ROGERS — Volunteers from around the country are helping staff the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G this week.
They came to visit friends, watch golf and a chance to see their favorite players in person.
“It’s being a part of the tournament rather than being a spectator,” said Rhonda Hoener, of Hepler, Kan.
She and a friend started driving to Arkansas to take advantage of some golf package vacations. This was her first year as a volunteer. Monday she worked at the caddy tent, Tuesday she checked bib names for the pro-am, Wednesday she collected score cards at 9th hole. Spectators were sparse during the practice rounds, Hoener said, and she got autographs and met the personalities behind the game during the laid-back days leading up to tournament play.
At A Glance
Getting There
• Tickets can be purchased online at www.nwachampionship.com/tickets. Daily tickets are $15 and a weekly pass is $30. Veterans, active service members and fire, police and other emergency service employees can get in free by displaying their identification. Admission for children 17 and younger is free with a ticketed adult.
• Spectator parking: Shuttles carry spectators to the course from public parking off Interstate 540 exit 82. Follow the signs. Shuttles run from 7:45 a.m. to 8 p.m. today through Saturday. Parking is $5.
• What not to bring: coolers, outside food and drink and large bags aren't permitted on the golf course. No cameras are permitted Friday through Sunday.
Source: Staff Report
“It’s tough to be a spectator,” said Carla Denton of South Omaha, Neb. “It’s brutal even on a nice day if you walk the whole course following a player.”
Watching players on television, however, isn't the same as an in-person game, Denton said.
“You miss a lot of stuff on TV,” she said.
There is the deliberate set up of the shot, the pace of the game, the interaction, Denton said. Television coverage only captures half the field, Denton said.
The tournament wouldn’t happen without volunteers, said Emily Podzielinski, tournament assistant. More than 600 volunteers — including local residents — are working the tournament.
There is a job for everyone and each one is important, Podzielinski said.
Volunteers got 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.
“A lot of them are huge golf fans,” Podzielinski said.
Some dedicated volunteers travel the circuit, working as many tournaments as they can.
Players waved and caddies shook hands with Chuck Myers of Helendale, Calif., and Dave Hamada of Arcadia, Calif., as they stood by the caddy tent 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.
“I’ve seen more than the average spectator because I’m inside the ropes,” 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, Myers said.
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.
If he ever wins the lottery he will be at every one, he said.