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A spirit that is not afraid

Auburn alumna, Madison Temple finishes a year working as fellow with PGA

<p>Madison Temple poses for photo with the winner of the Honda Classic.&nbsp;</p>

Madison Temple poses for photo with the winner of the Honda Classic. 

Just six days after graduation in May of 2018, communication major and marketing minor Madison Temple returned to her home state of Florida, moving into a career in the professional golf industry. 

Temple had always had dreams of chasing a career in the multi-billion-dollar sports industry after college with organizations such as the NFL or NBA. However, since a young age, Temple has been surrounded by the game of golf. With two avid golf players for parents, including a former Auburn women’s golf player, Temple always had an affinity for the sport and had been familiar with it. But she never knew that one day, it would come to be her future job. However, after one summer that all quickly changed. 

Going into her final year of school, Temple was given the opportunity to intern with the South Florida Section of the PGA. 

“A word of advice for people coming into graduation would be ‘Do not be afraid to try something new,’” Temple said. “Before graduating I was mainly looking for communication jobs, and then this opportunity came up. I have really found that I have a niche for it — I really enjoy it — and now it’s exactly what I want to do in the future.”  

During her time at the South Florida PGA internship, Temple was mainly working for the operations behind the junior golf tournaments, including the Drive, Chip and Putt Qualifiers that take place throughout south Florida at the local and sub-regional level. 

She had no idea, though, that merely experiencing this internship would end up sparking a passion for a long-term career in the professional golf industry. 

“Once I finished my internship, I knew I really enjoyed the golf industry and wanted to stick with it,” Temple said. 

Her senior year was coming to a close and graduation was looming large when the assistant executive director of the South Florida PGA reached out to her about an opening position as a fellow in the organization.  

“I sent in my resume application, and once they knew I was graduating in May and the fellowship was beginning at the same time, they gave me a call back to let me know I had been given the position,” Temple said. “I was super excited for the opportunity to work with them again.”

Following graduation, Temple began working right away. For the next eight months, she would run the Drive, Chip and Putt Local and Sub-Regional Qualifiers and Junior League tournaments, as well as work alongside the communication and marketing team. She helped with the 2019 brochures, media guides, press releases and even helped with stories on their website. 

To finish her year with the South Florida PGA Works Fellow Program, Temple was rewarded with the opportunity to work closely with the Honda Classic Tournament. 

“When I moved over to the Honda Classic, they had me work in a little bit of everything, which was really cool and awesome to see different aspects of the PGA tournament and everything that goes into making it happen,” Temple said. 

She also worked with the PGA HOPE Program, an initiative to introduce the game of golf to veterans with disabilities.

“The PGA Works Fellow has given me more insight on the golf industry as a whole, and just being able to know more of the ins and outs of how different tournaments work on different levels has given me a start to what could possibly be a long time career in golf,” Temple said.


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