Volunteers wanted for Arnold Palmer Cup at The Alotian Club outside Little Rock

Jordan Niebrugge walked off the 16th green of The Alotian Club on Aug. 5, 2013, having just secured the Western Amateur championship over Sean Dale.

Niebrugge's 3-and-2 victory capped a long week that included extra holes Monday morning after a Sunday afternoon storm pushed the completion of the championship to the next day. It also ended a week where Warren Stephens' Alotian Club was recognized for pulling off its first endeavor on the national scene. Stephens afterward thanked the more than 600 volunteers for their efforts, and then said he would take an optimistic outlook if the club would host another such tournament.

That such venture is happening June 7-9 when the Arnold Palmer Cup comes to the prestigious course just outside Little Rock in Roland. The event is a 48-player tournament between college golfers representing U.S. and international teams. It will be the first time that the 23rd annual event will be played on American soil with men and women competing on the same team.

There are 108 less golfers and three fewer days of competition in the Palmer Cup than the Western Amateur, but finding 400 volunteers is just as important, said Alotian Club head professional Matt Fraser. As of Friday 100 volunteers to fill various roles were still needed, Fraser said.

"The entire tournament at the Western Am was going full speed from Day One," he said. "This one has different stages. It kind of ramps up. The scope of the event from volunteer need for the Western Am was much greater because every volunteer category had to be in operation from the start. Whereas this one there are several categories that won't start until Friday. Some will start on Tuesday. There's just varying levels of operations for volunteers."

Fraser said the tournament's greatest needs include walking marshals, standard bearers (both include walking all 18 holes), parking and transportation, and on-course player shuttling. Also, finding caddies between the ages of 14 and 19 is imperative to the tournament's success, Fraser said.

"Mr. Palmer was very adamant about junior golf and promoting the game and building the game," Fraser said. "What he wanted to do was make sure that the caddies that are part of the Palmer Cup are juniors. Finding upwards of 55 caddies for that event that are in that age range, that can carry the bag, walk 18 holes and help the players out is a different challenge that we've got."

Alotian golf services manager Brent Cook is leading the charge in securing caddies. High school coaches, The First Tee of Central Arkansas and the Arkansas State Golf Association have supported Cook's efforts, but more help is needed, he said.

"The reality is when you have a tournament like this in Little Rock, our infrastructure and our community is not set up the way it's set up in some of these other areas," said Cook, who needed 27 more caddies as of Friday afternoon. "This tournament has been in the Chicago area before, been in Atlanta before. They have no issue getting as many kids to volunteer as they can. That's not the case here. The infrastructure here is more challenging."

Cook said high school students could benefit scholastically from the experience.

"I know I have heard of one school that their high school students have a volunteer curriculum that they have to meet every year," he said. "That if you volunteer for the Palmer Cup, it will count toward the volunteer credit. I'm sure there are other schools and organizations that would follow suit."

Standard bearers walk with a visible scoring device to show the players and anyone on the course the current score of the match they are following. It is an important and thankless responsibility particularly at Alotian, according to Fraser.

"Finding volunteers that can do that is another kind of challenge," he said. "We don't have the flattest of golf courses out here. There are some hills, and there could be some challenges with that, so making sure they can get around 18 holes is important."

Stephen Cohen, 66, of Conway was an-course shuttle driver during the 2013 Western Amateur. He said he has already signed up to do the same thing for the Palmer Cup.

"The crew that headed up the golf cart chauffeur area so impressed me that I wanted to do that again," Cohen said. "First of all, I got to see one of the 10 best courses in the United States. Another thing causing me to come back is it's just like golf, that one good shot brings you back for the misery of the next 18 holes. The chance meeting of someone like Warren Stephens and have him to come up and give heartful thanks for doing this for us impressed me so much. And now six years later has me giddy with joy.

"When I did it, it was purely for selfish reasons to go out and see the Alotian course. Now my incentive is completely altruistic. I want to get out there and work and help make this tournament a success. For no other reason than to bring more attention to Arkansas and Arkansas golf,"

Conway's Terry Fiddler, 71, also was an on-course shuttle driver during the Western Amateur. Though he had extensive prior experience, he said was trained to take extreme care driving players around The Alotian Club track.

"They taught us how to drive where you didn't jump when you started," Fiddler said. "You put your foot on the brake. You accelerated while your foot was on the brake, and you let off slowly off the brake so that you just eased into the driving. When you went down as you got close to the greens you couldn't put on your brake or you would slide into the grass, and so what you had to do was let off your accelerator and barely put your foot on the brake so you would coast to a stop. It was nothing I had ever done. There was an art to it and so they watched you do it, and once they said you were fine they then let you do it.

"When you got $3 million to a hole, you pretty much don't want your grass torn up."

Orlan Roper, 74, of England isn't likely to volunteer in June after signing up for the Western Amateur. He said he tracked shots down the fairway for a day but wasn't utilized a majority of the week.

"I don't know if it was because they had so many volunteers or if I fell through the cracks," Roper said. "I walked the course a lot. It's a nice course, no doubt about that. One of the reasons I volunteered was to look at the course, see what it was like. I got what I wanted out of it I guess."

For $50, volunteers receive two shirts and a hat, plus meals while on their shift. Sign-ups can be done at arnoldpalmercup.com/volunteers.

Caddy information can be obtained by contacting Cook at the Alotian Golf Shop at (501) 379-2568.

Sports on 03/25/2019