If the Greenbrier Classic is a first year success, give plenty of credit to hundreds of volunteers.
On the driving range, where the pros practice their swings and behind the ropes where golf fans jockey for position, their red shirts are hard to miss - a small army of volunteers in a sea of spectators
Don Jamison is a volunteer from Lexington. "I've come up to The Greenbrier several times, " he told News 7. "I've volunteered for a couple of other tournaments and it's just a wonderful place."
Fred Hatch lives in Roanoke. "I've played here. I've stayed here. My family and my wife and I have and I just wanted to help out," Hatch said.
In fact, there are more than two thousand volunteers, and they are filling many different roles. Ken Tackett is the Executive Director of the West Virginia Golf Association, and helped to recruit many of them. "You have folks taking tickets, cleaning bathrooms, picking up trash, doing scoring, walking with the players, transportation, everything you could imagine," Tackett said.
That also includes first aid, and other medical care for spectators, players and caddies.
Dr. Gunnar Brolinson is Head Team Physician at Virginia Tech and a Sports Medicine Professor at the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg. "And as you would imagine the caddies get beat up, " Brolinson said. "They're carrying the bag, so a lot of sore backs and sore feet with the caddie crew."
A team from the medical school and Virginia Tech has joined White Sulphur Springs EMS to coordinate medical care.
Michelle Keating is a second year medical student. "We've been helping a lot of people with band-aids and headaches giving them water so they can stay out and enjoy their favorite golfers," Keating said.
She calls it a great experience, even if she hasn't seen very much golf. And like the other volunteers manning the course, she expects to stay busy until the Greenbrier Classic comes to a close.
