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Lafayette and Lehigh graduate, plus his family, are all part of Saucon Valley Country Club volunteer base
Chris Watts joined Saucon Valley Country Club in 1991, a year before its Old Course was hosting the U.S. Senior Open for the first time.
A former baseball and football player at Lafayette who later earned his master’s degree from Lehigh was asked by a neighbor if he would be interested in volunteering for the 1992 major championship. It would be the first tournament of its kind in 41 years.
Watts and his wife, Kim, spent the week inside the ropes. He was the on-course scoring supervisor. She worked the large leaderboard at the 18th green.
“We had a blast,” Watts said. “We were new members at the club, and a lot of members were asking why we were doing this, thinking it was just going to mess up the course.
“Everyone who volunteered or attended the tournament felt different by the end of the week. It was a great experience.”
The 1992 U.S. Senior Open had 2,400 volunteers and set attendance records for a memorable event won by the charming, cigar-smoking, RV-driving Larry Laoretti, who never won a senior event before or since.
Watts has volunteered at every USGA event at Saucon Valley since. His wife and children — sons Chris and Bryan plus daughter Taylor,
all Central Catholic graduates — have been part of the experience, too.
They will be part of the 42nd U.S. Senior Open, which is June 23-26, 2022.
“I recently started doing Spartan races with my kids,” the 61-year-old said. “We do three of those a year, so my vacations are the races and volunteering at USGA golf tournaments.”
Online volunteer registration is available. Approximately 2,000 volunteers are needed to fill positions on 22 committees, including leaderboards, marshals, merchandise, corporate hospitality, course evacuation, admissions, and the 19th Hole. Early submission of the application gives volunteers a better chance of being assigned to one of their three committee preferences.
Watts first played golf at age 10, when friends who caddied at Whitford Country Club in Exton dragged him out on a Monday — caddie day at the course.
The Downingtown resident at the time became a caddie at Whitford shortly after that so he could play every Monday. He played football through ninth grade before opting for the golf team for the next two falls.
Watts returned to football his senior season after a growth spurt of five inches and 40 pounds. He played football and baseball as a freshman at Lafayette before sticking to baseball his last three seasons when academics, athletics and social commitments became too much. The left-hander still ranks among Lafayette’s top 10 in career strikeouts and innings pitched.
He left Lafayette in 1981 with a chemical engineering degree, worked three years at Air Products before earning his MBA from Lehigh in 1987.
Watts has worked in mergers and acquisitions the last 12 years at CrossAmerica Partners, one of Exxon’s largest fuel suppliers.
The Lower Saucon Township resident returned to golf after college, working his handicap down to as low as a 4.
Watts was not a scoring volunteer again after 1992 until eight years later when the U.S. Senior Open returned to Saucon Valley, followed by the U.S. Women’s Open in 2009.
When his kids, now ages 33, 31 and 29, left the nest, Watts’ volunteering schedule picked up. He worked the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur at Saucon and the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont CC in suburban Pittsburgh.
He is awaiting COVID-19 clearances to work the 2021 U.S. Open (in June at Torrey Pines Golf Club in San Diego), U.S. Senior Open (in July at Omaha Country Club), The Open Championship (in July at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England) and the BMW Championship (in August at Caves Valley GC in Owings Mills, Maryland).
The scoring system has changed significantly since Watts began volunteering. His wife still uses magnetic numbers to manually change the large leaderboards near the finishing hole. But everything else is electronic, with those on the course with each pairing utilizing a device the size of an iPhone tracking every shot of every player.
There also are the standard-bearers who carry the signs with the players’ names with daily and tournament scores up to the moment.
“Being inside the ropes as a standard-bearer as a kid ,” Watts said, “it’s the best way to see the golf tournament — except you can’t just sit and watch. You have to pay attention to what you’re doing. It’s easy to mess up.
“But you’re right there in it. It’s great to see it up close and personal. Being a volunteer is a great way to get a ticket for the whole week and get a uniform out of it.”
Watts would know. He’s taken advantage of that opportunity every time for the last three decades.