While many attendees to this year’s AT&T National may be upset about the absence of Tiger Woods, those working behind the scenes will be mourning the loss of a giant in Montgomery County golf.
Ben Brundred, the man responsible for bringing the first PGA Tour event to the county, died of a heart attack March 28 at age 83. Brundred’s golf legacy in the county dates back 40 years, from the time he joined Bethesda’s Congressional Country Club in 1964, through his presidency of the club in 1979, and through his general chairmanship of the Kemper Open⁄Booz Allen Classic in the 1990s.
The Kemper Open was the first professional golf tournament with a permanent stop in Montgomery County. Brundred was responsible for bringing the Kemper Open to Congressional in 1980 from Quail Hollow Country Club in Charlotte, N.C.
‘‘He was the utmost professional,” said John Lyberger, director of golf at Congressional ‘‘Mr. Brundred was the glue that held golf in Washington together.”
Randy Reed, Brundred’s son-in-law, said his father-in-law’s passion for the game stemmed from his love of the sport and the golf community in Montgomery County.
Reed, director of rules and competition for the Maryland State Golf Association, said Congressional held U.S. Opens and PGA tournament championships in the past, but Brundred was the primary person to organize volunteers for the first Kemper Open.
‘‘When Kemper first moved here to Congressional in 1980, he was the first general chair which was an unpaid position,” Reed said. ‘‘He assembled all the volunteers for the early tournaments — and we’re talking hundreds of people here.”
When the Kemper Open moved to Potomac’s TPC Avenel — now called TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm — in 1987, Brundred was able to bring those volunteers from Congressional to Avenel. The loyalty that volunteers had for Brundred was amazing, he said.
‘‘He knew the game real well and he was just one of those guys that there was this tremendous loyalty for,” Reed said. ‘‘I just think he was a very respected individual from the standpoint of Congressional members and the golf community.”
The Kemper Open sometimes struggled to fill a field with top-caliber golfers, Reed said, because of other popular tournaments being held around the same time. Yet the tournament remained competitive with other PGA events because of Brundred’s rapport with the players.
‘‘The event was still very successful and drew tremendous crowds even though the field wasn’t that great sometimes,” Reed said. ‘‘He was just well respected by the players and members alike; a guy whom nobody said any bad things about.”
Golf events in Montgomery County won’t be the same without Brundred, according to long-time friend and fellow Congressional member Tom Ryan.
‘‘It’s hard to say what it’s going to be like without him because it’s a totally different [tournament] now and Ben was such a unique guy. His strong suit wasn’t the operations of a tournament, his strong suit was really the public relations,” Ryan said. ‘‘He’ll be missed by more than just the tournament people and volunteers, he’ll be missed at every game at Congressional Country Club in the afternoon.”
In addition to his work at Congressional, Brundred was president of the Maryland State Golf Association in 1985. The association was founded in 1921 for the purpose of promoting the best interests of golf in Maryland. The group runs tournaments throughout the state each year, educates players on the rules and etiquette of the game and even awards scholarships to students.
For Charlie Brotman, who helped Brundred promote and run the county’s PGA tournament since the late 1970s, Brundred’s passion for the tournaments wasn’t limited to the volunteers.
‘‘He was like the octopus of the tournament: His tentacles were everywhere,” Brotman said. ‘‘With the volunteers, with transportation, with the players; he knew exactly what the problems were, and would smooth the bumps in the road.”
When he wasn’t playing golf or orchestrating tens of thousands of people on a golf course, Brundred could often be found playing cards at Congressional, with the many friends he had acquired over the years.
James Rempe played golf with Brundred for 46 years at both Congressional and Manor Country Club in Rockville. The two worked together in the early 1960s and were friends ever since.
Brundred’s passion for working in golf transferred to playing golf as well, Rempe said.
‘‘Once in a while he would get really into it, get a bit testy, and I’d have to dodge a club,” said Rempe, of Chevy Chase. ‘‘But he was just a really great gentleman, and we all miss him.”
Ben Brundred III, Brundred’s son, said his father’s approachable nature led many PGA Tour golfers into his office during the weeks of the Kemper or Booz Allen tournaments. Brundred said his father’s reputation between the professionals came from his concern with the players and their families, and not the tournament’s bottom line.
‘‘Players enjoyed coming in and sort of just getting out of the pressure cooker and shooting the you-know-what with dad for a little while,” Brundred said. ‘‘Some of the younger players thought of him as a father figure, which I know made dad proud.”
