Notebook: By George, This Volunteer Makes His Rounds

By David Shefter, USGA

Devens, Mass – The way George Bogosian sees it, if he can’t play in a championship, he might as well work at one.

The 61-year-old Watertown, Mass., resident, who retired last year after a career as an IT manager, has been volunteering at golf competitions for more than a decade. This year alone, he will have worked at the U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Senior Open, Senior PGA Championship and PGA Championship.

And those are just the majors. If there’s a big event in the Boston area, he shows up to assist.

So there was Bogosian on Tuesday, standing to the right of the par-5 second fairway at Red Tail Golf Club in his lime green polo, helping out at the 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship. Forty-eight hours earlier, he was at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course assisting with the on-course leaderboards at the U.S. Open.

He had to return home on Monday, so he missed most of the weather-delayed final round.

“I had to come back unfortunately,” said Bogosian.

Because he is driving his wife to Colorado on Thursday, Bogosian could only volunteer one day at the WAPL. His wife just took a one-year job to head up a church congregation in Colorado. But in a couple of weeks, he’ll be manning the scoreboards at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pa., for the Women’s Open. Later in July, he heads to Crooked Stick outside of Indianapolis to serve as a walking scorer for the Senior Open and then a few weeks later he’ll be at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., for the PGA Championship as a marshal.

Before retiring, Bogosian scheduled his vacations around golf events. He’d leave Wednesday night and work the competition and be home in time for work the following Monday. Along the way, he’s seen a lot of great venues and met wonderful people from throughout the United States and the world.

“You meet great people from everywhere, Australia, New Zealand,” said Bogosian. “That’s the fun of it.”

The only U.S. Open he’s missed over the past few years was Pinehurst in 2005. He couldn’t find an affordable hotel room and he didn’t want to drive more than an hour just to work each day. He’s already landed on the volunteer list for next year’s Women’s Open (Oakmont outside of Pittsburgh) and Senior Open (Sahalee outside of Seattle) and he just filed his application for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He should hear in six weeks if he’ll be heading to the Monterey Peninsula.

For many years, Bogosian was the scoring chairman for the PGA Tour’s Deutsche Bank event played each season in the Boston area.

The only American men’s major he has yet to work is the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.

“The Masters is hard,” he said. “You have to be dead to be a volunteer on top of the list there. I’d love to work the British [Open] someday. I met one fellow [at one of my events] who got called to the British Open a couple of years ago as a walking scorer.”

As for a favorite venue, Bogosian says Oakmont is by far the hardest course he’s ever seen.

“Bethpage is right up there,” he said. “Shinnecock [Hills] in 2004 was the most tricked-up course. I like to see the courses. I like to watch good golf.”

Sister Act

When the groupings and starting times were released for the 2009 WAPL, Kay and Simone Hoey were quite relieved. USGA officials placed the two southern Californians in back-to-back groups off the same side for the two stroke-play qualifying rounds.

“I appreciated it a lot,” said the 19-year-old Simone.  “We were so lucky.”

 At their sectional qualifier, the two were placed 3½ hours apart. So when Kay went off early, Simone took a nap in the car before starting. That was not the case here at Red Tail Golf Club, where the two were competing in the same USGA championship together for the first time.

“It’s kind of weird,” said the 22-year-old Kay, who is competing in her fourth WAPL. “Because she’s gone with me or I’ve gone with her to like the [U.S.] Girls’ Junior and [U.S. Women’s] Amateur, and we’ve caddied for each other. We’ve never gone together … so it’s really funny.”

Nothing was humorous about their scores. In fact, little sis’ beat her older sibling by six strokes, shooting a pair of 1-over 73s to easily qualify for match play. Kay followed a disappointing 79 with a 73 and was eliminated from the 11-for-6 playoff for the final match-play spots by registering a 9 on the par-5 10th hole..

So Kay will be on her sister’s bag for match play. Neither player employed a caddie for the stroke-play rounds and now they have avoided facing each other in match play, something their father would have loved to see.

 “My dad would love that,” said Kay, a recent graduate of Long Beach State, where she twice was a second-team All-America. “He would just like to see us tear each other apart.”

Said Simone, who will attend LBSU in the fall: “He would probably take the next flight out here just to watch. He would be so excited.”

The two sisters flew to Massachusetts on their own and are staying with Ted and Tina Maxant, who were kind enough to loan them a car. Outside of golf, the sisters want to venture into Boston one day to sightsee.

“We want to check out a few museums,” said Kay. “We might go this afternoon or [on Wednesday] after match play.”

No matter what happens, the two sisters are relishing this experience. With Kay planning to turn pro sometime later this year, it might be the last time they compete in the same amateur event.

“I love traveling with her,” said Simone. “I love playing golf with her.”

Add Sisters

Kay and Simone Hoey are not the only sister tandem competing here this week. Teenagers Alexandra (17) and Samantha (14) Stewart of Peoria, Ariz., both qualified for the championship, with Alexandra advancing to match play at 149. Samantha failed to qualify, shooting scores of 82-90.

Odds And Ends

None of the nine mid-amateurs (25 years and older) who competed survived the match-play cut. Lynn Simmons, 41, of Phoenix, Ariz., the runner-up at the 2008 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, came the closest at 10-over 154. The match-play cut came at 152…Maggie Weder of Greenvile, N.C., was the oldest player in the field. The 50-year-old who suffers from multiple sclerosis shot rounds of 83-86…Two Massachusetts players made the cut: Brittany Altomare from Shrewsbury and Sarah Whitney from Hingham. Altomare posted 71-70, while Whitney shot 76-74…Sarah Brown of Lopatcong Township, N.J., recovered well from an opening 80 by carding a 2-under -par 70 to make match play.

David Shefter is a USGA Digital Media staff writer. E-mail him with comments or questions at dshefter@usga.org.