Golf World’s Two Biggest Organizations Shake Up Legal Leadership

Two of the leading institutions in global golf have reshaped the top of their in-house legal hierarchies as the sport rides a boom in popularity.

The Professional Golfers’ Association of America and the PGA Tour Inc., once part of the same nonprofit entity, each saw their longtime legal chiefs move into new jobs in October. The PGA of America’s chief legal and risk officer Henry Smokler transitioned to a senior advisory role, while the PGA Tour’s former legal chief Leonard “Len” Brown Jr. is preparing to do the same.

The organizations have some overlap but the primary difference between the two is that the PGA Tour runs competitive tournaments for elite golfers, while the PGA of America is for club professionals, golf instructors, and others who don’t make their living playing in tournaments.

Brown, chief of global business ventures, turned over lead legal duties at the PGA Tour last year to former deputy general counsel Neera Shetty, who has taken on the additional role of interim chief administrative officer, according to an organizational announcement. The PGA Tour said Shetty’s additional duties overseeing talent and culture, community and public engagement, and facilities management are temporary as it assesses its “long-term structure and needs.”

PGA of America, meanwhile, recently hired former PGA Tour senior counsel Vanessa Vogler to be its new chief administrative officer. Vogler, who confirmed her move last week in a statement posted to her LinkedIn profile, will work with former PGA of America deputy general counsel Andrew Blasband, who was promoted in October to general counsel of the Frisco, Texas-based nonprofit.

“It’s a tremendous honor to return to the golf industry and be part of an association so deeply committed to growing the game I love,” said Vogler, who spent the past year as senior counsel with the US Soccer Federation, another athletic governing body reshaping its in-house legal ranks.

Vogler, Smokler, and Blasband didn’t respond to requests for comment. Nor did the PGA of America or PGA Tour, which split in 1968 in a dispute over finances. Both entities are structured as nonprofits, although the PGA Tour has tapped an array of Big Law advisers to create a for-profit arm called PGA Tour Enterprises.

Growing the Game

While many lawyers love golf for the networking and business generation opportunities that come with hitting the links—or the nineteenth hole—the sport itself is also now big business. A pandemic-driven desire for the outdoors drove renewed interest in the game, which has pushed money into related industries such as sporting goods, real estate, and technology.

Derek Sprague took over as PGA of America’s CEO last year from Seth Waugh, who had been in the role since 2018. PGA of America is one of the world’s largest sports organizations with more than 30,000 members, most of whom are golf coaches and teachers employed by local clubs. The PGA Tour, which hired a new CEO of its own last summer from the NFL in Brian Rolapp, is geared toward top tournaments and professional golfers like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.

The Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.-based PGA Tour, whose 2023 merger with Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Ltd. has stalled, disclosed in its most recent US tax filing that Brown earned more than $2.1 million that year serving as its legal chief and head of licensing. Shetty, then a deputy general counsel who was also in charge of social responsibility and inclusion, earned about $1.4 million.

Two other lawyers now poised to retire from the PGA Tour at year’s end—chief administrative officer Allison Keller and former general counsel-turned-chief commercial officer Richard “Rick” Anderson—received roughly $3.3 million and $3.1 million, respectively, in total compensation that same year.

Keller joined the PGA Tour in 1999 after working at Jones Day, where the PGA of America’s new administrative chief Vogler once worked as an associate.

PGA of America’s most recent tax filing for fiscal 2023-24 reveals that Smokler was paid more than $951,000 that year, while Blasband received about $425,300 as deputy general counsel. PGA of America elevated associate general counsel and senior director J. Ted Koehler in October to backfill Blasband’s former role.