The Team

(Effective 1/1/10)

Brian Hewitt was an award-winning writer, editor and columnist at Golfweek Magazine before joining Golf Channel in 2003 for seven years as an analyst, columnist and reporter. Hewitt also brings to Global Golf Post a career of writing experience covering all sports for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Daily News. His pledge is to demand quality writing and reporting from a distinguished group of correspondents throughout the golf world. He is the author of three books and a graduate of Stanford University (B.A. Communications) and Northwestern University's Medill School where he earned a Masters degree in Journalism.

Mike Purkey is an award-winning golf journalist who has written about the game for more than 25 years. He is a former Senior Editor at GOLF Magazine who won two writing awards from the Golf Writers Association of America and three awards from the International Network of Golf. He has co-written two books: "Legends of Golf: 25 Years of the Champions Tour" and "Playing A Round With The Little Pro," with legendary teaching pro Eddie Merrins. His work has appeared in Golf World and Golf Business. He is a former president of the Golf Writers Association of America.

Steve Ellis has served in a variety of capacities during his 35 years as a journalist. An award-winning writer, he has worked primarily in management positions for the past 20 years. He was the editor of Golfweek from the early 1990s through the mid-90s and managing editor of PGA TOUR Partners Magazine for a dozen years. A 1974 graduate of Ohio State University's School of Journalism, Ellis also has worked as communications director for the Futures Golf Tour in the mid-1980s and in 1996 helped promote Gary McCord's "Golf For Dummies" book.

Lawrence Hollyfield worked as an award-winning journalist in newsrooms for a dozen years in a variety of capacities – editing, designing, directing coverage and writing (including a stint as the golf writer in Myrtle Beach, S.C.). He was the health editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and an assistant sports editor at The Miami Herald. He started his own communications company in 2001 and his work has appeared in more than a dozen publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today. He launched a South Florida golf newspaper, The Tee Times, in 2007. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1989 with a B.S. in journalism.

Andy DeKeuster is a 2009 graduate from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He walked onto the golf team his sophomore year and became a valuable member of the team. He was named an Academic All-American his senior year.  He finished his career with a 75.64 stroke average, 3 top-20 finishes, earned Academic All Big Ten honors 2007,2008 and 2009, was named Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree in 2008 & 2009.

Steve Eubanks is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning writer whose work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, FoxSports.com, Yahoo! Sports, Golf Digest, Golf World, Golf Magazine, Golf for Women, T&L Golf, PGATour.com, and Links magazine.  He has authored 34 books, including novels, narrative non-fiction sports history books, a golf memoir, golf instruction books, and he has co-authored books with Arnold Palmer, college football legend Lou Holtz, NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon, tennis hall-of-famer Tracy Austin, Mark H. McCormack, Butch Harmon and rodeo great Ty Murray among others. He has also taught and lectured at PGA of America business schools and seminars, and was the keynote speaker at the Joint Forces Reserve Orientation Course, Command Second Fleet, Norfolk, Virginia.

Dermot Gilleece lives in Sutton, Dublin and has been writing golf for 40 years. Is the author of 12 books including "The Brad", the biography of Harry Bradshaw, "Breaking 80: the life and times of Joe Carr", "Ryder Cup 2006" and "Touching Greatness". He was golf correspondent of The Irish Times for 21 years and currently contributes as a golf writer to the "Sunday Independent", Ireland's largest-selling newspaper.

John Hopkins recently retired after 17 years as the golf correspondent of The Times, having been golf correspondent of The Sunday Times for 13 years before that. He has covered 120 major championships. In 2007 he was named Wales's Sports Journalist of the Year and in 2008 he was named Internet Sports Writer of the Year by the Sports Journalists Association in Britain.He is the author of six books about golf, ranging from a biography of Nick Faldo to his most recent, a well-received tour of his favourite courses in Wales.

Vartan Kupelian spent 40 years writing sports for daily newspapers, 37 of those at The Detroit News before he left that distinguished newspaper in August, 2008.

He covered the Detroit Red Wings for 18 seasons. He covered five Olympic Games in five different countries, beginning in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. He has covered the Stanley Cup Finals, World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Finals, Rose Bowl and Orange Bowl, horse racing's Triple Crown and many of the other most coveted sports events in the United States and abroad.

From 1994 until leaving The Detroit News, his primary duty was to cover golf and the PGA Tour.

In his career, he has covered the best of the best - Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman in hockey; Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson in basketball; and, of course, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods in golf.

Kupelian, who is the current president of the Golf Writers Association of America, has won numerous writing awards. He has also written three hockey books, collaborated on two others, and has written two golf books. He has served on the board of directors of the GWAA since 1997.

Paul Mahoney is a multi-award winning golf writer and columnist who has contributed to golf publications around the world. He was on the launch team for Fore! Magazine in the U.K. and he helped relaunch Today's Golfer in the U.K.

Lewine Mair was the first woman to serve as the Daily Telegraph's Golf Correspondent, working in that capacity for 12 years through 2008. She was also the first woman to have been given a specialist position on the sports pages of a national paper in the UK. Having joined the staff as a feature writer, she was promoted to Golf Correspondent in May 1997, the year in which she was short-listed for British Sportswriter of the Year awards. In April of 2001, she became the first international writer to be placed in the American Golf Writers' awards, finishing second in the Daily News category. Once a two-handicap golfer, Mair currently contributes to the Daily Telegraph, Golf Monthly and Golf International.  Mair is the author of two books: The Real Monty – the story of Colin Montgomerie and One Hundred Years of Women's Golf.

Brendan is a 40 plus year sports journalist veteran from Australia. He has written for the Sun News Pictorial in Melbourne from 1968-72, the Rhodesia Herald 1972-73, the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier as sports editor 1975-77 and the Melbourne Age as golf writer, 1977-1993. He has written or co-written a dozen books on golf. Moloney is a life member and on the executive of the Australian Golf Writers Association and a member of the Golf Writers Association of America. He is currently writing the centenary history of Kingston Heath Golf Club.

Lorne Rubenstein has written a golf column for The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, since 1980. He writes a column for ScoreGolf, Canada's national golf magazine, where he was the first editor in 1980. His work has appeared in Golf Digest, Golf World, Golf Journal, Links, and T&L Golf. Lorne has written 10 books, including instructional (with the late George Knudson, Nick Price, and David Leadbetter), personal (Links: An Insider's Tour Through the World of Golf; A Season in Dornoch), repertorial (Mike Weir: The Road to the Masters), and anecdotal (A Disorderly Compendium of Golf, with Jeff Neuman). Lorne has won four first-place awards in the Golf Writers' Association of America's annual contest. He hosted Acura World of Golf for 11 years on The Sports Network in Canada, and appears regularly as a guest on U.S. and Canadian radio. Lorne was inducted into the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame in 2006 and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.

Len Shapiro graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1968 and earned a Masters degree from the University of Missouri in 1969.  He joined The Washington Post in 1969 and covered The Washington Redskins from 1973-79. He was named an assistant sports editor in 1980, deputy sports editor in 1982, and then sports editor in 1985. Len returned to full-time writing with The Post in 1991, covering professional golf and the NFL, along with a weekly column on sports on radio and television.  He covered golf for The Post until 2008. Shapiro retired from the Post after 40 years in 2009, and now freelances on golf for CBSSports.com and The Miami Herald. He has been a contributor to Golf Magazine, Golf World, PGA Tour Partners, the International Herald Tribune, The Sporting News, and Pro Football Weekly. He has written six books, including biographies of former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson and Pro Football Hall of Famer Sam Huff, and one of the first exposes of recruiting abuses in college athletics (Athletes For Sale). Shapiro is a member of the selection committee for the World Golf Hall of Fame and Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he was inducted into the media wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002. Shapiro is a former president of the Golf Writers Association of America.

Art Spander is a longtime San Francisco Bay Area sports columnist who has specialized in golf. He was winner of the 2009 PGA of America Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award and has six first-place prizes in the Golf Writers Association of America competition, along with 14 seconds and thirds. He was president of the GWAA 2005-2007. He has been to 138 major championships, including 43 consecutive Masters and 41 US Opens, and has covered most of the California Tour events, including all but two years since 1966, the AT&T/Bing Crosby event at Pebble Beach.  He has written for the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune, CBS.Com, New York Times, Newsday, Sports Illustrated, Golf Digest, Golf Magazine, Golfweek and various publications in Great Britain including the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Herald in Scotland. Spander is a former president of the Golf Writers Association of America.

John Steinbreder is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience and the author of nine books, including "Club Life," "Solomon's Choice" (with Richard Kent), "Hockey for Dummies" (with John Davidson) and "Golf Courses of the U.S. Open." He is a former reporter for Fortune magazine, a one-time writer/reporter for Sports Illustrated and a past senior writer for Golfweek. Steinbreder has also written for several prominent publications over the years, including The New York Times Magazine, Departures, Forbes Life, Time, Travel & Leisure Golf, Golf Digest Index, Met Golfer and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, he has contributed chapters to a number of books, among them "The Sports Illustrated Almanac," "1001 Golf Holes to Play Before You Die," "A Walk in the Park" and "The Final Four of Everything."

Michael Vlismas is a freelance golf writer and broadcaster, and owner of his own sports communications company. He has covered the game of golf for Reuters International and the South African Press Association, major international newspapers and publications such as the Daily Telegraph, The Scotsman, The Irish Examiner, Golf Digest and Golf Weekly, as well as having done radio work for the BBC World Service, Radio Ireland, Talk Radio (UK), USPGA Tour Radio and other stations worldwide. Michael has worked as a television commentator on the game in his home of South Africa, and voices all of the Southern African PGA Tour's tournaments for the pay TV sports channel SuperSport. He is also editor of the monthly golf newspaper, Tee to Green, the largest golf publication in South Africa.