KOHLER, WI (WHBL) - We are one month away from the start of the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, and volunteers for the event are beginning to get ready to assist.
This weekend, uniforms and training sessions will take place at the Kohler School District for most of the 34-hundred people that will assist during the tournament. Volunteers will be helping with the tournament as marshals, vehicle drivers, merchandise, concessions, scoreboards, etc.
Jeannie Dieffenbaugher, volunteer operations coordinator, says volunteers will learn the specifics for what their role is for tournament week, as well as general rules. "When you should wear your uniform, your credential – because for a volunteer that is their ticket in for the week, not to leave home without it. Also what type of bottoms to wear, where you should park, where volunteers check in."
To break down the volunteers ranks, more than 26-hundred of the volunteers are from Wisconsin, but there are also around 500 who are from over 40 other states, and around 20 from four foreign countries. More than a thousand of the volunteers had helped when Whistling Straits last held the tournament in 2010
That included Michele Rabideau of Muskego, as she and her husband Jim have helped out with golf tournaments in Wisconsin since the early '90s with the Greater Milwaukee Open. "When you see on TV all the golfers along the shores of Lake Michigan, it just makes you really proud to be a Wisconsinite," says Michele.
Distribution and training will take place through Sunday. The tournament runs August 10th through the 16th.