Stafford, Va. – Chip Sullivan, PGA Head Golf Professional at Hanging Rock Golf Club in Salem, Va. and resident of Troutville, Va. is based in Rochester, New York this week to play in the 95th PGA Championship. The fourth major on the PGA Tour, the PGA Championship will be held at Oak Hill Country Club from August 8-11.
Sullivan is one of 20 PGA Professionals who earned berths into the PGA Championship through the 2013 PGA Professional National Championship (PNC) held at Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore. last month. This will be Sullivan’s sixth appearance in the PGA Championship and at each championship prior to this one, his father-in-law, Tom Hall, was his caddie.
This year, however, Sullivan will only have his former caddie beside him in spirit as Hall passed away, tragically, almost two years ago. “This PGA, without Tom, will be vastly different because life is different now. Things will never be the same without him,” expresses Sullivan. “However, as odd as it might sound, I can ‘feel’ him with me on the course. When I am quiet, focused, and over a shot, I can hear him saying his key phrases like ‘Tempo, Chip, Tempo’.”
In addition to managing emotional challenges, Sullivan will also be managing physical challenges as he has done over the last five years since being diagnosed with hemochromatosis. This hereditary blood disorder has forced Sullivan to regularly wear an insulin pump and glucose monitor and is the same disorder that took his sister’s life in 2004.
Traveling with Sullivan to Rochester will be his wife Kari, daughters Kalley and Camryn and son Colby as well as friends from Roanoke and his old stomping grounds in New Orleans. La. In addition, Sullivan’s biggest fan, Kevin Naniewicz, will also be a part of his cheering crowd. Naniewicz is Kari Sullivan’s cousin who lives with Down syndrome and is the Pennsylvania state multiple gold medal winner in golf for Special Olympics.
One of Sullivan’s main goals of the tournament is to make the cut and finish as low club professional. “I want to show the world that the 20 PGA Professionals belong at the PGA Championship because this is OUR Championship,” states Sullivan. He is passionate about being a PGA Professional and notes that club professionals as a whole “grip clubs, score events, coach, teach, fit equipment and we play the game.”
About the Middle Atlantic Section of the PGA of America
The Middle Atlantic Section of the PGA (MAPGA), located in Stafford, Virginia, is one of 41 Sections of The Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA), headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. As a part of The PGA since 1925, the MAPGA consists of over 1,100 members and apprentices in Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia and small portions of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Together, the MAPGA golf professionals, volunteers and staff support the mission of The PGA to promote enjoyment and involvement in the game of golf and to contribute to the game’s growth by providing services to PGA Professionals and the golf industry.
Contact:
Stephanie Jennings, PGA
sjennings@pgahq.com
(540) 720-7420 ext. 116
