Kirk Elmquist has a local career path with as many turns as a Tom Watson-designed course.
To hear Elmquist tell it, the latest move lands him dead center in the proverbial fairway, and it started with a dinner invitation by Bass Pro Shops founder John Morris.
Elmquist, a sports radio personality and recent vice president of sales and marketing with construction contractors Morelock-Ross Properties Inc. – who also has held jobs with the Springfield Cardinals and Millwood Golf Course – started working March 31 as tournament director for the upcoming PGA Tour’s Legends of Golf competition near Branson.
“It’s 62 days away,” Elmquist said in an April 2 phone interview. “I’m down here and working full-speed.”
Elmquist was brought on to run the tournament less than a month after Morris inked a deal to hold the Champions Tour event at his Big Cedar Lodge resort in Ridgedale, south of Branson. Named the Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf Presented by Bass Pro Shops, the tournament is scheduled June 2–8. Players will utilize two golf courses: the recently acquired Branson Creek Golf Club, which Morris renamed Buffalo Ridge, and Top of the Rock, a par 3 course adjacent to Big Cedar that’s been under redevelopment for nearly a decade since a kitchen fire in the clubhouse.
The job offer came after a meeting at Big Cedar with Morris and his wife, Jeanie.
“I’m friends with Jeanie Morris,” Elmquist said. “She and I had communicated, and then I received an invitation to come and have dinner and share some ideas. And it went from there.
“To be involved with a visionary such as John Morris is one of the most excited things I’ve ever had happen to me in my career.”
In his new position, Elmquist reports to Big Cedar General Manager Debbie Bennett, as well as Morris for other job responsibilities throughout the year.
“Kirk is a very energetic guy with lots of enthusiasm, and his passion for golf is almost as intense as mine is for fishing,” Morris said in an emailed statement. “With the Legends golf tournament coming up fast, we need help, and with his considerable past experience with golf tournaments and local relationships, we feel he is a perfect fit.”
While much of his role still needs to be sorted out, Elmquist said the position should allow him to participate in speaking engagements across the country representing Morris’ brands. Bass Pro Shops has more than 20 stores currently in development nationwide.
“I will be ready for my responsibilities as Mr. Morris determines them,” Elmquist said. “I would be helping him cover his enormous schedule, which places a lot of demands on him.”
Elmquist has worked in a range of sports-related and marketing positions since the Lima, Ohio-native moved to town in 1997.
He first served as associate executive director of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the Price Cutter Charity Championship, but he also had a stint with Millwood Golf & Racquet Club and a five-year run with the Springfield Cardinals.
He moved to Morelock-Ross Builders Inc. in October 2009 when the company was in a pinch and looking for someone to generate business.
“I was approached by Wayne Morelock in what was one of the most difficult times in the history of their industry to help market the company and cultivate business and create new relationships,” Elmquist said. “I’d still be there if it wasn’t for John Morris giving me this dream job.”
For the past five years, Elmquist also has worked on the radio two days a week with KY3’s Ned Reynolds for the “Sports Reporters” show on Jock 98.7.
Bonnie Bell, vice president of sales and development at Meyer Communications, said Elmquist would be off the air – minus the occasional call-in – until after the tournament, when they would sit down to discuss the future. She said fill-ins are currently being arranged.
“We’re exited for Kirk. This has to be the perfect job for him because it puts together his love of sports with his marketing and speaking abilities,” Bell said.
For now, Elmquist said he is focused on golf.
Elmquist is charged with promoting the Legends tournament, as well as its setting in the Ozarks and the outdoor amenities at Big Cedar overlooking Table Rock Lake. 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.
“The beauty and nature of Top of the Rock, Big Cedar Lodge and Table Rock Lake, telling that story and getting to invite the rest of the United States here – that’s what my mission is,” Elmquist said.
As the countdown to the tour event continues, Elmquist said he will work behind-the-scenes with Morris – a man known for his attention to detail.
“We’ve got many, many details to get taken care of before June 2,” he said. “It won’t be an easy task, but nothing worth doing is.”
Web Editor Geoff Pickle contributed to this article.[[In-content Ad]]
