UNIVERSITY PARK, Penn. -- Joseph Duich, Ph.D., professor emeritus of turfgrass s.cience at Pennsylvania State University, will be the recipient of GCSAA's 2006 Old Tom Morris Award. The award will be presented during the 2006 GCSAA Education Conference, Feb. 9, 2006. The conference is scheduled to be held in conjunction with the Golf Industry Show, at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
As the association's most prestigious honor, the Old Tom Morris Award is presented to an individual who “through a continuing lifetime commitment to the game of golf has helped to mold the welfare of the game in a manner and style exemplified by Old Tom Morris.” Morris was greenkeeper and golf professional at the St. Andrews Links Trust Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland; a four-time winner of the British Open (1861, '62, '64 and '67); and ranked as one of the top links designers of the 19th century.
In a break with tradition, the GCSAA Board of Directors has selected an honoree that has influenced the game of golf through long hours spent in university classrooms and laboratories in addition to some time on the links.
"There is no one more deserving of this award,” said GCSAA President Timothy T. O'Neill, CGCS. “Dr. Duich's impact on the quality of our golf courses and his contributions to the game of golf are unparalleled. He has served as a mentor, a teacher, a researcher for thousands of superintendents under his tutelage, shaping not just lessons in turfgrass, but lessons in life.”
Duich and his late mentor, Burt Musser, are credited with turning Penn State into one of the most successful turfgrass programs in the country. His work has garnered numerous honors, including GCSAA's Distinguished Service Award in 1976, the USGA Green Section award in 1981 and the Golf Course Builders Association of America's Don A. Rossi Award in 2004.
Duich joins a list of highly respected past honorees, including Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Tom Fazio, Gerald Ford, Bob Hope, Byron Nelson, Ken Venturi, Ben Crenshaw, Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, Nancy Lopez, Tim Finchem, Walter Woods, Pete Dye, Rees Jones and Jack Nicklaus.
