The Kemper Open benefits from an annual force of 1,200 volunteers.
The oversight of these volunteers is a task handled by Ellen Sullivan, who has worked for the Kemper Open for the past 11 years. As the coordinator of volunteers, Sullivan works nine months each year in preparation for the event.
"I am a golfer, and I thought it was a great event," said Sullivan.
"I really like the whole aspect of it. Every year you see the same people; it's kind of like a reunion."
Whatever challenges confront Sullivan, she does not have to contend with a shortage of volunteers.
"I do have a wait list every year for people who want to do it," said Sullivan. "We don't have a big turnover."
Volunteers do not choose the capacity in which they serve. Instead, Sullivan places the volunteers with the Kemper committee she thinks will be the best fit. The Transportation and Marshals committees make use of the most volunteers. Other committees such as the Apparel, Publication Distribution and Main Scoreboard committees, require a smaller number of volunteers.
"The Kemper Open couldn't be run without them," said Sullivan. "They've put in a lot of time and a lot of effort."
BOB AND DOROTHY NORTON, both retirees, live in Ocean Pines, Md., but each year they make the trek to Potomac, stay with family and operate the main scoreboard near the Avenel clubhouse. They have been doing so since the first year after the Kemper moved to Avenel in 1987.
They keep coming back because of "the camaraderie with the volunteers, seeing the people year after year," said Dorothy Norton. "Plus this is where all the action happens," she said as she pointed to the steady flow of passersby. "It's like a meeting place for a lot of people."
Bob Norton welcomes the technological advances that pertain to their volunteer job. "At first they used only scorecards, and somebody would run a facsimile over to us," said Bob Norton. "Then they got computers and a fax machine… The computer will tell us immediately what a golfer has done on any particular hole."
A GROUP OF middle and high school students convened near the clubhouse at noontime on Thursday, the first day of the tournament. The students were about to begin their stint as Walking Scorers, the primary responsibility of Kemper's youth volunteers. Each scorer is given a sign and a pocketful of numbers to affix to the sign. Their assignment is to proceed through each hole with an assigned group of three golfers, carrying a sign that shows the golfer's name and his score.
Colin Grant and Mitchell Levine, both from North Potomac and freshmen at Wootton High School, were about to begin their first stint volunteering at Kemper.
"I've been coming ever since I was six," said Levine.
The greatest thing that could possibly happen as they volunteered? "Having my player win," said Levine.
"Being on TV," said Grant.
MIKE BURKE had a beige Kemper cap like many of his fellow volunteers, but there was a difference: Burke's cap was covered with autographs of many PGA pros. The 37-year-old Rockville resident pointed to his favorite signature: Greg Norman.
Burke was selling programs near the driving range, a responsibility with the Publication Distribution Committee. He said his favorite memory is seeing PGA players at the driving range and clubhouse areas and getting his hat signed by the players, and described the memories as "once in a lifetime."
THE KEMPER MEDIA SHUTTLE was a golf cart; at the helm sat Rocky Portanova of Rockville.
"Driving the media shuttle, I take [members of the press] to certain holes, because these people often have heavy equipment," said Portanova.
Portanova, who worked in public relations for over 30 years, has been volunteering for 10 years at Kemper.
"I've worked at the Media Center, and I love it," said Portanova. "They're a great bunch of people, and we play golf together sometimes in the offseason …It's a good way as a volunteer to give a little back to the game."
VOLUNTEERS HELP MAINTAIN the atmosphere of decorum expected in a golf crowd. Ray Savoy, in his fifth year of volunteering at Kemper, is the director and founder of the Langston Boys and Girls Golf Club in Washington, D.C. He also runs Hook-a-Kid-on-Golf Day.
"I volunteer more or less as security at difference posts, monitoring spectators for things they shouldn't have with them like a cell phone or a pager," said Savoy. "I'm watching out for golfers so they're not hindered …I'm trying to make spectators understand there are rules and regulations in the tournament."
Savoy picked up golf over 40 years ago, but left the game for some time before coming back to it in 1990.
"I love the respect and discipline that the game presents to an individual," said Savoy, who stresses that those he teaches "learn how to play a sport with integrity …learning how to respect themselves and others."
KEMPER IS NOT STRICTLY a volunteering forum — many area people find Kemper to be a good opportunity for short-term work.
Josh Goldstein of Rockville was working at one of the ice cream carts. Now a sophomore at the University of Maryland at College Park, Goldstein is a Wootton graduate.
"A friend's dad is a distributor," said Goldstein. "It helps out with tuition — every dollar counts."
"I've come to the tournament a couple of times and always enjoyed it," said Goldstein. "I play every once in a while, but I ration myself to twice a year."