October 7, 2008 

Dear SJGA Members, 

 I have some important news to share with you. The SJGA Board of Directors met in late July and decided that, in light of having no 2008 Women’s and Mixed Tournament Director and in the best interest of the organization for the coming year, we needed to move in a new direction regarding the 2009 tournament season. We voted to conduct a search and look to hire one tournament director who would run all SJGA sanctioned events.  

We did this because we wanted equity across the board; that there be no disparity with assignment of venues and management of tournaments. In a nut shell, we saw the need to provide the same high level of quality service for all members who play in men’s, women’s and mixed events.  

This new TD Job Description was posted on our website by  mid - August. As a courtesy to our current Men’s Tournament Director, Linda Miller, I called and spoke with her prior to advertising the position. I did this to let her know that the BOD needed to move in a different direction and indicated that she could apply for the full position. When the September 19^th deadline ended, Linda had not applied. Nonetheless, our Search Committee did receive an application from John Petronis; upon review of his resume and an extensive interview, this committee reported to the BOD and recommended him for the posted position.  

To this extent, I have some exciting news. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to announce that John Petronis’ application was favorably voted upon and he has agreed to perform the duties of Tournament Director for all 2009 tournaments. We are pleased to have found someone with such exceptional credentials and one who is willing to take on the full responsibilities associated with this position.  

John is a Class “A” PGA professional with over 15 years experience in the golf industry.  He is the founder and President of the Cape May County Junior Golf Foundation, Inc. and the Junior Golfers’ Association of America, Inc. and the JGA Tour, where he runs over 25 events a year, “mainly on weekends”, including championships, scholarship, fundraising and team events.  The growth of this program in such a short period of time is indicative of John’s zeal and reflected by the satisfaction of his tournament participants. John also runs 4 nationally ranked events on his junior tour schedule and provides rules and etiquette classes. 

Prior to concentrating on junior events, John worked at several South Jersey golf courses including two SJGA member courses, Sand Barrens Golf Club and Cape May National Golf Club. John’s functions included a wide variety of club management functions as well as tournament administration at these clubs. 

John is a graduate of the PGA Business School where he finished in the top 5% of his class. He has also attended USGA/PGA Rules of Golf Workshops and is current with his PGA Continuing Education credits. 

John grew up playing golf in South Jersey and is continuing that tradition with his family.  We are pleased to welcome to our SJGA team a golf industry professional with extensive tournament experience as well as knowledge and history of this area. 

We look forward to working with him in creating an exciting and enjoyable 2009 tournament season for our members.  

Respectfully,

Gail Reilly

Gail Reilly, SJGA President