Michael Tothe, longtime friend and former employee of the AJGA, has been named the tournament director for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
Tothe started his career in golf as an intern with the AJGA in 1995. He soon became a tournament director and in his final year with the AJGA was the Manager of Site Development.
Stephen Hamblin, Executive Director of the AJGA, is proud of his accomplishments in the game of golf.
Colonial has made a great decision with their selection, Hamblin said. They noticed that they had a talented and skilled man on board, and they capitalized. Michael has the personality, the knowledge, and the experience necessary for a position of this caliber; he is one of your five-tool players."
With the change, Tothe joins a growing list of former AJGA staff to go on to leadership positions on the PGA TOUR. Mark Brazil (Tournament Director at Wyndham Championship), Peter Ripa (Tournament Director at Farmers Insurance Open) and John Kaczkowski (President and CEO of the Western Golf Association) all got their start at the AJGA.
Michael is another one of our success stories, Hamblin said. We are very proud of our track record for preparing our staff for bigger and better opportunities.
Born and raised in Limehouse, Ontario, Tothe attended Shorter College in Rome, Ga., where he competed on
the varsity golf team from 1991-1995. He went
on to become the Director of Amateur Competitions for the Royal Canadian Golf
Association and was responsible for 20
national amateur championships in Canada.
In 2002, Tothe and his wife Holly moved to
Singapore, where Michael worked within the golf division of IMG.
In 2008, Tothe joined the team at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, where he was the Director of Sales & Sponsor Relations for the PGA TOUR event in Fort Worth before accepting his new position.
The Crowne Plaza
Invitational at Colonial will take place at Colonial Country Club in Fort
Worth, Texas, May 21-27.