GOLF
friendly Australian drinking bet with Murphy that he
wouldn’t be able to caddy for him the entire 18 holes. “It
was a very difficult course to caddy. The walk was probably
triple the normal distance,” Murphy said. “The heat and
humidity was tough. Physically, I was concerned I was not
going to make it. When the lightning sirens went off on the
15th hole I was one minute away from heat stroke.” Murphy
won the bet.
Allenby, who is ranked 50th in the world, is the only golfer to
win the Australian Triple Crown in the same year.
Local resident and PGA professional Ken Duke, who calls
Tesoro his home course, finished the tournament tied for
fifth. “The long walk was a
big issue and the weather,
but the guys on the tour
always nitpick every
course,” Duke said. “We got
pounded and pounded the
week before by heavy rain.
The staff did a great job to
get it even playable. It was a
great event. We had some
great fan support. It was
a success.”
The tournament organizers
agree that the glue that
held the event together was
the more than 1,000 volunteers
who handled a variety
of duties.
“The great volunteers were
very beneficial with the bad
weather,” said tournament
director Subers. “There were
very early mornings and late
evenings. It was always
delayed because of weather.
It was taxing for everyone.
We were appreciative of the
volunteers and their dedication
and continued support.
Six-hour shifts turned into 12-
hour shifts.”
Treasure Coast Realtor
Marsha Benson is a veteran
volunteer at professional golf
tournaments so she spent the
whole week at Tesoro supervising
volunteers. “I was
there the entire time,” Benson
said. “It was great. A lot of
hours, but a lot of fun. The
tournament provides donations
to charities and it was a
way to give back. The most
difficult thing was putting
this together in a short period
of time. Working with all the
brand new volunteers was
the biggest challenge.”
Subers said a lot of logistics
and people went into the
daily grind of having to shuttle
the players on and off the
course during bad weather.
More than 200 vans, vehicles
and carts were used in the
effort, he said.
“The ground was saturat-
Jupiter resident and PGA professional Robert Allenby lines up a putt at Tesoro Club during the recent Ginn Sur
Mer Classic in Port St. Lucie.
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