OFF TO MINNESOTA
North Sydney man volunteering at Ryder Cup golf event
North Sydney man a volunteer at Ryder Cup.
Retired educator George MacDougall loves to play golf. “Mind you, if I was continuing in the sport because I was good I would have quit long ago. But, it gets me out in the fresh air, there’s lots of walking and it’s great fun.” A few years back MacDougall saw the film “Bucket List” with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. “I though it was a good idea so I made a list of my own. The first item was to volunteer at the Ryder Cup.
“My wife Corrine is a golfer as well. We were in Myrtle Beach in 2014 and one day while on the computer she ended up on a site where they were calling for volunteers for the Ryder Cup in the United States for 2016 and she submitted my name.”
MacDougall didn’t think much more about it until he was notified that out of 19,000 applications, he made the second round of selections.
“The Ryder Cup to me is the greatest golfing competition of professionals, there’s no question,” he said. “It is team against team, that’s what makes the Ryder Cup so great. There are 12 on the American and 12 on the European side and they don’t go by stroke play, they go by match play.”
For MacDougall, who has been a member of Seaview Golf Club in North Sydney for more than 25 years, seeing these great golfers live is going to be a dream come true.
“I love the game. I’m excited to go and watch these professionals whom I’ve watched on TV for 30 years. Who knows, I may get to meet Tiger Woods, you never know who you might run into on the course during the week.”
The Ryder Cup is a biennial men’s golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the U.S.A. and Europe.
The 41st Ryder Cup matches begin Friday and continue until Sunday at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., a suburb southwest of Minneapolis.
“For me it is so exciting because as a volunteer I have free, unlimited access to all the games and all the practices. For that honour I’ll be working four, fourhour shifts and that is my payment back to them.”
MacDougall, who will be working in merchandising, already placed his uniform order and picked his schedule.
“I’m excited, but I’m also a little apprehensive. I’ll be meeting a lot of people and doing a job where I have no experience. A bonus is that I won’t be out on the course so if it rains I’ll be inside,” he said. “My wife Corrine and my son Paul are also going. Of our four children, Paul is the exceptionally good golfer. They’ve arranged for tickets to see some of the matches.”
Although he could apply to volunteer at future Ryder Cups, this will be a once in a lifetime thing for MacDougall.