GOLF COURSE SERVICES TEAM
Paul Burley, Senior Vice President - Paul.Burley@img.com
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Paul is responsible for overseeing IMG’s Golf Course Design business globally, as well as Golf Club Management across Asia Pacific. He has over 30 years experience in the golf industry, has worked in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australia, and managed several of the world's leading clubs including the famous Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland and the iconic Sun City Resort in South Africa. He is considered to be one of the leading experts in the golf industry, and is a PGA Master Professional, one of an elite group of golf professionals to receive this prestigious award from the British PGA. Paul is also a member of the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA).
Russell Hannah, Vice President - Russell.Hannah@img.com
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Russell is responsible for all business development activities for IMG Golf Course Services in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and in addition oversees all IMG's managed golf clubs in the region. He has over 20 years experience in the golf industry and has worked at several award winning clubs including Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland, and the iconic Le Touessrok Resort in Mauritius, where he was Golf Club General Manager. Russell is a Class AA member of the British PGA.
Chris Brown, Operations Director - Chris.Brown@img.com​
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Chris oversees a portfolio of IMG managed clubs providing pre-opening technical advice, marketing and operational support. He has worked at a number of high profile clubs including Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland and the award winning Els Club in Dubai, where he worked for 3 years as Director of Golf and then 7 years as the General Manager. Chris has outstanding pre-opening experience, a wealth of operational knowledge and knows how to deliver high quality standards and exceptional financial performance. Chris is a member of the British PGA.
Steven McFarlane, Golf Course Architect - Steven.Mcfarlane@imgprestige.com​
With over 30 years golf course design experience, Steven is responsible for developing the strategy, concept and plans for IMG designed golf courses. He prepares construction drawings, specifications and makes site inspection visits to ensure our design standards are being followed during construction. His expertise and global experience of designing high quality, world class courses on a wide variety of different sites, provides our clients with creative design solutions and exceptional golf courses. Steven has designed courses in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and Asia, and has been a member of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects (EIGCA) since 1990.
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Leonardo Izzi, Marketing Director - Leonardo.Izzi@imgprestige.com​
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Leo provides IMG’s portfolio of clubs across the world with industry leading marketing support with a focus on driving strategic marketing campaigns, advertising and promotional opportunities, graphic design, PR, e-marketing, social media actions, website content and brand awareness. He also supports the day to day activities of the IMG Prestige network. Leo has many years of high level club marketing experience from his time as Head of Marketing at the London Golf Club, one of Europe’s premier facilities. During his time at the club, it hosted several professional events, including the Volvo World Match Play Championship and the Seniors PGA Championship.
Cameron Thompson, Agronomist Asia
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With over 20 years experience in golf course maintenance and construction, Cameron is a highly respected turf grass professional. He has been working with IMG for over 15 years, advising our courses on their agronomy programs. Cameron has prepared championship courses for high profile PGA Tour events, such as the IMG managed, WGC HSBC Champions held at Sheshan Golf Club in Shanghai. His expertise includes grow-in of new golf courses as well as overseeing day to day turfgrass management of championship courses. Cameron has a diploma in Horticulture from Grovely College in Brisbane, Australia, interned at the Ohio State University in the U.S.A. and is a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) and the Australian Golf Course Superintendent Association (AGCSA).
Rhys James, Operations Manager - Rhys.James@img.com​
Based in Dubai, Rhys is responsible for provided pre-opening and operations support to IMG's portfolio of managed clubs. After starting his PGA Professional career in 2006, Rhys joined the Golf Union of Wales as Tournament Manager in 2012, and in 2014 he moved to Emirates Golf Club in Dubai, where he initially worked as Golf Services Manager and then Director of Golf. Rhys has also worked for IMG's Golf Events team, working with different clients and events around the world, including multiple HSBC golf projects.
Sylvain Duval, Agronomist Europe
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Sylvain is widely regarded as one of the golf industry’s leading authorities on golf course construction and course maintenance. He is responsible for overseeing the turf conditions at IMG’s portfolio of golf courses in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and ensuring playing surfaces are consistently maintained to world class standards. Prior to working with IMG, Sylvain worked at several high profile projects including Polaris World in Murcia, Spain where he was the responsible for the construction and maintenance of 6 Jack Nicklaus designed Championship golf courses.
Allan Zhang, Golf Course Design Associate
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Allan has over 10 years experience of working on IMG Design projects, and has been involved in providing design support to many of our golf courses in Asia Pacific. He creates construction documents and design plans, and makes site visits to review construction progress. He has made design visits with high profile PGA Tour players such as Sergio Garcia, ensuring design specifications are being followed during construction. Allan is an expert with Autocad which helps him produce high quality detailed design documentation for our clients across the region. He has a deep understanding of golf course architecture and has visited many of the world’s great golf courses. He has a bachelors degree in Turf Science, and is a panelist for Golf Travel Magazine's Top 100 courses in Asia.
Leon Sun, Agronomy Associate
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Leon is responsible for providing Agronomy support to IMG’s portfolio of managed clubs in China, including award winners such as Jinji Lake Golf Club and Sheshan Golf Club. He has worked for IMG for 8 years and is one of the most experienced Agronomists in China. Prior to joining IMG, Leon worked at Lan Hai Golf Club and Lake Malaren, two of China's leading clubs. Leon is actively involved with supporting the team at Sheshan Golf Club making regular site visits, and assisting with course preparations for the WGC HSBC Champions tournament each year.