Comment submitted by Matt Sliepka

To Whom It May Concern: My name is Matthew A. Sliepka, and I serve as the Golf Course Superintendent at Hawthorns Golf and Country Club in Fishers, Indiana. I am writing to respectfully urge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to act on the pending registration applications for turf herbicide products containing florpyrauxifen‑benzyl (Rinskor active), including the proposed CenterCourt and KurtainCall trade names submitted by Corteva Agriscience. As superintendent, I am responsible for the health, playability, and safety of approximately 275 acres of intensively managed turf and associated golf course grounds used daily by our members and guests. My job requires me to balance golfer expectations for excellent playing conditions with our obligations to protect the environment, ensure worker safety, and be a good neighbor to our surrounding community. Access to new products and technology is critical to achieving that balance, because modern chemistry often allows us to maintain turf quality with lower use rates, better selectivity, and improved environmental profiles compared with many older herbicides. Florpyrauxifen‑benzyl (Rinskor active) has already been thoroughly reviewed and granted Reduced Risk status and tolerance exemptions in other registered uses such as rice, aquatics, and certain pasture and non‑crop sites. Those registrations reflect a favorable toxicological and environmental profile, including activity at low use rates, rapid environmental breakdown, and minimal residue potential. Allowing turf‑labeled products with this same active ingredient would help golf facilities like ours reduce reliance on older, less efficient tools that may require higher rates, more frequent applications, or more restrictive handling requirements. On our course, we are seeing increasing pressure from difficult broadleaf and sedge weeds, as well as concerns about resistance and diminishing performance from existing standards. At the same time, our golfers expect high‑quality playing surfaces, and our ownership and local community expect us to manage the property responsibly. When we are limited to older chemistry, we often end up making more total applications over the season, applying more overall active ingredient, and running more equipment across the turf. Access to newer, Reduced Risk herbicide technology would allow us to maintain conditions with fewer inputs, fewer passes, and a greater margin of safety for staff, golfers, and the surrounding environment. I fully support the EPA’s responsibility to rigorously evaluate pesticide products before registration. However, prolonged delays on decisions for active ingredients that already have an established safety and environmental record in other uses leave end‑users without modern options that could actually lower overall risk on our properties. Timely action on the pending registrations for florpyrauxifen‑benzyl turf products will directly enable superintendents like me to implement more sustainable, efficient, and science‑based weed‑management programs. Thank you for considering the perspective of a golf course superintendent who implements your regulatory decisions on the ground every day. I appreciate the Agency’s work to protect human health and the environment, and I respectfully encourage prompt action on these stalled registration applications. Sincerely, Matthew A. Sliepka Golf Course Superintendent Hawthorns Golf and Country Club GCSAA Member Vice President of IGCSA Grassroots Ambassador