tennent, N.J., has broadcast a number of sporting events since he joined CBS Sports as a sportscaster in 1985, but is best known for his award-winning run as “The Voice of The Masters.” At the 2004 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wis., Nantz began a tradition that has endeared him to superintendents across the country: he recognized the host club’s superintendent on air and complemented him on the conditions of the golf course, something he continues to do on every broadcast.

“I have always felt that the golf course superintendent is the unsung hero of the sport,” said Nantz. “I am particularly impressed by those who have made golf in the Met Area so special. We owe a great debt of gratitude to the men and women who’ve ensured that golf in the Met Area represents the best of the best.”

Nantz’s other contributions include speaking at the Golf Course Superintendent Association of America’s Conference and Show in 2004 and his involvement with The First Tee of Metropolitan New York and the MGA Foundation.

Also honored at the seminar was Country Club of Darien superintendent Timothy T. O’Neill, who was presented with the Sherwood A. Moore Award. The award honors those who have “advanced the image, status and reputation of the golf course superintendent.” O’Neill fits that description to a tee. He has served as Darien’s superintendent for 28 years while also serving as president of the Met GCSA and the GCSAA, one of only two Sherwood A. Moore Award recipients to accomplish that feat, the other being Sherwood Moore himself. O’Neill has also served in a leadership role in the Tri-State Turf Research Foundation since its inception in 1990, and was a member of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Task Group in 2001.

“I have seen the Met [GCSA] do so much for our industry,” said O’Neill. “The Met GCSA has become a model chapter in our industry whose foundation is its individual members. I have a great deal of admiration and respect for all of my colleagues at the Met GCSA.”

For more information please contact Bob Nielsen (bnielsen@mgagolf.org) at the MGA office, 914-347-4653.