Sunday 18 November 2018

My Week on the European Tour, DP World Tour Championship and the Race to Dubai.

I volunteered to spend a week working as a marshal on the final event of the European Golf Tour and the Race to Dubai. On Monday I had no idea what it would entail and on Tuesday I was walking round the Jumeriah Golf Estate with Andrea Pavan in the pro am.

On Wednesday and Thursday I was chaperoning players, waiting with them while they had lunch in the players lounge, accompanying them onto the driving range and putting green and hanging around the men's locker room as well as sitting in the studio with Dougie Donnelly and Sam Torrence. We're not allowed to take pictures when we're on the course, but this was away from the golf course and as you can see they more than willing to have them taken.

Sam Torrence and Dougie Donnelley in the background.

Thomas Detry from Belgium and certainly a player to look out for.

I like watching golf, we've attended this event many times and also been to Abu Dhabi and Sun City. But I'm not very knowledgeable on the players, I do know the big names and the older golfers on the tour. It was quite interesting to go looking for a player and not knowing what they looked like and waiting for the caddie to turn round so I could spot the name on the bib as they came off the 18th, it caused a bit of a laugh. 'Hi I'm Suzanne and you are?' These are some of the world's top golfers.

I knew who Sergio Garcia was.


Saturday was spent marshalling the 1st Tee from 7.40am till the last player tee's off at 12.40pm. This was my view.

The afternoon was spent on the approach to the 18th. I had to 'spot' a ball in the water hazard and whilst I was watching over Danny Willett's ball that went into the crowd, Matt Wallace's ball clattered into the stand. He gave me the ball afterwards and kindly posed for a selfie. I was a bit startled when he put his hand on my shoulder as you can probably tell.

I'm back at the golf today marshalling the 1st tee in the morning and covering the same spot on the 18th where the prize money for the DP World Tour Championship is a staggering $8 million and the Race Dubai's purse is $5 million shared between the top ten ranking players.

As I head off today Danny Willett from England and Patrick Reed from the US lead the tour at -14 under par.

I've met some amazing people this week from players, their wives, children and parents to those who run the events and work on the European Tour as well as the 200+ other volunteers who keep the event running from scoring, marshalling, welcoming guests, working with the media and probably a million and 1 other jobs I don't know about.

This is how the week finished


28 comments:

  1. It certainly looks like a lot of fun and you look very happy. Would you forgive me for not knowing who any of the players are??? #mysundayphoto

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  2. Hi suzanne, what an exciting week for you. I did laugh at the vision of you hanging around the mens locker room. I'm sure that could be an arrestable offence?.. It's nice that the golfesr seemed more than happy to pose with you. Events like this wouldn't be what they are without the volenteers that give up there time to help.

    #MySundayPhoto

    xx

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    1. I never realised exactly how many volunteers were needed to run an operation like this

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    2. Hi Suzanne, it's nice to see that you didn't get arrested!

      Thank you for sharing your experinec with #keepingitreal.

      xx

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  3. What an amazing thing for you to do. It must have been so interesting meeting all the different people, even if you didn't recognise all of the golfers! I think I would the only golfer I would recognise is Rory McIlroy.

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    1. Now Sam Torrence was easy, but that was because i knew his voice as a commentator

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  4. Ah Golf, a good walk....yes a good walk. Sorry, not a fan of gold personally. However, it looks like you had an awesome time doing something you love.
    #MySundayPhoto

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    1. never played the game in my life, but do like watching it live

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  5. That sounds like so much fun. I would have loved to have been there when you were asking these World class golfers who they were

    Thank you for linking up to #MySundayPhoto

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    Replies
    1. so many other people were and thank fully everyone found it quite funny

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  6. How wonderful, my husband would be so envious, he is golf mad, we are actually playing this afternoon, though I'm just there to make up the numbers!

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    1. my husband onoly came for the one morning, he wanted to watch the football on the final day

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  7. It looks and sounds like you had a lot of fun.
    I wouldn't have a clue what all their names were either. I think the only golfer I know is Tiger Woods. lol

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    Replies
    1. well Tiger wasn't there, but i kept mixing up their names, even after I'd been told who they were

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  8. Looks awesome. I've been to a few golf events but never would have thought about doing something like this. Must have been amazing #triumphanttales

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  9. What a fabulous experience - meeting all the name players and having fun! #keepingitreal

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  10. So pleased you had lots of fun as I know you were looking forward to it from your last post! Thank you for sharing with #TriumphantTales

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    1. I had an absolute blast, can't wait for the next event

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  11. So cool. It looks like that you had a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing it. #TriumphantTales

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  12. It looks a lot of fun - and love that you asked who they were, that's something I'd do too! Thanks for sharing with #PoCoLo

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    Replies
    1. my husband is still laughing at me for not knowing half of them

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  13. Wow, how exciting! Looks like you had fun. xx
    Thanks for sharing with #pocolo

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