June 17
By Joe Soprano jsoprano@timesleader.comSports Editor
If the bunkers on the back nine of Congressional Country Club play a role in deciding who wins the U.S. Open on Sunday, Northeastern Pennsylvania can take pride in the fact that an area man played a small part in deciding golf’s national champion.
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Andrew Stair is an assistant superintendent at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., site of this week’s U.S. Open.
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Andrew Stair
Age: 24
Hometown: Berwick
Parents: Gary
and Susan Stair
High School: Berwick, 2005 graduate
Former Berwick resident Andrew Stair, an assistant superintendent at Congressional, is in charge of the bunker crew for the back nine this week.
Stair heads a group of volunteers that keep the bunkers up to standards.
“It will be necessary to get them all familiar with how the USGA wants their bunkers,†Stair said of his crew. “It is a plus that all of our volunteers are familiar with the business and typically have a good amount of work experience on golf course maintenance. Between regular Congressional employees and volunteers (from all over the state, country and world) we have over 100 people preparing the golf course in the mornings and evenings.â€
And just how does the USGA want there bunkers? Dry and fluffy, Stair said.
Stairs is actually the second assistant superintendent on Congressional’s Gold Course.
The Open is being played on the club’s other 18-hole layout, the Blue Course.
Still Stairs has been plenty busy the last few weeks.
A lot of his time has been spent getting the course ready for the numerous tents and grandstands that come along with the Open.
“The past few months I have been doing a lot of tracking and marking of underground irrigation pipe (mainly on the Gold course) by using a special wire tracking device,†the 24-year-old said. “Typically, you can hook into the wire at an irrigation satellite and the device sends a current through the wire which can be detected above ground with a handheld ‘wand,’ which makes a unique noise when you are directly above the wire.â€
Finding out exactly where the pipes are located is key to keeping them from being punctured by any of the posts that have to be driven into the ground.
Mistakes still happen, however, and that has added to Stair’s work as well.
“There have been roughly 10 cracked pipes resulting from the hammering,†he said. “Thus, irrigation fixes have consumed a good deal of my time the past few weeks as well.
“Additionally, I have been carrying out chemical applications on both courses on greens, tees, fairways and rough.â€
And as Carl Spackler will tell you, any good golf course superintendent is going to spend some time watering grass.
Stair has done plenty of that, too.
All to get the Bethesda, Md., course ready for the world’s greatest golfers.
Oddly enough much of the course that Stair typically works on hardly resembles anything even a weekend duffer would want to play.
“Holes 1 through 6 and 15 through 18 of the Gold Course basically serve as U.S. Open infrastructure,†Stairs said. “What this means is that many of these holes are basically covered in gravel.
“For instance, No. 6’s rough and fairway of the Gold course serves as the main bus stop for the majority of the crowd.â€
Stair said that the fact that he loves sports and being outdoors makes this the perfect job for him.
“Once I began to play golf, I became aware of the career options available in this field and really began enjoying the work,†he said.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in Turfgrass and Soil Science from the University of Connecticut.
His busy schedule this weekend will limit the amount of time he will have to spend watching the Open. But when he gets a chance, he has some favorite golfers he will be following.
“My favorite players I’ll be pulling for probably are Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson,†he said.
Hopefully for Stair, they will avoid his handy work on the back nine.
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