As part of our ongoing Syngenta Welcomes Back Golf multi-media series, Jon Kiger chats with native Brazilian Rick Holanda about his recent stint as superintendent at Santa Paziena Golf Club in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Holanda emigrated from Brazil to the Philadelphia area in 1989 as an aspiring fashion photographer, and took a job on the crew at Merion Golf Club under Dick Bator. Rick was hooked on golf turf management, and went on to superintendent positions at Aronimink Golf Club, Chestnut Ridge CC in Maryland, Rancho La Quinta Country Club in California, and then Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. After Shadow Creek he went to Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, CA to be closer to his two daughters. The job at Santa Pazienza beckoned, so he returned to Brazil for three years before coming back to the States recently to take over at Scottsdale National Golf Club.