Lee Smith is getting a bigger piece of the TPC Sawgrass pie. The longtime tournament boss is taking on expanded responsibility for development of THE PLAYERS Championship and course operations across the entire TPC Sawgrass campus, a shift that pulls planning for the Stadium Course and the rest of the Ponte Vedra facilities under one leader. Smith, who already runs tournament-week programming, will now be in charge of year-round course development, capital projects and event staging on the property.
That expanded remit comes straight from the PGA Tour, which has formally tasked Smith with overseeing “development of the tournament and course operations” across the full TPC Sawgrass footprint, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal. The outlet reports that his on-site authority now stretches beyond the Stadium Course to include staging, grounds management and other campus functions, both during tournament week and the rest of the year.
The Tour’s own paperwork backs that up. Smith is listed as “Vice President & Executive Director” for TPC Sawgrass and THE PLAYERS on the official contact roster published by the PGA TOUR. That entry points to the Stadium Course address and the tournament office in Ponte Vedra, underscoring his place near the top of the Tour’s local leadership ladder.
Smith’s Track Record At Sawgrass
Smith has been the public face of THE PLAYERS since he was named executive director, and he has leaned hard into hospitality and fan-experience upgrades. Under his watch the tournament introduced the Iron & Wedge steakhouse on the 18th green, a project detailed by THE PLAYERS, and rolled out a slate of tech-driven fan features for the 2026 event, as highlighted by THE PLAYERS. Those moves are part of a multi-year push to grow hospitality revenue and modernize what fans experience on site.
Why The Change Matters To Jacksonville
Local officials and business partners say putting campus planning under one executive could simplify how the Tour sequences construction projects and coordinates vendors during THE PLAYERS. As News4Jax has reported, Smith regularly pitches THE PLAYERS as a year-round economic engine for Ponte Vedra, not just a one-week golf spectacle. Industry coverage has credited the tournament with driving stronger hospitality sales and larger on-site buildouts, a trend documented by SportsBusiness Journal.
The finer points of the operational shakeup, including any staff changes, have not been laid out publicly beyond what was described in the Business Journal report, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal. Tour officials have not yet added more detail, and local planners say they are waiting for formal project notices before they know exactly how the new setup will play out on the ground.
