Jeff Babineau wins Tim Rosaforte Distinguished Journalist Award posthumously

PALM BEACH GARDENS — Jeff Babineau and Tim Rosaforte fit together like an interlocking grip. Both were large men who were more powerful with their fingers, who grew up in the Northeast before moving to Florida to become journalists.

Both took their first job at small daily newspapers, learning their craft, before departing for larger, golf-centric magazines where they became major figures in the sport.

Both became among the elite of their profession, winning awards with their skill and their compassion, earning the trust of the world’s best golfers while adding their own gentle touch to the sport.

Both had catchy nicknames — Rosie and Babs, as they were affectionally and forever known – and they will be joined at the hip again Tuesday at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches when Babineau receives the Tim Rosaforte Distinguished Journalist Award. Fittingly, the ceremony will take place in the Tim Rosaforte Media Room. Babineau will become the first to receive the five-year award posthumously; the 62-year-old died of a heart attack Dec. 9 at his Orlando-area home after a brief illness.

Jeff Babineau ready for another day's work covering the golf world. — Jeff Babineau ready for another day’s work covering the golf world.

“Babs had a massive amount of respect for Tim,” said Jim McCabe, a longtime golf writer at the Boston Globe and one of Babineau’s closest friends. “Babs was a grinder, just like Tim. Babs respected that Rosie was still a print reporter at heart even though he still had the time and the talent to do TV.

“I’m sure Babs is humbled to get the Rosie journalism award, but knowing him, he would say, ‘Somebody else should get it.’ ”

Babineau and Rosaforte were major players during the golden era of golf journalism of the 1990s and 2000s, when newspapers and magazines were flush with money, and Tiger Woods gave them plenty to write about.

Babineau spent 25-plus years as a golf writer, working for the Orlando Sentinel and Golfweek, then in 2017 started freelancing. He covered more than 100 majors and 12 Ryder Cups. (And was also at a President’s Cup standing next to Fred Couples when a streaker ran by.) Rosaforte was one of the few golf journalists who covered more big events.

“Even though they were great friends, there was a friendly rivalry between them because they were both hard-nosed newspaper guys,” said longtime golf writer Alex Miceli of Morning Read. “This was back when there were a lot of people (journalists) at these events. Jeff always had great respect for Rosie, kind of like the respect European players had for Seve (Ballesteros).”

Longtime Golfweek writer Jeff Rude spent many all-nighters in press rooms with Babineau and Rosaforte writing their stories from a major championship. It’s a difficult task, writing a story that’s going to stand up several days later.

It was a grind. It was what they loved to do.

“When you’re in the trenches with guys at 5 a.m., you’d see how hard they worked,” Rude said. “Writing when you care is very easy. Writing with all you had was very difficult. Both those guys tried their hardest to do their best.”

Babineau’s recent passing added more sadness for an award named after Golf Channel insider Rosaforte, who died of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2022 at 66. But there is no more fitting winner.

“I met Jeff at a couple of events and Tim always told me he was a great guy,” said Genevieve Rosaforte, Tim’s widow. “I think Tim would be very pleased. It would make him happy. He would think, ‘Wow, he deserved it.’ ”

Genevieve will be joined at the ceremony by Babineau’s widow, Jane Quinlan Babineau, Jane’s sister Sally Quinlan (who won an LPGA Tour event in 1984), son Luke and other family members. The Rosaforte award will no doubt be one of several Babineau will receive in the next few years, but the first one may be the sweetest.

“Jeff would be so honored to get this award,” Jane said. “He admired Rosie very much. He was one of his guys. He used the word ‘mentor’ a lot. He always thought Rosie was one of the best.”

Jeff Babineau a New England native who loved his Boston sports teams

Jeff Babineau watches a sun rise in his native Cape Cod, wearing a Folds of Honor jacket.

Babineau grew up on Cape Cod, where his two passions were Boston sports teams – oh, yeah, he had the accent – and golf. He played golf from an early age, joining his future sister-in-law Sally on the high school golf team.

Jeff and Jane met in high school. She was married for 20 years before they got re-acquainted and became a couple.

“We were friends first and it turned into falling in love,” she said. “I loved his sense of humor, his eyes, his kindness. He was such a kind, unjudgeable person.”

Sally Quinlan met Babineau when she was 13 at the Dennis Pines Golf Course, where Babs would pick the range (and Jane and her mom worked in the clubhouse). When asked if all they talked about was golf, Sally shook her head.

“Our language was Boston sports – all Boston sports,” she said. “Jeff did keep me up with all the golf news that was going on. The thing I want known is we all know what a great writer he was, but he was a better man than he was a writer.”

Babineau started his journalism career in 1980 as an intern for the Lakeland Ledger while he was attending Florida Southern. After college, he worked at the Orlando Sentinel from 1986-97 before moving on to GolfWeek from 1998-2017, serving as the editor from 2008-14.

After leaving GolfWeek, Babineau spent the last seven years freelancing for PGA of America, PGA Tour and Augusta National. He also spent the last 13 years supporting the Folds of Honor.

In September, Babineau, a diabetic, suffered a mini-stroke without telling many of his close friends. He later encountered vision issues before passing in his sleep.

Babineau’s too-early death unfortunately was another commonality between him and Rosaforte.

“That’s why these stories break my heart,” Rude said. “A guy busted his butt his whole life, gets to retirement age and passes away. We’ve lost too many good ones lately.”