This week’s LPGA Wal-Mart NW Championship will be using 600 volunteers, but not all of them are from Northwest Arkansas.
“A lot of them are huge golf fans,” said Emily Podzielinski, tournament assistant.
Volunteers get two shirts, lunch, tickets to the event and a bag of P&G products in exchange for this year’s $45 volunteer fee, but they also get to interact with players and the tournament process, she said.
It’s that inside-the-ropes aspect that appeals to Chuck Myers of Helendale, Calif., and Dave Hamada of Arcadia, Calif., who have turned volunteering at LPGA events into a hobby.
“I’ve seen more than the average spectator because I’m inside the ropes,” Myers said.
Players waved and caddies shook hands with Meyers and Hamada as they stood by the caddy tent on Wednesday.
This week marks Hamada’s eighth LPGA event this year and Myers’ sixth. Myers likes to volunteer as a walking scorer and Hamada usually volunteers in the caddy tent or in scoring. Both men said they have volunteered at more than 100 LPGA events. It isn’t that they have a favorite player making the tournament rounds, but that they get closer to the game they love as volunteers than they would as spectators.
Myers said he might be 10 feet away from players and their caddies as they discuss the slope of the green and wind speed to set up their shot.
The players are accurate within feet, but first they must account for outside factors.
Hamada injured his shoulder and no longer plays, but traveling as a volunteer gives him a way to be involved with the game.
“You see a lot of different aspects of the tournament. You’re not just watching the players play,” Hamada said.
Myers starts planning his year when the schedule comes out. He volunteers at about 10 tournaments a year. He looks for cheap airfare and occasionally shares a room with one of the caddies.
“I wish I could afford to really do them all,” Myers said.
Notable names missing
With 98 of the top 100 players on the 2013 money list, and 18 of the top 20 in the Rolex World Rankings initially expected to play this weekend, the Wal-Mart Northwest Arkansas Championship features perhaps the strongest field of players ever to assemble for the annual event at Pinnacle Country Club.
But injuries and other commitments have led to at least a few of the top players to miss this weekend’s tournament.
Jessica Korda, ranked No. 39, announced earlier this week she would not make the tournament after originally being scheduled to attend.
Korda announced on her twitter page that she would skip the event due to an injured wrist.
“Rough and 36 holes were a little too tough for me last week in Rochester,” Korda wrote on her Twitter page on Monday. “Had to give it a rest and listen to my body (left wrist) And stay home this week :( and ARKANSAS was my fave event! Ugh! But need to be ready for the US WOMEN’S OPEN! (hurt my right wrist in Hawaii).
Other notable names were missing from the original final field list as well.
Karrie Webb, a winner on the tour this year at age 39 and the No. 8 player in the Rolex World Rankings, posted plans on her website to skip the event. And Lexi Thompson, the 18-year old ranked No. 31 in the world, committed to a charity tournament in New Jersey this weekend.
Pairings to watch
Several high profile players will be grouped together to form some attractive pairings in today’s first round, which starts at 7:30 a.m. Suzann Pettersen and Paula Creamer will play with defending champion Ai Miyazato, teeing off on hole No. 10 at 8:14 am. In the afternoon, local favorite Stacy Lewis plays alongside Morgan Pressel and Angela Stanford in a group that hits the course at 1:36 p.m., starting on No. 1.
Other groups of note teeing off on the first hole include Yani Tseng, Cristie Kerr and Carlota Ciganda at 1:47, Natalie Gulbis, Nicole Castrale and Lydia Ko at 2:31 p.m., and Michelle Wie, Carolina Masson and current Arkansas Razorback Gaby Lopez at 2:20 p.m.
Today’s weather HIGH 91 LOW 70 FORECAST Morning sunshine followed by isolated thunderstorms during the afternoon. Hot. Winds south at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30 percent.
Sports, Pages 24 on 06/21/2013