Big tournaments need all the help they can find
June 21, 2024
Television viewers of big-time golf tournaments may not appreciate how many volunteers help run the events.
The total runs well over a thousand, including extra greenskeepers, spotters, traffic and parking controls, and so on.
Claudia Camargo
Highly trained expert rules officials at USGA championships are among the elite members of the volunteer contingent.
I met Claudia Camargo of Mexico at the sixth green at Lancaster Country Club during the recent U.S. Women’s Open.
A member of the USGA’s Rules Committee, she also heads the Mexican Golf Federation’s rules committee.
Camargo is also the Women’s Chair of the International Golf Federation.
Camargo began helping in 2007, with her first major stint at the Open at Royal Liverpool in 2014. She also officiated at the Olympics and the U.S. Open.
Camargo flew in from Mexico City and worked shifts at different holes at Lancaster, where she helped in 2015. “It was a remarkable course then and it’s even better now,” she said.
During the second round Camargo dealt with rules issues at the sixth green.
For example, a tee shot by Ssu Chia Cheng of Chinese Taipei landed in the right rough, adjacent to the viewing stands right and back of the green. Camargo confirmed there was no obstruction by the stands warranting relief for Cheng’s next shot.
Camargo also kept a green sheet of paper with players’ names and expected finish times for each hole, as part of the Rules Committee’s slow play enforcement practice.
“We keep track of what time they each finish the hole and make sure they keep up with the group ahead. If there’s a problem they are given a warning per individual not group. If there’s a second slow play violation, then a penalty is assessed,” she said.
Camargo said, “It’s an honor to be inside the ropes.”
Other volunteer roles require direct and friendly contact with the fans as well as the chance to help the competitors.
Eric Thomas
Eric Thomas was a first-time volunteer marshal at the Women’s Open.
When we met and talked along the eleventh fairway during the second round Friday afternoon, he was enjoying every minute of it.
Originally from Harrisburg, in recent years he has lived in Pittsburgh, with family remaining in southeast Pennsylvania.
He first learned of the opportunity in an email sent to USGA members over a year ago. “I thought it would be a great excuse to take a week off and see players up close. I also knew it was shift work, so I would have time to go out on the course and see whoever else I wanted to if I didn’t see them during my shifts.”
As of Friday afternoon, Thomas had already met some pre-Tournament goals. He bought a souvenir 18th Hole flag and put it to good use. “I got lots of autographs. It was great,” he said.
During his shifts Thomas guided fans through the crossings, found and marked golf balls landing in the rough, and otherwise made himself useful.
For Friday’s schedule he was set for two shifts, ending at 6:45 p.m. However, a late afternoon stint during Thursday’s first round lasted until 8:00 p.m.
Thomas fully expected the same thing to happen again. “But that’s cool,” he said.
This is not his first USGA event, only his first as a volunteer. “My first time was in 2016. I went as a drunk fan to that one, because it was right after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup,” Thomas said with a broad grin.
When he lived in southeast Pennsylvania, he played courses such as Dolphin Highlands and Hershey Country Club. Now he plays Pittsburgh-area courses including Frosty Valley and South Park.
Thomas is an avid golfer, but he didn’t use that word to describe his dedication to the game.
He simply answered “14.6” when I asked about his golf handicap.
Knowing his handicap number right of the decimal point, in fact, knowing there is a number right of the decimal point, is a true sign of golf avidity.
Thomas was a perfect volunteer candidate.
Overseas triumph for Hammond and Ebersole
Congratulations to Britt Hammond and Austin Ebersole of American Classic Golf Club for their recent triumphant victory as part of the eight-player American squad at the new FlingGolf tournament in Bournemouth, England.
The Ryder-Cup event pitted the Americans against a British squad in the first-ever event, held June 8-9 at Christchurch Golf Club. The USA team won 15.5 to 5, which included the mixed doubles alternate shot winning points scored by Hammond and Ebersole.
Local club competition results
Fifty-two members of the Kings Creek CC Ladies 9-Hole group played a 2-1-1 game June 18, where the teams use the best two scores on the par 3s and the single best scores on the par 4s and 5s.
Kelly Brown, Holly Clark, Debbie Grant, and Carol Loewen won first place in the first flight. Jeannine Doane, Sandra Singer, Nathalie McGregor, and Juanita Wilson took second.
Darci Whitehead, Angela Strano, Beth Cohen, and Terry Barrera won first place in the second flight. Marty Jaxheimer, Judy Rayner, Deborah D’Orazio, and Deborah Hinderer finished second.