“This event brings the community together to see what people can do when they act together.” — J.P. McManus, owner of the Adare Manor resort, after the Pro-Am held July 4/5.

The JP McManus Pro-Am charity event, held every five years, has helped raise over $140 million for McManus's home city of Limerick and helped bring the community together. Ten of the top eleven players in the world played in this year's event, along with Tiger Woods (a personal friend of JP McManus) and a few celebrities such as Bill Murray and Niall Horan. The Pro-Am was terrific to be part of, and it was fascinating to see the differences from the standard tournaments I have been to. 

The only structures that were put up on the course were the TV towers. The event was televised on Sky Sports, a sports channel in Ireland. On the perimeter of the course is where a few temporary tents were put up for merchandise, Guinness stands, a medical tent and a very large structure called the marquee that could hold 1700 people for a private dinner.

Another unique thing about this tournament is that special hats were used as tickets. Instead of lanyards, the pro-am used green, white, and red hats as the tickets, and the person must show the hat to get into the course. The only people that had lanyards were the volunteers and workers. Around 1700 volunteers were at the event, 700 of them being marshals.

After each morning shift, green staff members could watch the tournament till around 4. I was able to watch some fantastic golfers. I also enjoyed all the hard work the crew put into the course. 

On Monday, we got a group photo on 16 green before play started with all the volunteers and employees. Seeing everyone in one spot was incredible because each person played a vital role in making Adare Manor the best that it could be. 

It was a great honor to be part of this Pro-Am and be part of the amazing team that facilitated it.