HARTFORD (NBC 26) — As the world’s top female golfers compete for a major championship title at Erin Hills, a strong local presence is helping to make the U.S. Women’s Open a success — both on and off the course.
Among the more than 2,200 volunteers working behind the scenes is De Pere native Mia Fairbairn, now a college student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Though she’s not a golfer herself, Fairbairn said she jumped at the opportunity to be part of a major sporting event in her home state.
“Wisconsin has some great golf courses,” she said, “and events like these help showcase the state to the rest of the country.”
Fairbairn signed up to volunteer back in September, hoping to gain experience in the sports industry. Now working in fan services, she’s been greeting guests, assisting with phone charging stations and soaking in the atmosphere of a professional tournament.
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“So I'm volunteering with fan services. So yesterday I was working the scanner and today I'm just kind of hanging out around here taking pictures of people, helping people with the phone chargers. So I have never been to this nice of a course before,” Fairbairn said.
“So it's honestly overwhelming but it's so pretty here and it's truly like a great opportunity to get to be here.”
She’s not alone. The tournament also drew in high school volunteers from across northeast Wisconsin — including sophomore Isabel Johnsen from Bay Port High School in Green Bay.
A lifelong golfer, Johnsen said she grew up watching the U.S. Women’s Open on television. Now, she’s walking inside the ropes with some of the sport’s elite.
"I'm nervous, but it's really cool," she said. "I'm really grateful I get to be here."
Her father, Jeff Johnsen, is the head women’s golf coach at UW–Oshkosh. When he heard about volunteer opportunities for the tournament, he encouraged Isabel and some of her teammates to get involved.
“So it happened, like, five months ago, really, and he told me, like, it was maybe this close. And I was like, no way. That's really cool. And then, like, we found out about the volunteering and, like, how you gotta be so close. I was like, why not?”
Johnsen and a fellow Bay Port teammate are serving as standard bearers, walking with professional groups and carrying signs displaying the players’ names and scores.
For Thursday’s opening round, she was assigned to a group featuring Aira Nagasawa, Dottie Ardina and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.
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“Just being so close to the golfers really it's so much different than watching at home, so it's really surreal experience for me. I still haven't really comprehended it,” Johnsen said.
Thursday marked Johnsen’s first day on the job, but she’ll return throughout the weekend — and said she’s excited to see who will raise the trophy come Sunday.
From inside the ropes to behind the scenes, these two young women are proving that sometimes the best seat in the house isn’t in the gallery — but right in the middle of the action.
