Newport Country Club to Host Women’s U.S. Open

By: Briana Carter
Posted In: News

Residents of Newport and tourists who visit can expect a treat this summer. The Newport Country Club will host the 61st U.S. Women’s Open from Monday, June 26 – Sunday, July 2, welcoming professional and amateur golfers from around the world to compete in the championship.

In preparation for the championship, the need for volunteers is crucial in running this event. U.S. Open volunteer coordinator, Cheryle Simon is dedicated to recruiting as many volunteers as she can. Volunteers are asked to pay for a $95 package that includes two golf shirts and either a hat or a visor and a ticket for the whole week.

Breakfast and lunch are also provided for those who help out. Simon comments on the benefits of being a volunteer.

“As a volunteer coordinator I need help, I need volunteers. And it’s a great way to see the championship. I think anybody that is thinking about attending the championship, should really consider volunteering,” Simon said. “We take really good care of the volunteers and I think it’s a really great experience for them.”

HOW MANY WOMEN ARE EXPECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE 2006 U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN?

“We will have a field of 156 players, and they are professionals and amateurs. They have to qualify to get into the Women’s Open. Most LPGA tour events, the actual tournament staff will go out and recruit players and that’s one of the things that they really strive for, is to get a good field. Well, for the Women’s Open, it’s the National Championship, so we don’t have to go and recruit.

It’s one of the nice things about this event. They want to play here. They all want to win this title. They’ll have practice rounds Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. They’ll compete Thursday and Friday, and then there will be a cut. So Saturday and Sundays rounds the field will be about half of what it is to start out with. They take the top 60 players and ties. Plus anyone within 10 shots of the leader, I believe. So it ends up being about half of the field that plays on Saturday and Sunday, but it’s not a definite number.”

WHY WAS NEWPORT SELECTED AS THE LOCATION FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP?

“The Newport Country Club has a long history with the USGA. The United States Golf Association was founded by five clubs back in 1894 and Newport Country Club was on of those five founding clubs. It was the site of the first U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur. The Centennial of the U.S. Amateur was here in 1995 at Newport Country Club and Tiger Woods won that championship. They look at the clubs and the course more than the city itself.

HOW DID YOU GET THE JOB OF BEING A VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR? “The company that I work for is based in Birmingham, Ala., and that is where I am from. And we had a position come open on the 2004 staff for the volunteer coordinator, so I moved to take that role. So I did that same role in 2004 and then moved to the 2006 site in August of 2004. We have staff on site about two years out, so it just worked out for me to move.I’m just a couple of hours down the road so.”

WHAT ARE YOUR DUTIES AS A VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR?

“Actually I have kind of two roles. One of is a volunteer coordinator and the other is the finance? I keep all the books for the championship. And then as the volunteer coordinator, it’s my job to recruit all the volunteers, which we need about 2,500. To keep them (volunteers) informed and organized and do the training.

So I send out newsletters and assignment letters, let them know what committee they are assigned to. Closer to the championship, we’ll have training sessions where they’ll all come in and will do kind of a classroom presentation and general championship information plus job specific information, for instance, the admissions committee. We’ll show them all the different ticket types we have. We’ll talk to them about the Stop & Shop vouchers and just the different things to expect when spectators come to the championship, all the different kinds of things that will get them into the championship.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE SOME OF THE JOBS THAT THEY WILL DO?

“We have about 30 different committees. I just talked about the admissions. That’s taking the tickets at the gate. Transportation is a huge committee. We use the transportation committee to greet the players at the airport and get them to their courtesy car. Each player in the field gets a courtesy car.

They have their own car for the week. But the transportation committee helps organize that.then there are some people that we will shuttle around and the transportation committee will take care of the VIP shuttle.

Corporate hospitality is a huge committee. They use volunteers to work in our corporate hospitality village, and they serve as a liaison between the corporate patron and our staff, just because we can’t be everywhere at once.So the hospitality volunteers help with directions for their guests. And if the patrons themselves need anything, they help out with that as well.

Gallery control is our biggest committee. That’s the marshals that work on the course, making sure the gallery is quiet when players are hitting. They also work the crosswalks where people can cross the holes. Like I said, there are about 30 committees but those are some of the big ones.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT THE PROCESS IS LIKE FOR SELECTING VOLUNTEERS?

“As far as selecting the volunteers, there are not a lot of stipulations. I need 2,500 volunteers and that’s a lot of help that I need. So I don’t really turn anybody away. The process they go through is filling out an application.

On that application those committees are listed and they get to choose and kind of rank their preferences and then I assign them based on those preferences. Most people get their first choice, but some committees start to fill up and I’ll have to go to their second or third choice. For the most part, people get to do the job that they want to do.”

WHAT IS YOUR WORST FEAR TAKING ON THIS ROLE (AS A VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR)?

“I guess with my job, the volunteers are so involved in the championship. They’re in every aspect of the championship.

So I guess my biggest fear is that they just don’t show up, because if they don’t show up, then our guests don’t receive the kind of treatment that we want them to receive. This is a first class event.

It’s a National championship and we want our spectators to be able to feel that when they get there, to be greeted and taken care of. Our volunteers are the biggest part of that because they are the ones that greet the spectators and answer any questions that they may have.

So as a volunteer coordinator, my biggest fear would be that I don’t have the volunteers to help our spectators enjoy the day like we want them to.”

WHO DO YOU THINK WILL WIN?

“Oh goodness, you know, it’s so hard to predict. Last year you know, Annika Sorenstam had done really well up until the championship and everybody thought she was on her way to winning the grand slam and she didn’t do well at all.

And it ended up being a Korean player named Birdie Kim (who) won with an unbelievable shot from a bunker off of the green she chipped in. It was just an unbelievable shot, an unbelievable finish. The closest player to her was a 17-year-old amateur. You can never predict those kinds of things. So I don’t think I can give you an answer to that one. But we hope it’s going to be a great, exciting finish.”