Jim’s Notebook: Alotian Club Offers Area Golf Fans a Perfect Volunteering Package

The Western Amateur scheduled for Little Rock this summer will give many golf fans their first in-person look at the Alotian Club, the exclusive golf enclave built by Warren Stephens in western Pulaski County and opened in 2004.

Alotian, the Tom Fazio-designed course ranked in the most recent Golf Digest list of U.S. courses as the 14^th best in the country, will sell transferable tickets at $100 for the seven-day tournament — purchasers may pass their tourney badge on to others to use during the event, scheduled for July 29-Aug. 4.

However, there is still time to get on board as a tournament volunteer and watch the event at Alotian, too when off-duty. Regular adult volunteers will pay the same $100 as a tournament spectator and will need to volunteer for at least three shifts. But, in return, the volunteers will receive two Alotian golf shirts, a golf hat and a meal ticket for each day they volunteer. Volunteers who are 18 and under will not have to pay the $100.

The club will need at least 700 volunteers to handle the various operations and the required shifts for the week, according to John Zieski, Alotian’s director of golf.

Log on to thewesternamateur.com to register as a volunteer.

The Western is an invitation-only event with an international lineup — the second biggest amateur golf tournament in the world, according to Stephens — and will draw a field of 156 golfers. Past winners include current PGA stars Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard. The players who have made the Western’s Sweet Sixteen match-play portion of the tourney are a who’s who of golf. Of the past 35 PGA Tour Player of the Year awards, 29 were former Western Am Sweet Sixteen qualifiers; 28 former Sweet Sixteen qualifiers have gone on to win professional majors.

The tournament may be the most grueling in golf in determining the eventual winner. The 156 players will play two rounds of stroke play on

Tuesday, July 30, and Wednesday, July 31. The field will then be pared to the top 44 and ties for two more rounds of stroke play, Aug. 1-2.

Among those greeting media at the 2013 Western Amateur Media Day at The Alotian Club in Roland, Ark., were Warren Stephens (center), founder of the club and CEO of Stephens Inc., and (from left with Stephens): Vince Pellegrino, Western Golf Association vice president of tournaments; Steve Melnyk, 1969 Western Amateur champion and a member of The Alotian Club; Toby Wilson; and Mark Scully. Melnyk and Wilson are co-chairmen of the club’s Western Amateur Committee. Scully is chairman of Golf Course Setup.

The top 16 then advance to the Western’s famed Sweet Sixteen for match play. The eventual winner will have played up to eight full rounds (not including extra holes that may be required in match play) over the seven days.

Due to the difficulty in accommodating large crowds, Alotian plans to limit the number of badges sold for the week. They will go on sale online April 15, the day after the Masters Tournament concludes in Augusta, Ga.

Volunteer registration is open now. Some of the opportunities are available in concessions/food and beverage, course shuttles, gallery marshaling, live scoring and timing, merchandise sales, driving range assistance, spotters and standard bearers, and parking and transportation.

Tournament parking will held at The Ranch, west of Interstate 430 on Highway 10. Volunteers and patrons will shuttled to and from Alotian to the parking area. The players and their families will use the limited parking on site at the club.

For the past four years the tournament, which was founded in 1899, has been held in the Chicago area, most recently at the Donald Ross-designed Exmoor club. Before that, it was held for nearly four decades in Michigan. The Western Golf Association was created in Chicago and also started the Western Open, at PGA Tour event that eventually became part of the World Golf Championships rotation as the BMW Championship.

FOLLOW HOGS TO RUTGERS: The University of Arkansas is arranging travel for fans through its Sports Travel department to take Razorback supporters to the Rutgers game in Piscataway, N.J., on Sept. 21.

The tour includes two nights deluxe accommodations at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City for the weekend. Also included is a welcome gathering near the hotel, a round-trip motor coach from the hotel to Rutgers and High Point Solutions Stadium, an official Hog Wild Party/Pregame Event held by the Razorback Foundation and the Arkansas Alumni Association, game tickets, a tour souvenir and more.

Prices range from $669 per person for a room of four to $1,354 (single). Round-trip airfare is an additional $470 out of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport to New York’s LaGuardia.

Call 888-697-8550 for more information or to book the trip.