![\"Memorial](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ROWDNFAIIVC2BFOO6RU2QHTW2U.png\")
Jack and Barbara Nicklaus remain intimately involved in the Memorial Tournament. Courtesy of Dan Sullivan\/HNS Sports <\/p>\nNo one could blame Dan Sullivan at the time.<\/p>\n
Sullivan, at the age of 12, had a tough job at the 1978 Memorial Tournament, where he and some of his grade-school buddies were enlisted to help manually update old-school scoreboards.<\/p>\n
Sullivan was assigned the 8th hole at Muirfield Village Golf Club, and along came one of golf\u2019s legends, Tom Weiskopf. But there was a problem: Weiskopf\u2019s last name was tricky. It wasn\u2019t an easy name like other legends of that era, such as Johnny Miller, and certainly not Jack Nicklaus, the tournament host.<\/p>\n
Yes, Weiskopf was difficult to spell. Was it \u201ci\u201d before \u201ce\u201d? Or without the \u201cp\u201d? Sullivan can\u2019t recall nearly 50 years later what he went with, but the current executive director of that same Memorial Tournament does remember how he found out about misspelling Weiskopf\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis wife came over and corrected me,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cI was mortified.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forty-eight years later, there aren\u2019t many 12-year-old volunteers at the Memorial, and mercifully, scoreboards are digital and update via the PGA Tour\u2019s ShotLink system.<\/p>\n
Next week is the 50th anniversary of the first Memorial Tournament, the Golden Bear\u2019s hometown event in Ohio that has maintained its status among the top tournaments on the PGA Tour. Much of that success can be attributed to Sullivan, who\u2019s been at nearly every edition and has been working at the event consecutively since 1991.<\/p>\n
Sullivan landed a marketing internship with the Memorial \u2014 and the Ryder Cup matches \u2014 in 1987 from John Hines, who at the time ran Muirfield Village as well as the event, and he sold radio advertising in Columbus for a few years. However, the Memorial was always calling. In 1991, he returned as its sales and marketing director, and in 2001, he became the tournament director.<\/p>\n
Twenty-five years have flown by for Sullivan. The Memorial is now one of the tour\u2019s eight Signature tournaments every season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have our own identity, we have our own voice, we have our own brand and it seems to resonate with people,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cWe don\u2019t take it for granted. We focus on making sure that we\u2019re one of the most prominent events in professional golf. We take steps to make sure that that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sullivan has made it a reality with the ever-present Nicklaus. Though the World Golf Hall of Famer has scaled back his responsibilities in recent years, Nicklaus is still keenly aware of all the happenings around Muirfield Village.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really appreciates and wants to understand the perspective of the player, ultimately, at all times; how the golf course is playing, what they experience, what they\u2019re seeing out there,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cHe is a player, so he wants to see it from their eyes also on how we treat the players, how we treat the families, how we pay attention to all the details that were important to him and Barbara as they were playing and growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nicklaus and Sullivan have remained a close team over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s smart, he understands, he listens, he\u2019s not a bull in a china shop,\u201d Nicklaus said of Sullivan. \u201cHe sits back and thoughtfully thinks about what to do and how to do it, and has been very, very good about tactically making the right decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jack and Barbara Nicklaus remain intimately involved in the Memorial Tournament. Courtesy of Dan Sullivan\/HNS Sports <\/p>\n
Along with Sullivan becoming executive director, 2001 also marked the start of HNS Sports Group. Sullivan started HNS alongside Hines and Steve Nicklaus, the second-oldest child of Jack.<\/p>\n
HNS began with a base around event and hospitality management, with the Memorial as its centerpiece. It\u2019s grown to 70 full-time employees and manages or operates 22 professional events, as well as five college tournaments. Its pro events include the Memorial, the new Good Good Championship on the PGA Tour and the LPGA\u2019s Chevron Championship.<\/p>\n
Another one of its tournaments is the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a premier event on the PGA Tour. HNS handles operations, while Steve John and his Monterey Peninsula Foundation team manage things on-site.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been the greatest thing that\u2019s ever happened to our event,\u201d John said of HNS coming aboard for operations around a decade ago. \u201cWe don\u2019t worry about anything operationally. We know the vendors are going to be in the right place, the right time. We have a very tight build time, and they adhere to that. They recognize that, they understand it, they embrace it. But it\u2019s because of Dan and his team, the leadership that Dan provides to his team.\u201d<\/p>\n
HNS also has become increasingly involved in corporate sponsorships, negotiating recent deals for TIAA with PGA Tour player Jason Day and LPGA player Lilia Vu.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes him good [is] he\u2019s a very detailed guy,\u201d Jack Nicklaus II said of Sullivan. \u201cHe knows everyone out there. I\u2019ve watched him quite a bit. He\u2019s got his hands into everything and he does it well. He\u2019s a great leader.\u201d<\/p>\n
3 Questions With … Dan Sullivan<\/p>\n
What\u2019s the biggest change in managing tournaments since you took over the Memorial in 2001?<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my perspective, the primary change over time is tied to building more special events and entertainment options in and around golf tournaments. Although the competition remains a centerpiece, there is more emphasis and expectation in creating non-golf entertainment to appeal to a broader audience, which has assisted in growing the popularity of our product.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s one leadership characteristic about Jack Nicklaus that stands out?<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, one of Jack\u2019s leading qualities is his consistent mindset of naturally thinking of and supporting others. Over the years, I have been fortunate to witness his graciousness, his willingness to support and recognize other people. It is a great quality that any of us can adopt at any time.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your most memorable Memorial Tournament, and why?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to argue against last year, with the honoring of Barbara Nicklaus [as the Memorial Tournament honoree] and Scottie Scheffler winning his second in a row. So many people, including the whole Nicklaus family, came to recognize Barbara and all that she has contributed to the PGA Tour, as well as the incredible charity work she has led in support of child healthcare. Then, Scottie backs up his 2024 win with a win in 2025, in front of a massive Sunday crowd. It made for an incredible week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No one could blame Dan Sullivan at the time. Sullivan, at the age of 12, had a tough…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[44,1418,144,2061,2063,2062],"class_list":["post-2965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-memorial-tournament","tag-golf","tag-memorial-tournament","tag-pga-tour","tag-print","tag-profile","tag-upfront"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}