Brookfield, Wisconsin, United States: Two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore have been chosen as the 2021 recipients of the American Society of Golf Course Architects (ASGCA) Donald Ross Award.

The award, given annually since 1976, is presented to those making a significant contribution to the game of golf and the profession of golf course architecture.

It will be presented to Crenshaw and Coore in October as part of the 75th ASGCA Annual Meeting in Cleveland.

A lifelong Texan, Crenshaw’s success as a professional golfer was a standout career on its own, securing 19 PGA Tour victories. But a visit to Brookline Country Club in Massachusetts as a 16-year-old sparked an interest in golf course architecture that endures to this day.

After serving as a player consultant on the design and construction of the TPC Course at Las Colinas, Texas, Crenshaw joined with Coore in 1985 to form the golf design firm that bears their names.

After graduating from Wake Forest University, Coore spent the first five years of his golf course architecture career with ASGCA Past Presidents Pete and Alice Dye, learning design, construction and maintenance of golf courses in Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Canada.

He formed his own design company in 1982 and soon after completed courses at Rockport Country Club and Kings Crossing Golf and Country Club, both in Texas; and Golf de Medoc in Bordeaux, France.

Together, the pair have designed some of the world’s most unique and well-respected golf courses, including: Sand Hills Golf Club in Nebraska; Sheep Ranch Golf Course in Oregon; Cabot Cliffs in Nova Scotia, Canada; Kapalua Plantation Course in Maui, Hawaii; Streamsong Resort Red Course in Florida; Friar’s Head in New York; and the new Te Arai Links, New Zealand.

Among their course renovations is Pinehurst No 2 in North Carolina.

“Ben Crenshaw embodies everything you could ever ask for in a golf professional,” said ASGCA President Forrest Richardson. “When you combine his love for golf course architecture and his work with a respected golf course architect on an equal basis – hand-in-hand – there may be no better example of how the Tour player can have a positive influence on the design of great golf courses.”

Richardson first encountered Coore after Bill had worked with the Dyes, before Coore joined forces with Crenshaw. “Bill Coore has always taken time to mentor young designers. Generations to come will benefit from his unselfish effort to pass along his philosophy and approach to creating great golf experiences,” Richardson said.

“Together, Ben and Bill demonstrate the great benefit that comes from collaboration in our profession, especially when the work is carried out with balance and respect.”

Crenshaw resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Julie, and daughters Katherine, Claire and Anna Riley. Coore and his wife, Sue, reside in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Donald Ross Award is presented by the ASGCA Awards Committee, co-chaired by ASGCA Past Presidents Steve Smyers and Rees Jones.