Thursday, September 17th through Sunday, September 20th was the BMW Championship at Conway Farm Golf Club in Lake Forest. It was the third event of the FedEx Cup before the tour’s Championship. Two qualifying events, The Barclays in New York and Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, were held before the BMW Championship, which took place less than five miles from Lake Forest College’s campus.
Various Lake Forest College teams —including golf, swim, and hockey team, among others—were asked to volunteer at the event. They worked in the concession stands, taking drink and food orders for the golf fans in order to fundraise for their spring break trips. The Lake Forest College students also received free tickets to use the days in which they volunteered. It was a great break from the action after they finished volunteering for the day.
Pictured: Durham Ghelfi ’18 and Davis DeKorte ’18 Photo by: Matt Weidner
Matt Pochowicz ’18, a Lake Forest College golfer, said his favorite part about volunteering was “still being able to watch the tournament because the concession stand was overlooking the 14th hole. Also, all of the pro golfers walked by the stand at some point.”
Durham Ghelf ’18, one of Pochowicz’s teammates, and Pochowicz agreed that their favorite part of not working at the championship was being able to watch the best golf players in the world and trying to learn from them. Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, and Phil Mickelson were all in attendance, among other pros.
“My favorite player to watch was Dustin Johnson because he hits the ball so far, which is fun to see,” Ghelfi said.
Pochowicz liked Jason Day best. “Jason Day was my favorite person to watch because he plays the best golf out of anyone right now and is really precise with his driver. He is the world’s number one player,” Pochowicz said.
When asked if they got signatures from either of the pros they liked watching, they shook their heads. But Pochowicz didn’t leave empty-handed: He got Tony Finau’s signature on his free ticket.
The Foresters agree the BMW Championship was a great opportunity to volunteer, especially for the golf team members, who all walked away with a win for their experience.
Jason Day, the winner of the BMW Championship, walked away with over $1 million and became the number one player in the world rankings.
The BMW Championship won’t return to Lake Forest for another two years because it rotates courses every year. Looking for volunteer opportunities like this is always a great way to help athletes in their respective sports get experience to help better themselves in their next season.
