Story and photo courtesy of Daily Gazette (Schenectady, N.Y.)
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Ex-UAlbany SID Brian DePasquale Enjoying Time at USGA, by Bob Weiner, www.dailygazette.com
For 17 years, I knew Brian DePasquale as perhaps the hardest working college sports information director in a business full of talented workaholics.
The daily grind of press releases, answering media requests and game management duties finally wore the 56-year-old Ohio native out, so he decided to switch careers. The former University at Albany SID is now in his fifth year as the United States Golf Association Championship communications manager.
He still works long hours from April to October, and his top priority remains dealing with media of all types. But this gig, although similar to what he did for 28 years at several colleges, has different challenges to go along with a few nice perks.
Hardcore golf fans probably recognized DePasquale as he was walking the fairways during the recent U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. That major event was televised by FOX, and DePasquale got to see Curtis Luck of Australia pull away from 19-year-old American Brad Dalke in the finals.
Even when he was a full-time SID, DePasquale dabbled in golf media coverage during his summer vacations. He has rubbed elbows with the likes of PGA Tour standouts Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy in his 23 years of helping to cover the U.S. Open.
“A former college SID was the head of the USGA media relations department, and he contacted me about helping out at times, mainly for the U.S. Opens. That’s how I originally got involved,” DePasquale said. “I went over to get a feel of the USGA events at the U.S. Junior Amateur in 1992. Then I worked my first U.S. Open in 1993 at Baltusrol [site of this year’s PGA Championship].”
DePasquale’s current duties include preparation for and on-site coverage at numerous USGA championships. His championship schedule this year included the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball, U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying, the U.S. Open, the U.S. Junior Amateur, the U.S. Senior Open and the U.S. Amateur. He will be involved in a preview for the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills on Monday, and then he will help coordinate media coverage at the U.S. Mid-Amateur Sept. 10-15, as well as the World Amateur Team Championship in Mexico Sept. 18-24.
I asked DePasquale if he was involved in either of the USGA’s major controversies at this season’s U.S. Open or the U.S. Women’s Open. In both tournaments, long delays by USGA officials on rules infractions left a sour taste for the players and the fans.
Dustin Johnson was eventually penalized for causing his ball to move on the green on the fifth hole during the U.S. Open. Although initially told he wouldn’t be penalized, he eventually was given a penalty and ended up winning by three shots instead of four. In the U.S. Women’s Open, Anna Nordqvist was penalized for touching a grain of sand in a bunker on the 17th hole of regulation, but she wasn’t told about it until the third hole of a three-hole playoff, eventually won by Brittany Lang.
Fortunately, DePasquale wasn’t involved with either controversy. “The rules situation at the U.S. Open was handled at a level above me,” he noted. “I was with the last group [with Shane Lowry] at the time of the infraction, but then I moved over to Dustin Johnson’s group on the 12th hole. I did not work at the U.S. Women’s Open.”
It’s not surprising that DePasquale’s current duties are very similar to what he did back in his college SID days.
“Nothing has changed from what I used to do until now,” he said. “It’s still about the people and the relationships. The USGA championships aren’t like the Masters. At the Masters, they use the same course, and everything is almost the same every year. With USGA championships, you are traveling from city to city and town to town every year. We must build media centers from scratch at every event. It’s like the circus in that way. You’ve got to remember that various clubs have to invite us to come to their course. That’s how the process gets started. They invite us to their club and onto their property. We don’t come after them.”
DePasquale said that the USGA conducts 13 championships. Ten of them are amateur events. The U.S. Open, Women’s U.S. Open and Senior Open include professionals.
“We also are involved with the Curtis Cup and the Walker Cup, which are amateur team events every other year,” DePasquale said. “I’m involved in roughly half of the championships.”
DePasquale, who is finally back to 100 percent after having heart valve replacement surgery last November, said he remains busy year-round, although less so in the winter, when his duties involve preparation for upcoming events the next spring and summer.
“My job is a lot of preparation prior to the championships. I credential media and provide information on the field,” he said. “For example, there are 312 players at the U.S. Amateur, and most of the other championships we run have 156 players. The upcoming U.S. Mid-Amateur has 264 players. “
DePasquale said that one of the biggest changes for him working with the USGA is that he doesn’t represent only one college. “We view all the competitors in our events to be part of the USGA family,” he said. “The players who compete play for themselves. They are all separate entities. We get to know many of them and keep in touch.”