Morelock-Ross Cos. partner Kirk Elmquist has accepted a job with Bass Pro Shops founder John Morris to champion the upcoming PGA Tour’s Legends of Golf tournament near Branson.
Elmquist starts March 31 as tournament director for the June 2-8 event dubbed Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf Presented by Bass Pro Shops. His last day working with Morelock-Ross is today. He was hired by the Springfield construction firm as a partner in September 2009, after working five years as vice president of sales and marketing for the Springfield Cardinals, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives.
In his new role, Elmquist will report to Big Cedar General Manager Debbie Bennett, as well as Morris for other job responsibilities throughout the year. As tournament director, Elmquist is charged with promoting the event, as well as its setting in the Ozarks and at Big Cedar's Top of the Rock and the nearby Buffalo Ridge golf courses. He'll also work with the Golf Channel, which has signed on to broadcast the event to some 148 million homes in the United States and 210 foreign countries, and promote Big Cedar's Dogwood Canyon, natural history museum and the tournament's sponsored charity, College of the Ozarks, he said.
"My main focus is to pass on the seven-and-a half-year collaboration that John Morris has had with Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, and to bring world-class golf to Table Rock Lake and Big Cedar Lodge," Elmquist said.
Elmquist came to Springfield in 1997 to serve as associate executive director of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the Price Cutter Charity Championship.
"What John Morris has presented me is a career move of a lifetime," he said. "Getting to carry out this mission and the mantra of what Bass Pro Shops and Big Cedar Lodge does is absolutely one of the most exciting things I've ever experienced."
The opportunity came about through a friendship with Morris' wife, Jeanie, who served with Elmquist on the Springfield Art Museum board. Elmquist said the Morrises invited him to dinner at Big Cedar and then a second dinner, when he was offered the job.
Earlier this year, Big Cedar and Bass Pro bagged a five-year Legends of Golf sponsorship, and during the tournament's off-season, Elmquist will stay active speaking for Morris across the country and doing some training for him at Bass Pro stores.[[In-content Ad]]
