By Tom Cunneff
The manager of volunteer operations for the Ryder Cup, Kasey Minnigan has spent the last two years prepping for a week’s work, including being on site at Bethpage since May. There’s a lot to do when you’re overseeing 4,300 volunteers from 46 states and 28 countries. Raised in Frisco, Tex., the home of the PGA or America, which runs the Ryder Cup, Minnigan played golf at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. She lives on Long Island with her husband, Jack.
I actually applied for a coordinator position on the hospitality sales team, but the team here thought I was a better fit for the volunteer manager role, which was a great step up for me. I love it. I used to work at Disney World, and that has so many ties to what I do here, just the customer service side of things. It’s so forward, people-facing, and not as much behind the scenes as hospitality and sales, or even just the general operations team. I’m out there in the trenches with these volunteers. I’m the friendly face that they go to. Hopefully, they think it's friendly. I got so lucky falling into this role. It’s a dream job to work in golf, being such a golf fan.
We invited all 3,200 of the 2019 PGA Championship volunteers back, because that was at Bethpage. We gave them priority, and about 2,000 of them decided to reprise their role, so that filled up about half of our spots. But about 40,000 people filled out the online interest form, and the other 2,300 volunteers were randomly selected from there. There wasn’t any qualifying criteria of any kind. They’re volunteers. We’re not going to give them anything difficult to do. It’s supposed to be a fun experience for them. But the vast majority of our folks have volunteered in the past, either at the PGA of America or USGA events. We see a lot of the same people again and again. It’s fun to see familiar faces.
We have about 26 different volunteer committees that you could be a part of, everything from the “Quiet Please” marshals to 1,200 volunteers who are in the Ryder Cup shops. It is a little bit of everything – golf cart accessibility shuttles, standard bearers, and walking scorers. We really touch every corner of this event.
Yes. We do ask the volunteers cover their uniform package, which is $350. It is quite a steal and includes two Ralph Lauren polos, a Ralph Lauren jacket, and a choice between a baseball cap, visor, or bucket hat, not to mention premium parking for the week and a commemorative pin. Of course, they also get access to the matches all week, and the face value of a daily grounds ticket is $750, so it’s a pretty good value. We’re so appreciative of all the hard work that they put in, because some of them just go above and beyond. And they don’t even care about attending the event. They just want to help. They also get meals and access to our volunteer headquarters tent for the entirety of the event.
Yes, we will hold about 20 on-site training sessions, but It’s a little more difficult than a PGA Championship, where everyone’s local and can just show up the week before, whereas with the Ryder Cup, we have so many people from far away. We don’t require mandatory training just because it would just be too much with people coming from literally around the world, so we offer the option for training right before their first shift. We just need to make sure that the committee chairs are well versed and able to give it themselves. We have a couple of virtual training sessions, like for our ShotLink mobile spotters. We give them a quick video explanation. We usually do a marshal training video, but it’s more helpful to see it in person. Some of them just learn what their role is when they show up, because it’s that simple. But we’ll make sure that they’re comfortable before we send them off.
I’ll probably be pulled in about a billion different directions, managing any issues that come up. I’ll be based in the volunteer headquarters in a trailer behind our tent, but really just happy to deal with any issues that arise, because with 4,300 people, they never stop. I’ll have two radios, one on each hip and an earpiece in each ear. My two phones will probably never stop. It’s definitely a lot, but that’s why we have so much help, a lot of committee chairs, and a really great staff working alongside me as well.
I loved it. I captained the team my senior year. I was on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee. We weren’t great, but we had a lot of fun, and it was really cool experience to play college golf. We got to travel to Daytona to play the LPGA International for our conference every year. That was definitely the highlight for us. And from a personal standpoint, I met my husband, Jack, who was on the men’s golf team, so I have a lot of fond memories of that. He’s volunteering at the Ryder Cup. I’m putting him to work. Gives me some power.
I’m probably about an 11 or 12 handicap right now, so I’ve been better, but Jack and I are members at Hempstead Golf & Country Club on Long Island. I play with him there occasionally. It’s just the more I work for this event, the less I want to be on a golf course because I’m on a golf course 24/7.
I received a golf scholarship, but I just really wanted to be in New York, just every teenage girl’s dream to live in New York and be in the city. But, yeah, golf was the way to do it for me. Both my parents were born in Brooklyn, so it’s sort of home for me, too.