The superintendent of Pinehurst No. 2 received national recognition Sunday from the U.S. Golf Association.

Wendell native and North Carolina State University graduate John Jeffreys received the E.J. Marshall Platter as part of the U.S. Open Championship presentation.

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The award recognizes golf course superintendents who showcase dedication, expertise, and seamless teamwork with the USGA. This honor celebrates their efforts in creating a well-maintained course that surpasses expectations, fit to host a national championship and the world's finest golfers. The entire course maintenance crew and volunteers were also acknowledged during the award ceremony at the 18th green.

Jeffreys, a 12-year member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, is in his 24th year at Pinehurst – having previously worked at Course No. 7 and Course No. 6 before leading the Course No. 2 team in 2014.

Jeffreys and his crew of 20 worked together with the USGA’s senior director of championship agronomy, Darin Bevard, over the last year to ready the 7,543-yard, par-70 course for the championship.

The U.S. Open is due to return to Pinehurst No. 2 in 2029.

Pinehurst No. 2, designed by architect Donald Ross in 1907, features Champion ultradwarf bermudagrass putting greens and Tifway 419 bermudagrass around the collars, approaches, fairways and teeing areas.

This year's U.S. Open marked the first one played on modern ultradwarf bermudagrass greens, a warm-season turfgrass that delivers exceptional playing quality, year-round, in Pinehurst and other areas with hot summers. Pinehurst No. 2 switched its putting green surfaces from bentgrass immediately following the back-to-back 2014 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open championships.

Jeffreys is also supported by Bob Farren, Pinehurst director of grounds and golf course management and this year’s USGA Green Section Award recipient, as well as Kevin Robinson, Pinehurst manager of golf course maintenance operations.

The platter’s namesake was the chair of the green committee in 1920 at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.