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Diane Silcox, James D. McCurdy, and Joshua Friell each have been awarded $5,000 postgraduate grants by the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) as winners of the Watson Fellowship Program.
The Watson Fellowship is funded by a partnership between the Toro Co. and GCSAA's philanthropic organization, the Environmental Institute for Golf (EIFG). The fellowship is named after James R. Watson, Ph.D., a retired vice president for Toro who pioneered turfgrass research. The winners, students working toward postgraduate degrees, have been identified as promising future teachers and researchers in the field of golf course management. They also receive an all-expense-paid trip to the 2013 GCSAA Education Conference (Feb. 4-8) and Golf Industry Show (Feb. 6-7) in San Diego.
All doctoral students, Silcox attends North Carolina State University, McCurdy is enrolled at Auburn University, and Friell is at the University of Minnesota.
Watson is a leading authority on turfgrasses and was vice president for customer relations and chief agronomist for Toro. The winner of the USGA Green Section Award in 1976 and the 1977 Agronomic Service Award by the American Society of Agronomy, Watson was named a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America in 1979. He also won the 1991 Harry Gill Memorial Award of the Sports Turf Managers Association; GCSAA's highest honor, the Old Tom Morris Award, in 1995; and this past December, the Donald Rossi Award from the Golf Course Builders Association of America.
Over the course of five decades at Toro, Watson conducted research on adaptability of species and strains of turfgrasses, fertilization practices, snow mold prevention techniques for the winter protection of turfgrasses, and more. He has authored more than 400 popular articles on turfgrass cultural practices and water conservation.
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