Unlike many, Fruchte didn’t mind seeing a hard rain fall on the first practice day for the 2001 U.S. Women’s Open Championship.
The director of golf course and grounds for Pine Needles and Mid-Pines, he was well aware of the drought that had plagued the Sandhills area from late March through May.
But by around 1 p.m. Monday, looking at the rain gauge at the course’s maintenance shop, he happily announced that a little over an inch of rain had fallen.
“There was less than an inch of rain during the period (March-May),” he said. “A little rain doesn’t really help, it only gets about a quarter-inch of turf wet. We need a good steady downpour to get the rain down a couple of inches in the ground.”
Although the course was closed until later in the afternoon because of the rain, players were out striking balls on the East practice range. More were heading out of the clubhouse, with umbrellas high and bags slung over shoulders, with the range as destination.
The East practice range is a relatively new area at the course, recently built to go along with the resort’s Learning Center.
“We’re squeegeeing the putting greens and driving range,” he said. “The main range and putting green are closed, but we have golfers out on the East practice range right now.”
The rush to get the practices areas ready was partly in response to the presence of Tim Moraghan, the USGA’s director of agronomy. Although Fruchte and his staff of 30 have been putting in many months preparing for the Open, Moraghan provides valuable assistance when on-site.
“He’s a great guy to have around to help with decisions,” Fruchte said. “He really helps with providing insight on what the players need. Like today, I was thinking about the course, but the USGA wants the ladies to be able to practice first.”
Which is why Fruchte’s crews were out with squeegees in hand, moving standing water off the practice areas.
A crew of three young men was busy pushing squeegees on the main practice range at the course. Daniel Starnes from Tennessee, Ryan Bradshaw from Burlington and David Komlanc from Indiana were working briskly with squeegee in hand as the water flew over the slight hill that marks the teeing area for the range.
All three of the men are enrolled in the turf management program at Sandhills Community College.
Starnes, who learned about the program while surfing the Internet, talked while he put his weight behind a good stroke of the squeegee.
He started working at Pine Needles in September in a co-op situation where he works part-time at Pine Needles, while also getting course credits at Sandhills. He had been at the course since 4:45 a.m. with hopes to be home by 8 p.m.
Planning to be a golf course superintendent, he was getting an up-close and personal education in adapting on the fly to a sport played outdoors and dependent on the weather.
“I was hoping it wouldn’t rain,” he said. “Squegeeing isn’t the most fun thing, but we have to get it dry. I’ve been real excited about the Open. I’ve never been around a big tournament like this.”
With squeegee in motion, Starnes went back to moving water.
