Advance notice
MAMARONECK, N.Y. – Few jobs resemble those of Danny Sink and Mike Antolini, two men who will spend more than 700 days preparing for what is essentially a four-day golf tournament.
They first showed up at Winged Foot Golf Club last summer. They won’t leave until long after the final putt in the 2006 U.S. Open is holed.
In between, the two men who comprise the United States Golf Association advance team for Winged Foot’s fifth Open measure their progress in modest increments. The golf is still a long way off. But so grand is the scale of a major championship that it requires a pair like Sink and Antolini to set up shop at the historic club for more than two years.
“It’s a very transient lifestyle, but we love doing it,” said Sink, 36, the manager for the 2006 U.S. Open. “It’s a young, single man’s game, although I guess I’m getting up there in years.”
Forgive them if they don’t seem intimidated by the task of helping stage one of the biggest sporting events on any given calendar. They both went through the same process the past two years preparing Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on eastern Long Island for the 2004 Open. Prior to that, Antolini worked on the 2002 Open at Bethpage, and Sink worked on a Women’s Open in Colorado.
“It’s a very unique situation when your days are spent preparing for an event a year and a half away,” said Antolini, 24, the assistant manager for the 2006 Open. “In some ways we have the best of both worlds because we do have the luxury of time. But we also have certain things we need to get done. So the more prepared we are now, the easier things will be down the road.”
As early as 2002, less than a year after the club was awarded the Open, the club had entered into a major renovation project to stretch the West course – already one of the longer tests in major championship golf – to more than 7,255 yards.
There will be minor tweaks between now and then, and naturally the weather leading up to the championship will have a significant say in how the course plays. But as Sink said, when it comes to an Open, preparing the course, especially a known entity like Winged Foot, is no longer the hard part.
“Ever since 1997 or so, the scope of the event has gotten so much bigger,” Sink said. “I would dare say the look of the event inside the ropes is exactly the same, but outside the ropes it is a much bigger deal.”
It’s not just about people coming to watch golf. There will be corporate villages, merchandise tents, countless options for food. Some 5,000 volunteers working on 26 different committees will be needed for the week of the Open, which explains why a great deal of Sink and Antolini’s time these days is spent recruiting.
For them, the good news is they’re a little more than halfway there. Once volunteer recruitment is completed, the pair can then turn their attention to more player-specific responsibilities, namely housing and transportation.
“This could be the greatest golf event ever within 25 miles of New York City,” said Bud Howey, Winged Foot’s co-chairman. “It’s going to be a really big deal. We’re excited. The USGA is excited. And I think the players are excited, too.”