GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - Rob Hartman might gauge how busy he is by his coffee cup.
Hartman picks up his first cup when he starts his day at about 6:30 a.m. - the only time he can work uninterrupted.
The 28-year-old West Palm Beach, Fla., resident heads operations for the ShopRite LPGA Classic at the Seaview resort in Galloway Township. Professional play starts Friday, but the LPGA's 114-person staff started arriving about two weeks ago.
As many as 30,000 fans are expected at the classic, one of 30 stops on the international tour. Most fans will want food, beer, access, autographs, convenient parking and perfect weather as they watch 150 professional golfers play for a $1.5 million purse. Millions more will tune into the Golf Channel or see reports by more than 100 American and international journalists covering the event.
To pull it off, Seaview, LPGA and Galloway representatives started planning for this year's event the morning after last year's finals with the hope that the longest, busiest, most intense days do not seem that way to guests and players.
At about 8:30 a.m. May 23, cars filled Seaview's parking lots, even though it was a week from the start of the Pro-Am, the part of the tournament in which locals and corporate big shots have the chance to play 18 holes with a pro. Nearly 500 people have paid $15,000 per foursome for the rounds running simultaneously at Seaview, nearby Galloway National Golf Club and Atlantic City Country Club in Northfield.
But that's days away. Right now, Hartman is working his way through a to-do list scrawled on ShopRite LPGA Classic letterhead. Between that and attending to his smartphone and radio, Hartman has not finished the 12-ounce coffee he bought three hours ago.
"My day is pretty much moving around, dealing with all the different vendors, putting out fires. I end up getting yanked in about 100 different directions," he said.
Hartman steers his golf cart past workers spraying green paint onto bleachers and the electronics staff setting up a giant video screen facing three, 650-square-foot skyboxes recently craned into place around the 18th hole.
The screen connects to the same 150-kilowatt generator that will run the bar, lights, refrigerators, air conditioning and Internet in each box. More than enough power, but a brief, inexplicable surge in 2010 means the tournament has a backup generator this year.
Hartman drives to an empty tent that is about to be transformed into a temporary pro shop.
Team Retail Solutions principal John Knudson, 43, of New York, needs to find an ATM, to lay carpet, get credentials, pick up a parking pass and find his hotel.
The beer distributor asks Hartman where to put the refrigerated trailer that will keep 30 kegs and 4,500 cans cold.
Hartman defers until after his meeting with Seaview resort management.
By noon, Hartman has finally moved on to his second coffee - and remembered to eat breakfast, the bagel he's clutching as he drives across Route 9, one of hundreds of times he'll cross the two-lane highway.
"It's interesting that we have a state highway in between the course and the resort. It affects how we control traffic and do security and bring in spectators," he says. "People fly down here, so we'll have a bigger police presence this year with us not shutting the road down for the first time."
Business owners had long complained about the closing of Route 9, so when the tournament returned in 2010 after a three-year hiatus, police and township and tournament officials agreed to reduce the blocked portion. This year will be the first during which Route 9 is completely open. Cones dot the centerline and squad cars stay parked with their lights flashing to slow traffic, but if it proves too much of a safety risk and a distraction to players, the township will close the road. Officials have secured permits, just in case, said township community services director Beth Stasuk, 57, of Galloway.
Back at the merchandise tent, Knudson stands barefoot on the carpet that has already been installed.
But now he needs power strips, so Hartman puts in an order and is then summoned by Coca-Cola representatives. While he's talking to them, he gets a call on his phone, which is interrupted by his radio.
Hartman heads to the tournament's temporary "command center" on the second floor of the hotel.
Nine twentysomethings share desks overrun with laptops, smartphones, empty water bottles and overstuffed folders, plus passes for the pros (each gets one for a friend or relative).
The phone rings.
"Thank you for calling ShopRite LPGA Classic, this is Brittany, how can I help you? Yeah, he's here," an intern says before putting the call on hold. "Rob, it's Chris Doyle from the Police Department."
Lt. Chris Doyle heads the police detail assigned to Seaview this week. They will work with security hired by the tournament and those already working at the resort, the latter group composed of retired officers and teachers who get free golf with the part-time gig, said Seaview's director of conferences and special events, Jeff Cowan, 52, of Linwood.
"Hey, Chris. We're going to have one of our message boards delivered tomorrow, so I wanted to find a spot on Route 9 you were comfortable with," Hartman says, taking the call. "OK, I'll just meet you over by McGettigan's."
The bar opposite the course and resort on Route 9 will allow shuttles to deposit passengers at the end of its parking lot, the event's main entrance. That's a new arrangement, and a necessary one because with Route 9 not being closed, the vendors, portable toilets, security checkpoints and other components cannot sit on the other side of the two-lane road as before.
The phone rings again. This time, the caller wants Jenna Boyce. Boyce, 24, of Brigantine, coordinates more than 800 volunteers as well as the travel, lodging and other hospitality needs of the pros. She has worked at the tournament's permanent offices in Galloway since February - her first "real" job since graduating with her master's degree in international sports management at the State University of New York at Cortland.
Boyce started working early in the morning. At 1 p.m., a workday-equivalent stretch remains before volunteer training sessions end at 9 p.m.
"We'll talk then," she says, smiling. "I'll still be going crazy."
Contact Emily Previti:
609-272-7221
EPreviti@pressofac.com
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