Banner day for volunteers

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By Harlan Goode

John Bundred might weigh 110 pounds sopping wet, but that doesn't keep the 15-year-old high school freshman from holding his banner high.

"It doesn't weigh that much," Bundred said of the staff and sign he carried for 18 holes as a standard bearer at the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club. "It's pretty easy to carry."

Bundred is one of about 60 adolescents who keep the spectators at Old Blue in the know. Their scorecards, attached to long metal staffs, keep everyone abreast as to who is faring well and who is falling behind.

Unless, of course, they get confused. Adrianna O'Neill, 15, had a little trouble during her first day as a standard bearer for Davis Love III on Thursday.

"I messed up on the score once on 16," said O'Neill, who is home-schooled. "I put that Love was plus-2 when he was really even. I was like, 'Ohhhh.'"

Love III didn't notice her error, but her long first day with Davis was far from over. Later in the round, Love threw his putter in frustration after bogeying a hole and nearly hit her.

"He was really mad," O'Neill said. "[The putter] flipped over the bag and missed me by about a foot."

Despite the occasional danger, standard bearer chairman Russ Gagarin considers standard bearing the best volunteer job at AT&T National.

"You get to see a lot of golf, and you get to see it up close," said Gagarin, who still remembers the day he nearly stepped on Gary Pate's ball as a Kemper Open standard bearer in 1982. "It's also the only opportunity for people under 18 to volunteer."

In April, Gagarin began accepting applications for this summer's tournament. Forty positions were set aside for children of Congressional members like Bundred, while 20 were reserved for those like O'Neill, who belong to local chapters of The First Tee, which, according to its Web site, aims to get children of "all different backgrounds" interested in golf.

There are perks to the job, too.

Bundred said he has collected so many autographed golf balls during his five tournaments that he can hardly keep track of them, and Alex Stark III - a 15-year-old incoming freshman at DeMatha - wore an AT&T National cap covered in players' signatures.

Standard bearers receive free concessions and get to keep the hats and shirts they are issued at the beginning of the tournament. The coolest part, the bearers say, is getting to interact with their favorite golfers.

Stark said Stuart Appleby had remembered his name after Stark carried for the Australian last summer at Congressional.

O'Neill was flattered when Love commented on her snazzy golf spikes after their round, and Bundred enjoyed goofing off with tour wild child Charley Hoffman after it became apparent Hoffman wasn't going to make the cut at a past tournament.

"They were so talkative," said Errol Clarke, 12. "They asked me about everything!"