Oak Hill bites back over the weekend
For a short time last week, the PGA Championship venue was known as “Soak Hill” because of all the rain upstate has endured this summer. When it poured Thursday into Friday, the course became soft and that led to the record-tying 63 by eventual winner Jason Dufner. His 10-under was a new record for a major champion by four strokes.
Sean Nolan wasn’t happy. He’s an intern from SUNY Cobleskill working at Oak Hill with other students from the school’s Turfgrass Management program, including Sean Charles from Ballston Lake, under the director of Oak Hill Superintendent Jeff Corcoran, another Cobleskill graduate.
“I think we bounced back Saturday and Sunday, and I think we allowed the golf course to bite back a little bit for those players and really tested them,” said Nolan, 25. He worked at Oak Hill, then heard about the program from Corcoran, and decided to pursue his degree.
“Nobody wants somebody to come into their course and light it up,” he told me this week. “We gave them a good test Saturday and Sunday.”
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods wouldn’t argue.
Other Cobleskill alumni are working at some of the top courses in the country including the venue for next year’s PGA Championship, Valhalla, in Louisville, Ky., Bethpage Black and Glen Oak on Long Island, L.A. Country Club, the Turning Stone courses, plus locally — Edison Club, Shaker Ridge, Fairways of Halfmoon, Wolferts Roost and Schuyler Meadows Club, according to program director Alex Ellram, now in his seventh year.
“It’s a good promotional thing for us and we’re taking advantage of it,” Ellram said. “The alumni really want to help out with the students and get them started on their career.”
Ellram said it’s hard for kids under 18 to break in because “there’s now a huge influx of migrant workers” and some courses don’t want to hire young people because of the liability factor.
“As soon as they’re here, if they haven’t worked on a golf course, we get them on a golf course,” Ellram said.
At the PGA, Nolan worked 18-hour days and mowed greens each day.
“A greens’ mower is square, so when it comes into a collar, the end of a green, it doesn’t cut all the grass so what I do is go around with my mower and pick up all the grass that hasn’t been mowed on the green,” Nolan said. “And I always just thought it was kind of cool that, yea, I got to step foot on every single green every day of the PGA Championship, which is pretty cool, you know.”
CHIP’S TIME: Chip Sullivan, who was born in Albany but moved away with his family at age 5, is a pro in Virginia. He shot 84-76 and was profiled by TNT Sports for also battling Juvenile Diabetes. Friday’s rain shorted out his blood sugar monitor and he said he got dizzy late in his round. He was one of 20 PGA professionals to qualify but no one made the cut.
NENY PGA JUNIOR GOLF: Players of the Year: 16-18: Devin Delisle (Brushton), Natalie Squillace (Slingerlands); 13-15: Tanner Donovan (Loudonville), Madison Braman (Loudonville); 12 & Under: Harry Thorpe (Glenmont), Juliette Melita (Niskayuna).
THREE STRAIGHT: Scott Berliner of Cobleskill Golf & CC won the 71st NENY PGA Stroke Play title this week in the rainshortened event at Albany CC. He shot 71 to win by one over Tom Sullivan of Wyantenuck.
HOLE-IN-ONE: On Monday, Aug. 12, Burden Lake CC, Heather Morrison aced No. 13 with an 8iron, 100-yards.
CHARITIES: Aug. 26: 10th Annual Charity Golf Classic for The Community Hospice Foundation in memory of Robert R. Roback, Sr., 1956-2011. Sponsored by Roback, Kumlander & Pehl, CPAs, McGregor Links. 9 a.m. with a picnic lunch by Mulligans. $125/player, $500/foursome. The previous nine events resulted in over $117,000 of donations to the Community Hospice Foundation. Contact: Bob Roback or Melissa: 518-899-5544.
Sept. 22: County Waste and Colonie Landfill Golf Tournament benefits The Ronald McDonald House. 9 a.m., $100 with continental breakfast, lunch, and Italian buffet dinner. It’s at Fairways of Halfmoon. Contact Kelli Smith (518) 877-2316 or email kellis@wcnx.org.
SUNBELT TOUR: The tour will be in Lake Placid for the third annual Adirondack Senior Open Aug. 28-30. The following week, the tour is in Cooperstown. It’s part of the training tour for players looking ahead to the Champions Tour.
Among those expected at Whiteface Club are Danny Edwards, a sixtime PGA Tour winner, Barry Conser, who played on the European Tour, and Javier Sanchez, who qualified for six straight U. S. Opens, according to tournament director Tom Eubank. The pro- am is Aug. 27 and a free trick shot demonstration and junior clinic on Aug. 26.
“That’s the type of show that even people who don’t play golf can really have fun at,” Tournament Director Tom Eubank told me this week. Support of the event will also help USA Luge and the Olympics.
COUNTY AM: Applications area available for the Rensselaer County Men’s Amateur golf tournament (Sept. 7-8) at courses and at rcmagolf.com.
VIDEO: This week, Kay McMahon explains why “you’re always supposed to wear a belt.”
To read John Craig’s golf notes and an updated charity golf schedule, go to www.saratogian.com.