North Shore Golf Magazine Spring 2017

NSGolfMag.qxp_Layout 1 3/2/17 2:02 PM Page 25
USGA director
visits Open site
By BILL BROTHERTON
Matt Sawicki, director of championships
for the United States Golf Association,
says he spends about 180 days a year on
golf courses. “Recently I spent five weeks
in a row on courses and I didn’t hit a
single golf shot,” said the St. Louis native.
“I play five to 10 times a year, and my 10
handicap reflects that. … though it’s a
trending-up 10.”
It’s a breezy but surprisingly warm
late-January day and Sawicki is at Salem
Country Club, standing behind what will
be the 18th green for the 2017 U.S. Senior
Open. It’s the 9th hole for members, but
the nines are flipped for the Open championship.
Sawicki, pulling his Budweiser
ski hat over his ears, points to a skinny,
orange stake in the ground. “That’s where
Fox will set up (its main broadcasting
tower for Joe Buck and the announcing
team),” he said. “Fox will present start-tofinish
coverage of the championship.
We’re very excited about that.”
The Open doesn’t arrive at Salem Country
Club until June 26-July 2, but Sawicki and
his team haven’t been sitting idle. They’ve
been meeting and planning every detail of
the event for some three years. The
process has hit a fever pitch for Sawicki,
Executive Director Eddie Carbone and his
Bruno Event Team management staff as
the championship, the crown jewel of the
Senior circuit, approaches.
Sawicki said the purpose of this specific
24-hour visit is to brainstorm over
marketing efforts and develop an initial
plan for the spring campaign. He will also
tour the Donald Ross-designed gem with
executives from corporate sponsor Lexus,
familiarizing them with the course and
going over such logistics as where people
will congregate, spectator flow and optimum-exposure
spots for the positioning
of three luxury Lexus automobiles.
“I often get asked, ‘What takes so long
to plan an event such as the U.S. Senior
Open,’” said Sawicki, a resident of
Hoboken, N.J. “Well, by the time the
tournament rolls around everything is so
intricately detailed that we’re confident
that every person who walks on the course
on the Monday of championship week
will get the highest quality experience
that’s possible.”
The University of Colorado Boulder
graduate, who earned enough money
caddying to pay for his education, joined
the USGA in 2005 and has worked his
way up the ladder. He even volunteered
at the 2004 Senior Open Championship
at Bellerive Country Club in his
hometown. He knows just what needs
to be done “outside the ropes” to make
a championship successful. His duties
include fostering a relationship with the
host club from selection to the close of
the event, developing a revenue plan
inclusive of corporate and ticket sales,
working up a marketing and communications
strategy, putting an operations
plan in place with vendors, state, regional
and local officials, and assisting in the
training of some 2,500 volunteers.
“The volunteer leadership team at
Salem has been great. This is a major
commitment by members, who give
up their course for several weeks in the
middle of the golf season, but everyone
here is committed to making this an
incredible success,” added Sawicki,
who expects to visit Salem CC at
least every couple of weeks as the
championship nears.
“Salem Country Club has been a
phenomenal partner with the USGA,”
he added. “Ollie Cook, the chairman when
the 2001 championship was held here,
and Bill Sheehan, chairman of this
championship, and I have become good
friends. And Eddie Carbone has such
good relationships here. That’s part
of what I love about golf, working
relationships become friendships.”
Sawicki said the USGA has been
impressed by the club’s commitment.
“You need a great course to host a
championship. This is one of the best.
The club did everything needed to
prepare for it. As a golfer, I love the
course. The first time I came up here I
was blown away. The club restored it back
to the way it was, the way Donald Ross
designed it. Its strength is on the greens.
If you have no short game, chip or putt,
you’re in trouble. But it’s a course you can
play every single day and have fun. It’s a
special place.”
And the job doesn’t end once the Ouimet
Trophy has been handed to the winner on
July 2. “We are building a small stadium
here. It takes six to eight weeks to build.
Members are golfing in the midst of
drilling and hammering, and we are
mindful of them while we work. And then
there’s the teardown on the back end.
Again, the members are very supportive
and committed, giving up their course
for an extended period.”
His job puts him on the road about
200 days a year. Upon leaving Salem,
he was headed to the site of this year’s
U.S. Women’s Championship at Trump
National Golf Course in Bedminster,
N.J. – “yes, that Trump,” he said with a
smile – and then to Pinehurst in North
Carolina, which is hosting this year’s
U. S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship. l
Top left: Matt Sawicki, the USGA director of
championships, shows where Fox will have its
platform for television broadcasting from the
18th hole. Above: Sawicki speaks about the
upcoming US Senior Open, to be held at
Salem Country Club.
PHOTOS: Mark Lorenz
NORTH SHORE GOLF